I usually post my blog entries on a Wednesday, but somehow it didn't happen this week.

This week I have submitted the application to discharge our planning conditions.  Although there were 5 listed, one was to say 'do what you have plans for' and the other 4 were all to do with contamination.

Condition 2 was to get a phase 2 contamination report and 3,4,5 were all to do with remediation if any contamination was found.

The report was 72 pages, guess that's where 5k goes, and said negligible / low for everything, so there is no remediation to be done.

I was hoping that discharging the conditions would be a quick process, not realising that it follows the full planning process as per a new application.

So, after hoping to start on the barn soon we can't do anything until this is approved.

I must also do the CIL commencement form as well, although I might as well just get on with that now.

It's occurred to us over the last few weeks that all the 'stuff' in the barn currently needs a new home, either long-term or temporarily during the build.

Down the slope near the house we have brick buildings used historically for the pigs which we used for the bikes.  Unfortunately, over the last few years the already dodgy roof collapsed in almost completely when the main rafters broke.  This was probably because the front and back of the pig sty had a major argument and decided to go their separate ways.  One part forward and one part backwards.

The plan was always to knock this down, and we still will in due course, but in the meantime we are rebuilding it for storage with a lean to on the sides for the tractor and dumper.

We are almost entirely using stuff we have lying around, except for joist hangers and nails.

The huge cracks have not changed in years, not even when we removed the old roof, actually that was probably part of the problem as it was very heavy.

We already have metal roofing sheets removed from some other sheds that were knocked down, there is probably not enough for everything, but as we have the barn roof to take down we can finish then.

We are hoping to get the roof on the first side this weekend, then I can start moving all the wood.

It has become clear that I'm going to need to install some stables as the horses are out 24/7, with just a couple of shelters.

Not a problem until something goes wrong and you need to shut them somewhere.

I also need a new tack room as the current one is in the barn and somewhere to keep the hay / straw / feed.

To avoid another planning application I've decided to get some that are on 'skids' and not foundations so technically moveable.

Thankfully, this won't come out of the build budget as I keep virtual pots of money for various things, such as animals, cars, bills etc and the animal pot has enough for this.

Next week, it's continuing with looking at what's needed for the new build, including door furniture and tying down the windows I want versus the ones we can afford.