Bancroft

Sadly ours will be on the front but, I have to say, your setup looks much more dicrete than many. Have you had to take any anti-bird/nesting measures?

How slimline/innocuous are yours? Do you have a photo? One of my key concerns is the panels will be on the car port (which is integrated into the house roof) which means that they will be front and centre to anyone approaching the house. So, I want them to be as innocuous as possible. I could accept something very slim and low profile but clunky panels stuck on with half a Lego set would be a big no-no.

Seen that - thought this was a slightly different topic and didn't want to change the focus of that thread. Roof was actually specified by us. The whole build is going to be barn-like in appearance and, for our area, metal roofing is the more common solution. The only other common option around here would be clay tiles and I'm no fan of those.

Lack of space and being in a national park limit options somewhat but, given the opportunity yes I'd agree would be much easier/cheaper.

We're building a house that will have metal standing seam roof panels. We want solar but I hate the ugly carbuncles that are fitted to some homes. I like the idea of Flextron (bonded to the seamed roof panels in the factory). I acknowledge the fact that they're probably not the most efficient but the fact that they're innocuous and flat against the roof is more important to me. My only concern is if the bonding fails and/or inefficiencies increasing over time to the point of them not being productive. Question: Does anyone have experience of the Flextron system that would help inform my decision on their use? Or, does anyone have an alternative for seamed roof installations that are low profile from a visual perspective?

Do you mean like this? Looks like they grip on the vertical seam section and then provide a mounting point for the solar panel, though not sure how you size roof seam width to solar panel width without ending up with a Meccano set's worth of scaffolding. Has anyone got any experience of using these?

My personal thought is that, instead of new build 'anywhere' projects of 100+ houses in one spot, we should be sprinkling the new builds across multiple sites and limiting development to 5-6 houses at any one location. This has a number of benefits: It stops Nimby-ism which is probably the biggest blocker to new developments It reduces pressure on specific sites - most transport/school/doctor/utility systems can cope with 5-6 new houses without too much additional work - they can't with 100+ Small developments are more likely to create neighbourhoods and communities; modern anywhere projects rarely do. Done properly this could create a positive response to new housing in so many ways.

Razor wire? Would snag their clothing (and flesh) to stop them falling and they're unlikely to try it again (unless they're a Darwin Award contender).

Agree, we had four different Planning Officers from Pre-App to final Decision (and I think all of them were only part time, 2-3 days/week). I'd also add that, from the perspective of someone suffering planning over the last 18 months, I'd say the biggest issue is trust and confidence in the system. No amount of 'full stack' back office tools, 'resource efficiency', or 'feedback tools' are going to change this (I'm quoting management phrases from the MHCLG Digital website here...). Trying to have a discussion with anyone in the planning department was almost impossible - it's almost as if the Council had a 'no communications' policy (they certainly don't publish an Org Chart of names/telephone numbers). I applaud any efforts to improve the system but I think focusing almost exclusively on tech (as this initiative seems to be doing) is probably not the best way forward. Talk to people face to face, don't 'guide them through a set of tasks'.

Not sure if its the same for BC but for planning we just showed them a bill for the existing supply. The Openreach online system is not fit for purpose for private builders. We had a really frustrating time trying to get an additional supply to a site that already has fibre. From my experience, you'll get no sense out of Openreach's India offices until you agree to pay whatever random figure they come up with (that random figure for us was £12k - with no details as to what the work entailed!) Once you have agreed to pay the random figure, you have 30 days to do so or they just invalidate the contract. However, once you've agreed to that then you will be allocated a local Supply Engineer who can visit the site and talk sense. They can then work within the system to actually achieve a solution. A completely stupid, back to front situation but that's Openreach for you.

Have a word with CoolEnergy in Grimsby - they might be able to provide the sort of solution you're looking for.

