waylanderUK

Yeah these echo my thoughts exactly. We all feel he's just trying it on with us... And if they try paint balling on the sly I will report them to the planners and use my evidence. I'm going up there to video it this weekend to ensure that any damage to the site from their activities can be demonstrated.

There deffo won't be any buildings being built on the ancient woodland Without that its not gonna be any good id have thought - just a small bit of plain land full of dense trees.

Yeah - the site is around 4 acres - by dimensions were very rough. But as you say its very small for such an application. Yes ive also heard of the council requiring fences to be erected - which is ok - but they would then need to interfere with the very dense "ancient woodland" to that I suspect (posts/holes etc). I also spoke to our planning consultant about it - he didn't know enough about paint balling specifically to offer a very definite appraisal but did think it was unlikely given the right of way/proximity to our houses . In my head by the time we get planning through (about a year) hopefully they will have applied for change of use and we have objected and its all sorted out... BUT... there's a chance we're gonna be building with this unknown hanging over our heads. We may just decide to "build to sell" rather than building our forever home if not resolved. It's an important decision for us. Thanks for your advice!

He was notified of our planning application and came offering the land (out in the six we are all familiar with each other)! Which is another reason we think the paint balling threat is phoney - presumably he thinks were loaded now and 65k is nothing to us! This guy was a farmer himself and has always owned the land - he is gradually selling off his assets hence writing into a tenet for this little parcel that there must always be access for the farmer though it to the other field he sold to the farmer. Presumably the other farmer insisted on it as there's no other access to the other field otherwise. The land has never been for sale previously.

No neighbours apart from the guy selling the land but 60k is way over the odds for land ee can’t use.

The owner of the land has given access to a farmer for a field he sold to him at the other side of the 4 acres.

The land is approx 150m alongside ours. Essentially the owner of the land wants 65k for it and has told us he will sell it to paintballers if we don’t buy it. £65k for 4 acres doesn’t compute. both the existing and new properties literally back straight into the woodland.

Unlikely given the land is only 50m by 200m. You couldn’t miss them as the land is so slim if you get me. They would be practically next to our garden. I’ve got. Nothing against anyone using their land for whatever but it’s gotta be appropriate. To me - this isn’t safe.

So I suppose a bit more info is that we’re planning on building a new house to replace a storage building - a sizeable investment. I’d have thought paintballing activities right behind a new house is going to reduce its value.

Yeah I suggested to the architect that we just use a barrier and therefore fewer tests but apparently he’s tried that before and the planners insisted on the tests anyway. honestly for price of mind a few grand isn’t an issue but 20k would which is why I’m here really. All good input so far and I’ll be speaking to my architect/planning consultant again to see what we can cut down. thanks again!

Was this full contamination and mining checks including boreholes then? 6K sounds more palatable!

They wear masks to do paintball though ive heard? Our house borders directly onto the land and I won't be wearing a mask. Neither will the farmer driving through in his old tractor to get to his fields...? I suppose the noise was the least of my issues really - being in the countryside there are noisier things going on. I suppose it's also the privacy aspect - the field looks directly into our house/lgardens and has been historically unused. @Temp Yeah ive had a read around but havent found anything quite like our case i.e. the size, proximity to other houses. I did find references to rights of way through a paintball fields being a big no-no somewhere. Which makes sense. Cheers

Hi all - reason is that there is a mining entrance at the bottom of the field according to historic records and indeed in the area. Also within 500m there's a old dumping ground for waste which added more weight to the contamination requirement. Spec wise I did see 4m holes mentioned 4x and also 3x 30m boreholes for coal investigation works, gas monitoring, the quote was provided by my architect. It also had gas testing in it too... soil sampling... Architect says a lot of the houses in the area have the same survey requirements as its a coal/clay mining area.

Does anyone here have recent experience of costings for intrusive geo (mining) and contamination costs? Its going to be a condition on our planning application sadly We've been given a few quotes ranging from £23K - £30k! In January I'm going to phone around a few more companies, but just thought id ask here for additional help. Plot is approx 400 sqm on a 1.5 acre field if that makes any difference - I'm not sure to what extent they actually do the drilling/sampling. Its in a general area of mine workings, but phase 1 showed nothing untoward under the plot itself. Many thanks for any help!

Hi everyone - first post here so be gentle We own a small holding and it's rumoured the adjacent 4 acres of woodland (with a farm access track through the middle) will be used for paintball in the near future. Obviously we are somewhat concerned about it from both a noise and safety point of view - local council queries have been rather unhelpful. They won't say anything until/unless they receive an actual application. Does anyone here know how likely change of use is to be passed given its classed as "Ancient woodland", only 4 acres, directly adjacent to our house and having a farm access track through the middle? Its such small piece of land and simply not safe for such an application. Any thoughts greatly appreciated!