A CITY councillor has finally won planning permission to turn his home into two houses, 22 years after the plan was first mooted.

David Henwood, who represents Cowley, first applied to change his home in David Nicholls Close, Littlemore, in 1997.

An appeal to covert an annexe into a separate house for his disabled son, Julian, and a carer was finally passed by the Planning Inspectorate last Thursday.

The city council’s East Area planning committee (EAPC) dismissed that latest application in August 2018.

Mr Henwood said: “All told we made 36 planning applications and fought six appeals. Both my wife and I have suffered, each refusal however has tempered our resolve.”

He was formerly vice-chairman of the EAPC and left the room whenever his applications were being discussed. He now wants to become its chairman.

The committee turned the project down last year over worries the new house would be too dark and that it would make it ‘unacceptable’.

But planning inspector Sian Griffiths found light in the building was already ‘acceptable’ and would still be following future work.

Given the annexe has already been built onto Mr Henwood's house, she found its change of status from an annexe into a second house ‘would not be particularly harmful to the character and appearance of the street, nor that of the surrounding area'.

The design and technology teacher, who works at St Gregory the Great School in Cowley, was elected in a by-election as a Labour councillor in July 2014.

But he has sat as an independent since November after alleging he had been ‘bullied’ by some of the party’s councillors.

He added: “Fortunately the Planning Inspectorate allowed the appeal. This means our son Julian can now have his sensory room and a means for his full-time carer to live in.

"It’s not the end: my experience over the past 25 years simply means I am determined to bring fairness to EAPC not just as vice-chair but as chair.”

Littlemore Parish Council, which Mr Henwood was also a member of until he resigned in February, was also opposed to the application. A member spoke against it in August.