[Closed] Planning laws. Anyone planning on starting a blood feud with their neighbours?

Do people have the money to build extensions?

Is that 8m just for a one storey extension?

FFS, could have got a bigger attic extension than we did earlier this year 🙄

Won't this just encourage DIY enthusiasts to attempt an extension

What about sheds? Surely here at STW we're all about the sheds!

Won't this just encourage DIY enthusiasts to attempt an extension

Neighbour of mine is currently planning a 6m2 extension and I have every reason to be grateful for the "protection" the planning system has given me.

Desperate stuff from Cameron and his cronies.

Thankfully, the new build generation won't have to share their estates with chavvy neighbours in the social housing the developer was forced to build by the nasty nanny state.

More ****ing tory bullshit.

Just starting on a 8m x 4m bike workshop in my garden this WE, however I have already got planning consent for it (took 14 months mind).

Bravisimo - you could well be right

A friend is a planner and she seems to think that, in combination with previously announced policies on social housing like [url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-19311364 ]this[/url], that its paving the way for the complete geographic separation of frightful 'social' housing from more Middle class areas. And this is effectively going to lead to the creation of ghettos in all but name.

Does anyone live next to a Tory MP?

Tory MP's don't have neighbours. They have moats 😉

and Duck Houses....

i will chip in for an 8 m phallus or a hand with one finger pointing up if you do

I think it's a fantastic idea. I've had 2 plans killed off by some nimby and not that it hindered their life in any way, they sought to undermine my right to build a kitchen extension on a G2 listed, grrrr…
Mind that was 20+ years ago now.. I've never recovered from nimby’ism planners/objectors. Have I mentioned my 2nd SO's father was a Solicitor who also sat on the planning committee for Derbyshire? No? ohhh I have a great deal to say about him…and his limited view of life.

Bet the facists at Peak Park Planning Authority are exempt as they attempt to pickle the environment in aspic at some fantasy point in an idyll that never existed, unless you are a farmer or quarry or cement factory of course - and breathe!!

So there is a relaxation of planning laws that mean you can build up to an 8 metre (24 Foot) extension without planning permission? Or so my mate Dave says;

Now there’s a plan (no pun intended) that’s not going to survive contact with the fascists at your local planning department, I’m sure they will find a rule within a sub clause, of a document within a document dating back to the Doomsday Book; that says your extension needs planning consent and places a prohibition order on you stopping all work until you jump through many red taped hoops, several times over.

Please Note: this may be a biased view as I have the wounds after one house renovation and a garage and extension to another house.

I'm planning on annexing half our street 😀

Horrible little people in planning departments.

Honestly, some of the ones we had to deal with were just downright nasty. One guy actually said "I can't extend my house, why should anyone else."

Little shit. Thanks to him, we had to cut the corner off our conservatory to ensure it didn't pass the 3m limit. What a joke and let me re-iterate, what a nasty, nasty little person.

Good I say, what you build in your own garden is your business.

Binners will you be having a party once the first extension related death has been confirmed?

Yes... then I'm going to annex the local park for my new guitar shaped swimming pool

Ahhh yes the Peak Planning "Authority"

The once was a farmer who wanted to convert a scrap yard in the rear of his farm into a shed for his cows.. refused.

Good I say, what you build in your own garden is your business.

Thankfully, this is not the case, and the planners make sure this is so.

I don't agree with this, so I'm going to extend my garden by 8m by knocking down my house.

[i]Just starting on a 8m x 4m bike workshop in my garden this WE, however I have already got planning consent for it (took 14 months mind).[/i]

This for me is more important, we've just been put back again by planning (so now can't start until spring as I need the roof off and the walls will be exposed - to frost). They have 8 weeks to respond to an application; after 7 weeks they asked a question, which after our answer gives them another 8 weeks...

And the question they asked - are we on private or public water supply? And for those who know Scotland, they could've just looked at our Council Tax bill, as it is on there FFS!

Do people have the money to build extensions?

There's plenty of activity in this section of the market already. I'm turning away work. It's housing developments that are 'needed' not bigger extensions to existing homes.

Existing PD rights are generous enough as they are (imo) and don't need relaxing further.

