mjc55

The neighbours wanted to vet you? I am a bit gobsmacked that they a) did this and b) the estate agent agreed! Or were the neighbours the ones selling the land/property? As regards fees, that is a difficult one. I retrained, after many years working in IT, to be an Architectural Technologist. Setting prices s not an easy task, and to a degree there was an element of buying in work when I first started. However, I do not like the RIBA method of a percentage of build costs at all, I really don't see the justification for this. The amount of work required to design a house does not vary significantly according to the cost to construct it IMO.

I think that is how we are going to approach it. Aim for passive standard but don't make it the main goal.

Was speaking to a neighbour a few weeks ago and he was sure that when the drains were laid in the village where our site is, about 20 years or so ago, that a spur was put into our land. Had someone out today with a camera and they confirmed that this is in fact the case. Main drain is about 2.5m to invert and therefore should be able to easily fit drains to the office/store that is going in the back of the garden with plenty of fall to the drain. Saved us a good few thousand I think. I had budgeted 5K or so to get the connection. White line on road shows where it runs into the plot.

I have seen it said a few times on the forum about wanting to build to passive house standard (or as near as) but not being bothered about it being certified passive. In fact I have said the same myself! I am now asking myself why? Is it because the idea of passive is great but the thought of building to a standard but not actually reaching it is scary! Thoughts?

Just a thought re driveway. Have you got room to turn a car round there? Can be an issue with planning.

On our site we put some scalps down by the existing gate, otherwise it would turn into a quagmire when parking there. Checked with CIL people first as although we have OPP for the plot we can't start anything until full PP in place. They were happy with this. The OPP included moving entrance to site. Also checked with planning department and they were happy for us to do this.

Looks fab, well done. How much of the work did you do yourself? Would second the request for ideas of cost per sq. m. If that is OK. Would fully understand if this is something you would rather not divulge.

Community Infrastructure Levy. It's a "tax" on building a new house. Doesn't apply to all local authorities, so the first thing to do is to check your local situation. If it is in place then it is based on the purchase price of your plot (at least it is in Dorset). The key thing is that if there is a CIL in place that you DO NOT start any work before claiming self-build exemption. This is key, get things wrong and you will be liable no matter what. Just noticed you are in Republic of Ireland, I am guessing that this is not really applicable to you as it is an UK thing.

No complaints no. The chap in the house where the ditch runs behind and along to the road said that on occasion there is a bit of water at the back. Sometimes he does get water in the ditch that runs towards the road - at the end closest to road.

less than a week and it's all the commies fault already!

Went over and spoke to neighbours a couple of days ago and the ditch runs all along behind the houses/land on the road, see below for sketch, green line is ditch.

I didn't actually get it wrong although obviously I cant necessarily disagree that it was a schoolboy error. The problem is/was that the position of the proposed development overlaps the (incorrect) red line. So although within our actual boundaries, not within the incorrect boundaries. This is what I have been trying to sort out. The fact is I am completely in the dark about how they would treat a completely new application, and having spent a lot of money purchasing the land I can't contemplate them turning us down. presumably that could be a possibility of a new application as opposed to a "simple" reserved matters application. I do disagree with your "Planners aren't difficult" statement though. I have enough experience of the difference between various individual planners to know that they are idiosyncratic in their approach to applications, there were some planning officers in the LA I worked with who I knew would give me difficulties.

Don't know about "well qualified", all my experience was with extensions, fairly small scale stuff. Never worked on a new build. I did think, however my experience would stand me in good stead, not so sure now.

I don't disagree with point 2 & 3, I must admit to being a bit peed off on initial receipt of their email. However I would say that having to navigate through the reams of requirements is a little onerous. Especially as I do think there is a massive difference between a self-build plot and a major house development - something that doesn't seem to be reflected in their planning policy. And I did spend the last 10 years of my working life submitting planning applications, so I am not unfamiliar with the process (and the difficulty that some planning officers seem to delight in)! On point 1 though, although, again I should have put some more info with the application, LR site plans are not that accurate. It is obvious from the location plan that it is the same site, maybe a bit of thinking on their part could have led to a response along the lines of "can you please clarify position of red line". I don't, at this stage, want to go for a full planning application, rather than approval of reserved matters as that would surely give them more scope for being difficult! (This was one of 4 sites identified for development in village plan) Hey ho, onwards and upwards - might not be finished for Grandsons 6th birthday after all!

