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51 Stapleton Road Borehamwood Hertfordshire WD6 5BS

26/0277/FULFull Planning PermissionRefused
Full

Refused on 12 May 2026

Council decision: Refuse PermissionDelegated (officer decision)2 reasons for refusal

Approximate site (title boundary)
Boundary © HM Land Registry, © Ordnance Survey · details

This information is subject to Crown copyright and database rights 2026 and is reproduced with the permission of HM Land Registry. The polygons (including the associated geometry, namely x, y co-ordinates) are subject to Crown copyright and database rights 2026 Ordnance Survey AC0000851063. Conditions of use.

Proposal

Change of use to a 9 bedroom HMO (Retrospective).

Received
3 March 2026
Decision level
Delegated (officer decision)
Public comments
6
Ward
Borehamwood Cowley Hill
  1. Received3 Mar
  2. Validated3 Mar
  3. Consult.8 May
  4. Target13 May
  5. Decided12 May

Decided in 70 days (council typically 56)

About this application

This is a full planning application for a change of use at 51 Stapleton Road Borehamwood Hertfordshire WD6 5BS. Hertsmere has handled 1,861 applications of this type. This one was decided in 70 days, 2 weeks longer than Hertsmere's typical decision time. There are no previous applications recorded at this address. In the past year there have been 72 applications across Borehamwood Cowley Hill. We hold 1,685 applications in total for the WD6 postcode area.

90% of full applications at Hertsmere Borough Council were approved. Across all application types, the council typically decides in about 8 weeks (median).

Based on decided applications received in the last 3 years.See what's approved near your address

Why it was refused

  1. The use of the property as a sui generis 9 bed House of Multiple Occupation (HMO) results in an overly intensive use of the site over and above the pre-existing C3 dwelling, resulting in harm to the character and appearance of the area due to the intensification of use and impractical waste storage, contrary to the NPPF 2024, Policy CS22 of the Hertsmere Core Strategy 2013 and SADM19 and SADM30 of the Site Allocation Development Management Policies Plan 2016.
  2. The proposed development by reason of insufficient parking provision, would subsequently result in unacceptable levels of on-street parking in the vicinity, which would be to the detriment of parking availability and convenience for the occupiers of neighbouring dwellings, contrary to policy CS25 of the Core Strategy 2013, policy SADM40 of the Site Allocations and Development Management Policies Plan (SADM) 2016 and the Council's adopted Parking Standards Supplementary Planning Document 2014.

From the council's decision notice.

Application details

Postcode
WD6 5BS
Application type
Full Planning Permission
Scale / size
Medium
Parish
Elstree & Borehamwood Town Council

Planning application dates

Date validated
3 March 2026
Consultation expiry
8 May 2026
Consultation start
13 May 2026
Consultation end
8 May 2026
Neighbour consultation start
13 May 2026
Neighbour consultation end
31 March 2026
Last date for comments
8 May 2026
Target decision date
13 May 2026
Decision issued
13 May 2026

Applicant and agent

Agent
NovaDec
Agent address
63 Stoke Newington High Street London N16 8EL

Planning decision

Statutory period
71 days

Additional information

Planning Portal ID
PP-14748513
Documents
7
Constraints
12

Site constraints

Checking the site
2/3
Council recordsAppealsFlood risk

Designations that overlap or adjoin the site outline.

  • Flood zone 1: Low probability (rivers and sea)

Not published by this council, so not checked: Article 4 directions. Ask the council if these matter.

Possibly incomplete for this council: tree preservation orders.

Also checked, none recorded (22)

flood storage areas, conservation areas, listed buildings, green belt, scheduled monuments, World Heritage Sites, World Heritage Site buffer zones, registered parks and gardens, registered battlefields, Heritage at Risk entries, nutrient neutrality catchments, national parks, National Landscapes, SSSIs, Special Areas of Conservation, Special Protection Areas, Ramsar sites, ancient woodland, national nature reserves, local nature reserves, heritage coasts and brownfield registers.

A guide only, from official open data; it is not a planning search. Flood zones cover rivers and sea, not surface water.

Data © Crown copyright and others · sources and licences

Contains public sector information from planning.data.gov.uk (MHCLG and local planning authorities), licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. The Historic England GIS Data contained in this material was obtained on 2026-11-03. The most publicly available up to date Historic England GIS Data can be obtained from HistoricEngland.org.uk.

© Natural England copyright. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

© Environment Agency copyright and/or database right 2026. All rights reserved. Flood Map for Planning, Open Government Licence v3.0.

Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026.

Source: Hertsmere

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