A St Albans nightclub has had its appeal against a planning refusal dismissed this week.

The city centre-based Club Veeda, on Adelaide Street, applied for permission for use of the roof terrace area last year which was denied. The planning inspectors said this was because of "the effect of the proposal on the character of the building and the area, bearing in mind the site location within the conservation area deeming it a locally listed building".

But appellant Kess Skinner, who wanted to make use of the roof terrace as part of his business development, has accused the council of compiling their own entirely unofficial list of locally listed buildings.

The council said in the report: "The governments planning practice guidance advises that non-designated heritage assets can be identified by plan-making bodies, for consideration in planning decisions, but which do not meet the criteria for designated heritage assets.

"As such, there is nothing improper in the building being considered a locally listed building."

The appeal included that the plans would provide St Peter's Street with an attractive, tree-lined principle thoroughfare in the area, raising the roof and replacing it with an additional storey which would be used as a roof terrace.

The inspector said that the proposal would result in a degree of activity taking place which would include additional lighting, 'accentuating the inharmonious appearance of the roof addition, particularly through

the glazed elements which would allow light to extrude from the area'.

They added that this would appear 'as an intrusive feature within the area'.

There is a zone defined by the council as a 'building height control area' where proposals should be similar to the rest of the rooftop skyline. The concerns that the night club building would be too tall were referred to as a potential 'canyon effect', which was a factor for refusal but not as significant as the other harms identified.

The appeal, which was made under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, was refused on February 5.