A DISPUTE over the replacement for a fire-ravaged house on an exclusive estate is to be settled by an independent inspector.
The row centres on a six-bedroom property called Nantucket, in Lake View, Dormans Park, which was destroyed in a blaze in September 2008.
In November last year the council refused planning permission for a proposed replacement building.
Its planning officers concluded that it would be "inappropriate development" to the detriment of the green belt, because the planned new house was bigger than the previous one.
In his submission to the council Christopher Kitson, a chartered building surveyor for the scheme's planning agent, Cunningham Lindsey, said: "The dwelling has been redesigned to be more in keeping with other adjacent properties."
Mr Kitson added that the "slightly greater volume" of the replacement building – 14.4 per cent larger – was "in line with the allowable percentage increase of properties in green belt locations".
The public inquiry is scheduled to start at 10am on December 4 at Tandridge District Council's offices in Station Road East, Oxted.
