mjc55

As others have said Vijay, I really wouldn't let this worry you. It doesn't sound as if you are doing anything wrong and it really is not your concern if a neighbour has issues. It's a shame because we all want to get on with our neighbours but at the end of the day what is more important is your own peace of mind.

Small-scale self-build and custom build development of no more than 9 dwellings and on a site which has an area no larger than 0.5 hectares is exempt from BNG. Larger scale outline applications should be dealt with in the same way as phased development. See the BNG PPG for more information. From Biodiversity Net Gain FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions

So the build is not going to affect the extra area so I would not change anything.

how much of a change is it?

We have had a similar, if not quite the same, experience recently. After we bought our plot we found that the red line was in the wrong place. If you want to read more than have a look in this thread. The plot already had OPP but when we submitted the reserved matters approval application we put in the corrected location plan. This was turned down straight away as it didn't match the location plan in the OPP. Subsequently we have submitted a new planning application with the corrected location plan. However, my understanding - and that is all it is - I am sure others will be along to confirm or reject my thought process, is that the planners aren't particularly bothered about this as long as you don't try and change it part way through. Do you need to update it at this stage? After all, they would not get involved if things changed at a later stage. Obviously the issue does need sorting at some point but I wouldn't bother if you didn't have to.

Interesting read here Planning reform article

Why do you think the neighbour is doing this Vijay? Have you had a falling out? Have you talked to them about the situation or re they unapproachable?

Seconded

Loads of really great feedback here, thanks everyone 👋

I do remember your GCN tales when we visited you! And certainly your efforts (joint I am sure) in creating the garden look great.

We are thinking about that, but if it is a positive in planning terms then maybe that will sway us. I suppose the down side of including is that it might cause issues for neighbours if they are looking to do any work in the future.

Interesting, There is currently a ditch running along the rear of the land (in fact it runs from next door to about 3 properties away). We were thinking about using this as rainwater run-off from build (Green roof). Maybe we could somehow incorporate a small pond next to the ditch, run rainwater to it and excess will flow into ditch.

Anyone done this/thinking about doing this on their plot. We are about to put in planning application and weighing up the pros and cons of doing this as regards the application. Is it a positive for the planning process or neutral/negative. The only aspect that occurs to me is that ponds/open water are an attraction to Greater Crested Newts. We had an ecological survey of plot yesterday and are awaiting report. There are GCN's in the village but a distance away (probably 5/600m) across a couple of roads. So currently should not be an issue. Will more than likely do it anyway but wondering whether it is something we should put in statement to accompany planning app.

As no one has posted for a while and given that we will not be in a position to install ASHP until next year I thought that I would resurrect this thread! Has much moved on in ASHP world? I ask as I am thinking where to position ours and currently the obvious position would be on the outside wall immediately outside the "plant room". Neighbours on that side do not have any real habitable rooms facing us on that side and there would be around 3m (ish) between us and the fence anyway. Interestingly having a quick google brought one site up that in one breath stated that it shouldn't be on South facing wall and then it should be (???). The plant room is on the South elevation. The thing I am slightly nervous about is proximity to our bedroom. Would be around 5-6m to (clerestory) window in bedroom (single storey property) and although we are aiming for passive I am certain that in the warmer months the window will end up open (would be better to not follow up in this thread about the wisdom of doing this btw!) There would be room on site to put the ASHP unit forward of the house (to one side of driveway) within around 5-10 m of the plant room so this is one possibility I might explore. The other thing I guess is that the more I read the more it seems that ASHP technology has moved on recently so maybe noise isn't as much of an issue as it used to be? As always, thanks for all responses.

Interesting stuff, thanks for contributing everyone. We will be single storey, and although our en-suite will be next to the plant room, all other HW outlets will be on other side - Bathroom,utility, Kitchen. The plant room as it stands does make sense in it's current position and we would put ASHP and external batteries to that side. We are probably going to put HW tank in bathroom (next to utility and Kitchen) and therefore with ASHP and batteries on the outside wall not need masses of space in there.

London is a very different place in comparison to most areas when it comes to public transport. I have never lived there personally but both kids have and our niece also. They rarely used cars to move around relying on the public transport.

Must admit that I am favouring external battery storage as well, could go on wall directly outside plant room, remove external door and have internal door from spare bedroom (sliding door to save space)

As an additional question to this. For those who have storage batteries, where are they, in plant room or outside? It seems that most of the battery systems allow them to be put outside the building envelope.

Having started discussing access regarding plant rooms in this thread here I thought I would start a slightly different one here. So basically I would be interested in what size people have allocated to plant rooms and whether it was adequate for their needs? I am about to put planning in but am prevaricating a tad as I don't think that at 1900 x 1800 it will be big enough to contain MVHR, batteries, UFH manifold, potentially HW tank (although this could potentially go elsewhere) etc. Thought and experiences welcome.

This is something I am thinking about at the moment. The current idea is to access plant room from the outside, keep it completely separate from rest of house but am not sure how often I would need access. Would be interested in others experience of this.

Cost wise, was there much difference between going single/3 phase?

Just read that a fast 22 Kw car charger would require 3 phase, is that experience of others.

So how many on here have gone for 3 phase on their newbuild? I haven't looked into this yet and so have no real insight as to the necessity to go for 3 phase so this may be a silly question. I have a quote for a single phase connection to site and was wondering if this was increased to 3 phase, would the costs vary significantly.

Thanks Ian, i did think about that but not really worried about it though. I would be interested to hear others thoughts though, is this something I should consider? What might happen that would make me reconsider?

Good luck in your endeavours. Unfortunately the planning process is such a subjective matter in my experience. Although all I did in my planning career was to do with relatively small scale stuff, it was always a "hold your breath" moment when I got the email telling me who would be looking at the application. It really made a difference who that person was. This was completely the opposite to the BR process which always seemed to be an objective process. Interestingly I did a couple of jobs at the tail end of last year (I had retired but these were friends who asked for a favour) and there seemed to have been a sea-change in the way that the planning department in Wiltshire was working. Applications were looked at by junior staff and had to be authorised by more senior staff before decision. Both jobs, I thought, would have issues, both were passed!