A couple of years back in Stoke-on-Trent a bloke was murdered by his neighbor as a result of a planning dispute....

clubber - Member

FFS, could have got a bigger attic extension than we did earlier this year

Its possibly one of the most pointless gesture by cameron yet

I imagine the only extensions it will get built are ones that have already had permission turned down, ie the most contentious ones so will probably cause a load of grief

it does nothing to alleviate the housing shortfall and serves to remind us all just how far removed from reality politicians are

samuri, check out
http://www.tlio.org.uk/chapter7/

It is not likely that the planning system specializes in recruiting the nastiest, most two-faced individuals it can find, so it is safer to assume that there is something in the culture of the planning system that leads planning officers to behave like this. One factor is that your planning officer is probably fairly junior and after having been initially encouraging towards you, he or she may well be leaned on by superiors; and these superiors may well be influenced by councillors or other local political interests. One former planning officer states: “There is a hierarchy of planning officers that the application has to filter through and there can be a lot of conflict of view and pressurized disagreement. Certainly, if one officer is considered too sympathetic to certain applicants or developments (‘gone native’), then a more hostile (‘objective’) senior takes over.”

I can't help but think that planning departments have been making money off planning applications for extensions that would have been allowed under permitted development anyway and not advising this is the case.

*So it only really appears to be an (ahem) extension of these existing rights.

More of a concern generally is that in alot of cases developers of sites usually have to give a proportion over to affordable housing - the new guidance I heard was that this would no longer be required if it wasn't economically viable.

Can't help but think that not many affordable based of developers calcs that the figures don't stack up!

* I haven't actually seen what the proposals are fully.

Planning officer here, and it's quite funny that people are happy to slag off planning officers and the planning system, and quite rightly to a point, but when someone wants to build something monstrous next door to them or their dear old gran, it's suddenly not such a bad thing...

And as for this stupid new rule governing the size of permissible extensions, this is utter utter madness. This Tories have always hated the planning system and will do all they can to dismantle it.

Just yesterday I had to go and see an old lady whose neighbour had just put up a 10ft wooden fence which has had a devastating effect on her property and more significantly her happiness. Luckily the planning system will see that the wooden fence comes down, not if Dave and his mates had their way it wouldn't though.

I can't help but think that planning departments have been making money off planning applications for extensions that would have been allowed under permitted development anyway and not advising this is the case.

Very few planning departments are running at a surplus, and those that are the revenue is used to prop up other council depts which are running at a deficit. The aim is to have the dept self funded, though most are not.

I really wasn't joking about the deaths, you know? I seriously reckon there are going to be passive-aggressive, suburban killings over conservatory-based disputes.

What do you reckon loddrik? You must see these disputes first hand

See them all the time, not seen any get violent, but it seems the richer the occupants and bigger the house the more bitter the dispute.

Perhaps it's just PPA that is staffed by opinionated nasty little people, but when living in a village that is 40% rendered buildings to be told that render is not in keeping and the cost of the project should double because "in my opinion it should be stone, and that is what counts", you may see why petty planning officials are up there with estate agents and solicitors as everyone's favourites.

I've never had any major problems

Was just trying to point out that not many people (outside of the industry) seem to know about permitted development - and get advised that this is the case by anyone.

I work in an Architects practice (though I'm not an Arch), and the rule of thumb appears to be: Planning granted = good planner, Planning refused = bad planner 😉

It's the petty minded stupid illogical decisions the Planners make the peees everyone off, like the render post above.
Thats what you lot get bad press for.
Helping Old Ladies with garden fence disputes is what you should be there for, not to decide "it don;t look right to me so No you can't do it like that" decisions.

First hand experiance here from both sides of the fence.

If planning permission is refused there is the right of appeal. If decisions are really 'petty' you can also be awarded costs against the local authority. Do people really think that planning officers refuse things on a whim? Planning officers are generally working to rules set by others. Councillors on the other hand...

I've had more problems with Client's requirement then Planning.

A lot of people in the industry don't know about the GDO!

Down with planning. I think we should look towards Ireland and Italy for planning and building regs. not.

Just a thought, but will people like Tesco who aren't exactly the greatest respecters of the planning process, now see this as a green light to go mental on store expansions?

Horrible little people in planning departments.

In my experience of trying to get to the bottom of numerous planning disputes, council planning officers are generally sensible, level-headed and practical.

It's the councillors on the planning committees and the general public who cause all the problems.

Just a thought, but will people like Tesco who aren't exactly the greatest respecters of the planning process, now see this as a green light to go mental on store expansions?

Unlilely, was doing some research recently for a feature and it seems most of the major supermarkets have moved beyond the aggressive expansion phase.