Bit peed off, received an "unable to register application" letter today. There were 3 points raised. 1. "Red line on location plan not part of Outline Application. The details of the reserved matters application must be in line with the outline approval" If you look at this thread here regarding our site you will be able to read more. But in essence the issue was that when our land was split off from the land to the North in the early 2000's the LR title plan was marked incorrectly. We have subsequently resolved this issue with Salisbury Diocese and the land boundaries have been corrected and submitted to the LR. As seen below on the right the boundary is as it is correctly, the left shows the location plan as per the OPP accepted in 2022. I have tried phoning the planning department but haven't got through yet. My view is that there is no substantial change to the plot and that it shouldn't materially effect the application! 2. Ecological surveys and reports etc. etc. They are saying they need an ecological survey. Don't think I can argue with this, and don't particularly want to. I just wish their requirements as regards what is submitted were a bit more obvious. I have just spoken to a good friend of mine who is an ecologist and he has talked me through what is required. The only really urgent one is a Bat activity survey. I will try and get this organised asap. 3. Sustainability checklist and Statement. As above no real argument other than it being more obvious with regard to providing with the planning app. We did send a Biodiversity checklist with the application that seemed to suggest that nothing else is required. I have had a very brief look through the sustainability checklist and on first pass there doesn't look like any gotcha's on there but will look at that in more detail when I calm down a little. Any thoughts are welcome. p.s. I would add that I do think that the guidance and the hoops you have to go through should be more measured when it comes to self-build. Not that I think that we shouldn't have to be ecological etc. in our thought process and practice, just that what is relevant to large scale development is not necessarily relevant to single plots.

This was in March, you can see standing water in the ditch!

This gives an idea of the ditch. The area on the left in front of the field boundary. I am going there today and will get a better picture. I suspect there may well be more water in there today after the rain of the last few days.

Popping over there today will double check.

I don't think it does flow anywhere tbh! I will post a picture later to indicate the lie of the land, just going to the pictures in 5 minutes!

We have so many things to think about on our build and I have just turned my mind to the need to cope with rainwater. So currently the land we are going to build on was part of a larger slice of land that was split up about 20 years or so ago. Originally (up to the 1960's) it contained a pub and its garden. The pub burned down in the 60's and was replaced with a house. When the house was sold to Salisbury Diocese in the early 2000's a fence was built to split off the land that we subsequently bought last year. Much more about this can be read in this thread here. At the rear of our plot (and the houses on both sides) runs a drainage ditch, which periodically gets very wet. The land itself is very impermeable (Peterborough Member Mudstone) and runs at a slight fall to the rear. So our proposed design is for a single storey (green) flat roofed house. The plot is around a quarter of an acre in total and we are planning for a gravel drive to the front of the house. I am certain that a soakaway would not work, the ground is very impermeable (so much so that in a place where I got the digger stuck the track was still full of water well into May) My thought process is that we would be able to run any excess rainwater from the green roof back into the drainage ditch, and maybe the same for the drive. Does this sound like a feasible solution that would be accepted by Building Control? Edit: I meant to say that the whole village only got a main drainage system about 20 years or so, so for the moment I am assuming that they are foul only, not combined.

Have a look at this Grand Designs episode! Grand Designs skinny house

Maybe have a look at Acodrain in front of patio door? https://www.aco.co.uk/AS350

Don't know what the CIL situation where you are doing this work, but make sure that everything is in place if there is a CIL regime, could be costly otherwise.

Well, a bit longer to do this than I originally envisioned but PP in today, hopefully it will sail through with no issues 🤞

Yes, I was aware but thanks anyway 👍