These look to be the same roof panels that Catnic are using for their solar roof solution (both sites show the same photo so it's either that or one of them is being loose with the truth!). Catnic were, I think, the early adopters of these panels but I'm seeing other suppliers entering the market now. Speaking with reps about this, they can be bonded to the steel panels in the factory or applied afterwards. The roof manufacturer's preference is factory bonded, naturally, and I would have thought that they would be longer lasting in terms of stickiness but if the roof is already thre then options might be limited.

If Ajax is a Ukrainian system, do they give the option of adding a drone that will hunt down anyone trying to break into your home? I'd happily upgrade to that option!

When we were on an old-style septic tank system it was fine but when we replaced it with a package plant it was recommended we stopped using it. Chances are it might have been ok but if the manufacturer advises against it and then there's an issue...

After the inane process our planning department put us through to get our planning, the devil in me says the planning officer should be formally reported to the head of planning for attempting to alter a decision made by the planning committee without the proper authority. That might help to put the Little Hitler back in his box and stop him trying it on with anyone else.

Are you on mains drainage or a private sewage system? Most private sewage systems won't work with salt water softener systems, I believe. Had a Twintec system in the past. Ok, but paying for the salt blocks started to get weary after a few years.

If you've paid for a Pre-App they should have indicated how long it would take. Nevertheless, if it's been over two months than I would certainly be on the phone to them to try and track down what's happening. Planning departments are notoriously slow and unhelpful in most cases, and seem to try their best to be uncontactable. if you're not getting anywhere with them I've found the best thing to do is call up and ask how you register a complaint about the planning department. That seems to energise them. Not the way it should be done but it's worked for me twice where everything else failed.

Interesting, I wonder if the people putting these up have to comply with the same building regs requirements as a home owner would? Or will it be different because it's the Council so normal rules don't apply...

I noticed this wind turbine the other day (outlined against the solar panels) on the edge of a new development. Surprised for two reasons: First, will it actually achieve anything meaningful? It's quite low and surrounded by houses and some high trees to the south west (where prevailing winds come from). How/why has the local planning department agreed to it? It doesn't seem to fit the criteria required for personal wind turbines, even permitted development rights.

When I did some Googling around regarding this I quickly noticed that each local council seems to take a different approach to the process and what requirements they want (probably proportional to the feeling of self-importance the council officer dreams of). I put myself down as the owner and the 'company' doing the work, kept detail to an absolute minimum, and just got an approval email a few days later.

That should be on a t-shirt!

I'm not sure if it's readily apparent how many spare connections might be available - even the Openreach guy who came to survey our site couldn't be sure. Not sure if it helps in your situation but here's what's happening with us: Although we already have fibre to the site, we want an additional fibre connection. I went through the living hell which is Openreach's online system and Indian call centre. Once I finally managed to register they came back to me and without any visits or other details, sent me a bill for £12k + vat. Once I'd returned from my quick circuit around the solar system, I called them and said I wasn't going to sign up for a £12k bill with no details, and that I wanted to speak with a field engineer and have them visit. After another round of inconclusive phone calls they finally explained that I could only have a field engineer allocated once I'd accepted their quote. The key thing to know - after accepting their quote you have 30 days to pay it. if you don't pay it then they cancel the whole process and you need to start again. That's your get out clause. (Stupid way to do it but we are dealing with Openreach/BT here, remember?) However, by accepting the quote you now have a field engineer you can talk to and who can visit the site. Mine was in touch within days and on site 2 days later (and couldn't have been more helpful). He agreed the whole system was stupid and has now gone in to bat on our behalf saying the £12k bill is stupid too. Still waiting for the final outcome but I have a lot more confidence in a positive outcome now that I'm actually speaking to someone who knows what they're doing.

No-one has mentioned steel frame yet so I'll go for that!🤣

...and anti-insect mesh?

One hidden benefit of having both is the ability to do things like drill pilot holes then screw into them - without the need to keep swapping a drill bit for a screwdriver bit. Even with a quick change system it can become a real pain.