planning permission objection HELP!

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jolsterj

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Hi

If anyone one out there knows anything about planning permission please help........

Beside my house is a field.

The owner of the field now wants to build a massive four bedroom house next door to me.

The house will be three feet away.

I live in a conservation area and I am not even allowed to have a satilite dish.
But they seem to think a four bedroom house is ok.

My house is a converted barn made of lime stone and they want to build a modern house which is totally alien to the area.

I have lodged an objection but i am seeing the planning officer on Monday. If anyone can give me any tips I would be very grateful.

My neighbour who wants to build it has not spoken to me at all about this until this morning when he read my objection on line...and he dont seem to be much bothered about my concerns.

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I'm afraid I'm not a legal expert in these matters, but if your neighbour is building a house only 3 feet away and you have a window facing where his house will be positioned, you could argue about loss of light coming through. I have heard of planning applications being refused on this basis with extensions and large conservatories.
 
Carl is right about the "loss of light" objection, but I think it only applies if the blocked window is in a public room (not a kitchen or bathroom) and you don't have other windows on a different wall that are unaffected.

Presumably this is just a planning application and it hasn't been granted yet? If you are in a conservation area try and get other people living there to support you and make official objections. If it is going to be an eyesore it will affect them and their property values too.

Good luck.
 
Isorry - for some reasons at certain times of day/phase of the moon my stupid browser makes stupid **** double posts!
 
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Yes I fully agree with Tracer, get as many of your neighbours as possible to support your arguement. The more who side with you, the more success you'll have. To tell you the truth, if you're in a conservation area I'd be very surprised if they allowed a 'modern' type house to be built so close to yours.
 
If there is any important wildlife in the field - owls or bats in a tree, wild flowers etc you may be able to get the local wildlife conservation people interested.You need to get as many people as possible to actually write in and object.
 
There are several houses like mine and i have four neighbours on board.

No window facing that way.

Thanks for all the help and please keep it coming.

No bats etc either.
 
Planning seem more interested in loss of privacy than loss of light or a view these days, might be worth seeing how the close proximity might affect you.

Conservation areas and the materials they can be at odds; UPVC and artificial stone can be used, it might be worth asking planning what policy they adopt in regard to this, there might be a Village Design Statement or a Conservation Area Assessment, in which case they might outline suitable materials and styles that are recommended - someone in planning should know. Ask about the status of the land, is it Greenbelt, Village Open Space, Brownfield? Its good to know what and who owns it. You don't need to own the land to put the plans in, so don't make an issue about this.

Make sure if a group of you object that you all object as individuals and not as a group, an objection such as a petition of 10 signatures will only count as 1 objection. If you have any local groups such as a Parish Council, or a Village Trust, talk to them and see if you can get their support and if they will object as well, Parish Councils will review the planning application and make any objections but they do not have the final say. See who is your local councillor and ask if they are aware of the planning and what are their opinion, also worth writing to your MP.

Write down your objections which in planning law have to be objective stating reasons, such as:

Materials: not of the vernacular - not in keeping with the local style and will have a detrimental impact on the area, if its pre-mid-post victorian state this - worth seeing if their is a local history/heritage group who can advise.

The impact the property has on the infrastructure, such as roads and sewers, if you live where the sewers are old there may be history of water backing up after heavy rain then say when it happened. Roads check the impact more cars have, is the junction busy will it cause a danger cars pulling out. Any covenant on the land or other such as Tree Preservation Orders (TPO's) other conservation issues bats/newts etc

When you have done that double check with objectors and make sure you all say similar but as I said before, as individual objections only. Check and double check when the deadline they are to be submitted and make sure everyone else is aware and that they get them in on time. Watch for the day it will come to planning meeting and then reinforce your objection, if application is turned down watch for re-submissions and appeals to Secretary of State.l

Watch out for applications being withdrawn, its an old trick where the person submitting the plans withdraws at the last minute, this is usually if the person hears a group of people have submitted objections, they withdraw and leave of a couple of months and re-submit and usually less people object as they think that their previous objection will count - it won't you need a new one each time, or they lose interest. It might be worth warning folk that this could happen and make sure you have their addresses ready to start if it does happen.
 
Thank you Thank Thank you

All taken on board.

I have already made my objections on line....when i see the planning officer can i make more objections or should i stick with the ones i made.?

of course after i wrote out the objections and sent them off i came up with more ...