Think Tesco had a profit warning about it, for example.

Good planning I surely one thing we do need in our crowded and over populated country. You need it so the right services can be built, schools, etc. and so houses and stuff don't end up being built in totally stupid places. Like they were in Ireland and now nobody wants to live there or everybody has to drive as they live in the bog.

The only reason they want it is that it is a quick fix to start the economy moving. Not sustainable or good for the long term though.

Unlilely, was doing some research recently for a feature and it seems most of the major supermarkets have moved beyond the aggressive expansion phase.

Tesco just won an appeal for their 16th store in Reading (on their usual planning technicalities. They can spend a lot of money on lawyers)

If planning permission is refused there is the right of appeal. If decisions are really 'petty' you can also be awarded costs against the local authority. Do people really think that planning officers refuse things on a whim? Planning officers are generally working to rules set by others. Councillors on the other hand...

This is quite true.

With regards tescos, there are far too many of them, and I live what is called in the press 'tesco town' sometimes.

The reason so many tescos get approval is down to councillors who are weak, massive section 106 payment and the fact that tesco often foot the bill for large infrastructure developments that councils can't afford. Plus if you have an area or street which has run down, tesco can often spark a level of retail regeneration. Which some would argue us better than boarded up shops, which is ironically what tje likes of tesco caused in the first place....

Thankfully, the new build generation won't have to share their estates with chavvy neighbours in the social housing the developer was forced to build by the nasty nanny state.

My nicest neighbours are your "chavs" in social housing.

Edit: Tesco built an Express store near my old house while the planning process was going through - obviously knowing someone on the inside and suitable bribes helps.

CaptJon - Member

Do people have the money to build extensions?

I expect they will all remortgage and max themselves out on barely-affordable repayments with overly-keen lenders. That helped last time didn't it? 😀

sas - Member

Does anyone live next to a Tory MP?

My Tory MP lives 'next to' no houses at all, in what would be a 900k house if it was just in a garden, lord knows what it is worth set in it's couple of acres of grounds. That is not a joke at all btw. But he doesn't have a moat and the duck house was funded from his own pocket.

Bikebouy.... First hand experiance here from both sides of the fence.

Shame on you, leave the old lady in peace 😉

Hahaha, no seriously not all Planners are the same*

Just in my experience gained fron G2 listed renovation and an ex's father being on the planning committee in the Peaks..

*this may not be true, other opinions should be sought.

Like they were in Ireland and now nobody wants to live there or everybody has to drive as they live in the bog.

As an englishman living in the "bog" the lack of planning appears to have worked well in my estate (with it's 10% social housing) - 197 houses in the estate.

We can have up to 40 square meters built on the back with no planning. I'd say one person has built to the max, and their garden has loads of hedge around it.

At it's worst the back gardens at one point looks like back to back yards of terraced houses except with nice yards.

It's fine, the only scary bit is getting everything built to the regulations - it can take a while to find a quality builder.

loddrik - Cambridge or Inverness? I think they were the two most Tesco'd towns in the UK...

As for my recent application, the council has cut the number of planners to save money, so you only get processed if you phone them every day and pester them for weeks on end. I only started doing thing after 12 months wait. Other than that, it was straight forward and so cheap they can't make any money from it, £70 or something like that.

Liverpool, there are so many of them, of the express kind, tbf its probably only the local press who call Liverpool tesco town.

Sometimes they are a necessary evil but many areas are absolutely saturated now.

Billiard Room 🙂 Cant wait.

A nice championship sized pool table 🙂

Footflaps,think you'll find it's £150 for domestic application,still doesn't go very far ............

@ Flaperon

My nicest neighbours are your "chavs" in social housing.

Lack of smileys in my post may have implied I was being serious. I was being sarcastic and apologies if that didn't come across. I need to realise sometimes my liberal wetness does not precede me.

[b]Loddrick:[/b] (or anyone else) does anyone know if there's an official guide to the new 1st Oct planning laws online? They are coming into effect next Monday and the only "semi-official" info I have found so far is from newspaper articles.?!? The planning portal doesn't mention the new laws at all.

Also do the laws apply for extensions already under construction? ie: say I already have a 2m extension under way with permission, can I now take it out further to 3m or is it only for work started after 1st Oct?

Thanks very much for any info anyone can give.

Well, if asking questions here. How about this.

New build and the builder has built the garage so small you can't park a car in it. Can-O-worms or easy to sort ?.