All other people are making separate objections
 
There is no reason why you can't make more objections. I once asked to amend my submission which I was allowed to do, I gave them my updated version, and they returned my old one to me, I did this in person to make sure they had the right one and it was before the deadline.
 
Great.

Will see planning officer on Monday and state my case.

Thanks again.....

6 months ago they chopped down a large apple tree.

I have found out they neded permission from the council for this [i do not know if they did]
would this be worth bringing up or would it be considered petty and trying to cause aggro?
 
Its good if you ca get as much fact as possible, I would check if they did get permission and why if possible, your local council may have a Tree Preservation department.

If you are not sure you could add to your objection that you have "concern over the loss of Trees in this area and that as recently as 6 months ago a mature tree that possibly had a TPO order was removed".
 
Biko said:
Its good if you ca get as much fact as possible, I would check if they did get permission and why if possible, your local council may have a Tree Preservation department.

If you are not sure you could add to your objection that you have "concern over the loss of Trees in this area and that as recently as 6 months ago a mature tree that possibly had a TPO order was removed".
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:agree:

The relevance here is that if the tree had a TPO and it was in place when your neighbour cut the tree down he could be subject to some action from the Council. More importantly though is that it indicates 'attitude to disregard authority'.

This can be used to support your objection as you have concerns that should planning permission be granted will it be adhered to. Your neighbour has already demonstrated, if the TPO was still in place, that he has a problem in that area. This is only 1 brick in your defense wall - but you need all the bricks you can get.

As you are in a conservation area and your neighbour wants to build a modern house - are there any other modern houses built within your immediate vicinity or will this be setting a precedent for the area?

If you have a Parish Council lobby them, even if you don't, lobby your local councillor about your concerns about the application.

I was involved in something similar some years back. You can object to the Planning Officer as often as you like but that is likely to be counter productive.

Investigate the planning guidelines for your area and is this application in keeping with these guidelines. If not these areas need to be brought out in your objections and emphasised.

Your objections, and that of your neighbours, must be seen to be factual and objective, not of someone who doesn't want a big house built next to there own house.

Try to ensure that the objections raised between you and your neighbours are reasonably consistent.
 
I found this

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.1063


which clearly states ''it is an offence to lop or fell a tree in a conservation area even if it does not have a tree presevation order on it '

So i have to investigate this and use the 'disregard to authority' line.

Reading what you guys say I feel it is better to stick to say 5 main points of objection although i could probably list 20 lol.

Thanks for all you input and if anyone can add to it please do so.
 
jolsterj said:
Reading what you guys say I feel it is better to stick to say 5 main points of objection although i could probably list 20 lol.
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Good thought on the 5 main points - far better to have 5 strong, rational, points as opposed to 20 wishy-washy points.

For anything you present in writing to the planning authorities, or others you approach to support your objection, keep your objections short and to the point. These people tend to get a lot of such objections and they rarely have time to read it all anyway.
 
thank you i have read the link.

My main objection will be

The size of the property and the materials used is not in keeping with the area.

The property is too close to my house and will look totally out of place as we are in a conservation area.


They have stated they have three cars when in fact they have four and the entrance and parking to the property will be an eyesore to me and and the surrounding area.
 
Have a good look at the plans and the application - who produced them? Did the people use an agent in their application or are they doing it themselves? If they've used some jobbing draughtsman and no agent then they are just doing it themselves and have probably no idea. All the stuff about materials and design will count heavily against them.

You can see these at the council offices (some councils put them on the web). Your parish council will be asked for its opinion, find out who the clerk is and when the meetings are (try the village noticeboard/magazine - failing that ring the district council and ask them for the info).

Check the development limit for the village and the actual boundary of the conservation area.

As you are in a conservation area there must be a document setting out the details of teh conservation area. This will include the reasons for the existence of the the CA, this will typically include info about important views, open spaces, sightlines etc. Get a copy of this document and go through it to find any area where the new build would conflict with the CA. Again it may be on the web - ours is.

On the tree, they should have given notice to the council 6 weeks before felling allowing the council to decide what they awould be allowed to do , it isnt quite as good as having a tpo, but there are potentially substantial fines (up to £20000 iirc for felling)

BTW you are allowed a sat dish in a conservation area. I have a 90cm motorised dish on the back of the house.
 
Have a dig about and see if you can come up with the council's environmental plans for the area and reference and salient points in your objection. That's what I did when some company put in for planning permission to built 160 new houses in the field opposite my parent's house.
 
who? said:
BTW you are allowed a sat dish in a conservation area. I have a 90cm motorised dish on the back of the house.
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I forgot to mention about satellite dishes. A few years ago, along with the Sky mini-dish, I needed an 80cm dish installing as well. When I enquired about permission, I was told that as long as it was located where you couldn't see it from the street, then it was OK, so it was fitted at the back of the house. It may be worth having a word with your council about this.
 
Good luck with your fight, this happened to a friend of mine and all the protesting fell on deaf ears.
The builder went ahead and the only stipulation the planners made was for any window or door facing my friends house had to be obscure glass.
My mate said it would cost him thousands in devaluation.
He put in fast growing conifers and they are now eight feet tall.
 
jolsterj said:
thank you i have read the link.

My main objection will be

The size of the property and the materials used is not in keeping with the area.

The property is too close to my house and will look totally out of place as we are in a conservation area.


They have stated they have three cars when in fact they have four and the entrance and parking to the property will be an eyesore to me and and the surrounding area.
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I would say that your 1st point carries the most weight. Try to get the planning officer to have a site meeting with you so that you can visually illustrate that to them. With your objections provide photos to illustrate that point as they will be on file with your objection for reference at the Councils planning meeting.

point 2 can be interpreted that if it built x mtrs further away you would not have an objection. If I understand your opening post correctly you are opposed to the property being built at all.

point 3 - the counter argument the developer will have is along the lines of 'we are trying to sell the car anyway'

However on point 3 that house will receive deliveries - to what extent will those delivery vehicles cause additional obstruction on the immediate road area? Those the planned entry from the property allow safe and visible entry/exit onto that road and will such entry/exit be a hazard to oncoming road users?

ps Don't overestimate the Planning officers ability - on one application I was involved in the planning officer was insistent that a boundary fence did not exist - it was shown on the plans and he had already made 2 site visits. Only on the 3rd visit did he acknowledge that the fence existed - it was in a prominent position.
 
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The force is strong in the power of the bulging brown envelope, too many plans go through when they really shouldn't

Nearly got landed with a house on a bit of land at the rear of my property, very lucky that the access lane didn't meet the minimum width and would have needed part of my land to get it within legal limits
 
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Thanks again folks.........makes good reading..

will keep this up to date [if anyones interested lol]
 
Pay the planners more than your new neighbour has.... jobs a good un:thumbs:
 
this is what can happen when people go and get it wrong :eek:
 
jolsterj said:
Don't even joke about it.:(



:D
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Nah .. seriously ,must be a stressful time for you ,these planners are a fickle bunch of control freaks ,hope it all works out for you :)
 
There is a fair bit of back story on these demolition cases.

In law anyone can begin work 'at risk' ie at the risk that if permission is declined then they must remove their building. Thats fine if there is a good likelyhood of the development being allowed.
 
ok been to see the planning officer and a very interesting meeting it was......found out stuff i didnt know and he was very nice.

thought we had valid arguements but time will tell what happens.

decision by dec.

I feel a house maybe built but not the one on the original plan.
 
the fact it's being buildt in a conservation area mustbe one of the main arguments. What's in the local authorities plans for the area? Is it greenbelt?

I work in the property field although I'm not a planner (I'm a surveyor) but do work closely with planners.
 
Not greenbelt.

conservation area is a point but houses get built on them all the time im told.

keeping my fingers crossed for something smaller and not so close to me.
 
jolsterj said:
Not greenbelt.

conservation area is a point but houses get built on them all the time im told.

keeping my fingers crossed for something smaller and not so close to me.
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yes they do - but as you say the house has to conform tto quite strict standards when building in a conservation area. 3' from your house is close but you only need enough space for mainenance purposes. try and see if they will move it a few metres away and suggest you will remove the objection - that gives you a win and the planner can be left arguing the conservation policy.
 
3 feet away from your house seems helluva close, not sure health and safety would allow that, how are they going to erect a scaffolding on your side to build the upper half. Safe scaffolding will encroach onto your property if the house is that close. You can tell em to get suffed when they try.

Good luck with the objections.
 
if they build it 3 feet away there will be no way we can put a ladder up the side of our house or put any scaffolding to maintain the roof as our wall is the side of our house and high and their proposed garage [next to our house] is nearly as high with a pitched roof.
 
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