mvincentd

Bit of a tangent but reading the 6 tests was interesting. No'2:Relevant to planning;Does the condition relate to planning objectives and is it within the scope of the permission to which it is to be attached? A condition must not be used to control matters that are subject to specific control elsewhere in planning legislation (for example, advertisement control, listed building consents, or tree preservation). I'd have thought permitted development rights are specifically detailed and controlled elsewhere in planning legislation, so surely they shouldn't add a condition that removes my PD rights. Do I have an argument.

@Sensus Thanks for your interest. This paragraph follows the Schedule of Conditions (of which there are 14) so i guess it's an informative rather than being condition number 15; COMMENCEMENT OF DEVELOPMENT The attention of the Applicant/developer is drawn to the fact that development pursuant to this planning permission may not lawfully commence unless and until all conditions requiring the consent, agreement or approval of schemes and/or details have first been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The Applicant/developer should be aware of their responsibility in this regard. If you have not already done so, you are advised to put arrangements in place for the timely submission of these requirements and to check that there are no omissions in terms of the details required. Failure to do so may render the development totally unauthorised and could result in Enforcement Action being taken by the Council. I've attached the whole set of conditions incase of interest. PLNG-Decision_Notice.pdf

@hmpmarketingI just queried CIL exemption with my LPA pointing out my permission makes no mention of CIL....they said "There would be no CIL requirement for this proposal. You need take no further action." I then queried how I would discharge ALL my conditions BEFORE 'commencing' (a very emphasized condition of my PP) given there's no entrance to my site through which I can bring machinery to dig trial pits (needed to be able to discharge certain conditions). They said "You can discharge the highway conditions now before any others" which is helpful as I can now make an entrance....but very confusingly contradictory, plus it suggests they won't see making the entrance as commencement.

Ok, thanks all...though now I am confused. Seems i need to check the hole size with the geologist. Its for a surface water soakaway but the test cited at the following link certainly wouldn't require a water truck! http://www.pavingexpert.com/drain08.html

So I have to do a soakaway test which involves excavating a 300mm x 1m x 2m trench and QUICKLY filling it with 600l of water, 3 times over, so I need 1800l of water. Standard advice is hire a water truck......costs 500 times the price of the water it contains!!! I simply cannot bring myself to pour that away! Anyone done this with a cunning heath robinson alternative? I've 2 ideas; buying an 8' diameter 30" deep paddling pool, putting my wetsuit and goggles on,getting in and leaning on the edge to create a spout. The elf & safety department though fears i'll get carried with the water head first into the 300mm wide hole and get stuck. The serious option I was thinking is 2 x IBC's with the larger 4" outflows and some drainpipe to direct it. The next interesting spec on my SE's survey request is windowless boreholes to 5m. He knows it'll be chalk. 3 out of 4 Surveyors quote as requested no questions raised. The 4th says the percussive nature of those boreholes will muller the chalk making it impossible to classify...therefore rotary coring is the option, at around 3.5 x the price. Do I suggest to my SE his spec might be wrong and volunteer to pay £5k, or be quiet and let it go at his original spec for £1.5k.....I feel as soon as i say something he'll arse cover and jump onto the expensive option. The entire survey seems a near futile exercise anyway as there's huge confidence its chalk all the way and the only real risk is voids which the boreholes won't reliably identify anyhow. I currently feel like spending any money on a survey is little more than an exercise in humouring the SE. Happy to be put straight on that view?

At times I though I was watching Plot Of The Year. The houses were decent but relied on their plots for the wow factor, and particularly in the case of the cantilever were in danger of overpowering their plot. The two that went through struck me as the right choice and valid entries but I don't see them as in the same league as last years winner. It is nonetheless an inspiring show and for me there's lots to take away and appreciate without needing to actually like the houses.

Well, I find the explanation by @Sensus rational and compelling. I was hoping for a way around the warranty following some rotten quotes but.....

allbrickandstone.com claim their block is 5mm larger (so reducing the joint gaps and in turn the blockiness) and contain 15-17 flints each....

I've no idea about these but just stumbled across them; http://www.build-cert.co.uk Anyone know of the merits/validity of this 'alternative' ?

A couple of systems there i'd not yet discovered. Interesting that rather than a pure technical head to head it very often just comes down to simple practicalities like availability of product & knowledgeable labour....I guess all the systems 'do the job'. The ICF Tech looks like it has a positive point being UK dimensions...though they're wrong claiming to be the only one; Sunbloc are too. Having watched a Polarwall site progress I was put off by the complicated mess it looked, plus my build has curves which seems to dictate a real compromise to how it was designed to perform. That said Alan is enthusiastically helpful and others on my Nudura course had positive experiences with it. So all in all i'm thinking price might be more influential in my final decision than I expected, with it being easy enough to get to grips with any of the systems.

18 months, personal accident cover included, this is selfbuild.uk.com and Protek were much the same.

Hi This ICF section of the forum seems very dormant given that in other sections numerous people have eluded to their build being in ICF. Clearly there's a predominance of timber frame builders here. Perhaps we can all come out of the woodwork and identify ourselves to each other? I'm currently leaning towards Nudura as I intend to put it up myself and value the wealth of backup in the form of their training, all the videos, a huge user manual, they're a big company that seem to have evolved the blocks to maximise their practicability. I also like the large block size to minimise the amount of joints as they're the obvious weak spots during the pour. I'm not seeing another ICF that has anything 'better' about it, however i've not yet got quotes.....and i'm bracing myself for Nudura to have a bit of a premium (i might be wrong). Is anyone a bit further along in their experience of selecting which ICF?

Hi Good luck with your build. I'm also intending to use ICF and just last week went on the 1 day training course for Nudura. I'm thinking most of the ICF's will 'do the job' but it's worth a premium for the ease of working with Nudura's more 'evolved' product. Would be interested in your conclusions. Sounds like you're getting into the details with the garage issue so you might want to choose an ICF soon because detail drawings done to brick dim's could be a pain depending on which ICF.

So here's how we ended up; WW conclude it's a 3" cast iron privately installed pipe serving 16 houses in a ring, tapping off their water main and running to a dead end. Their specified solution is to cut and cap the pipe just inside my plot boundary then attach the dead end to their water main. This would involve digging up a 3rd party garden and leaving me with 2 manholes on my plot, one of which would necessarily be positioned problematically. This would all end up costing around £15k. .....and then I went and hired a Cat & Genny for £65...... No-one had previously said that the water authority mapping might be SO inaccurate that the first move should be to physically prove the position of things before speculating about solutions. Within an hour i'd plotted the pipe and shortly after dug down to reveal it.....a 2" iron pipe running parallel to its mapped position but circa 15 metres out of position ! The result is good.....most of the pipe isn't even on our plot...that which is can be moved for £3k leaving nothing within our boundary. I feel a fool for not magnetising the advice to me on week 1....physically establish the true line of the pipe, then consider it's impact.

Hi Vivien We are in Dorset too, with plot, permission and now an architectural technologist. The plot came with architect designed full planning permission that we were broadly happy with but wanted numerous amendments too. We spoke with the original architect but they saw the house they designed as being a £3000/sqm project and weren't excited at the idea of working to achieve economies (fair enough, they have their market place and enough work hold out for just that kind of client). So we appointed an architectural technologist who will deal with discharging planning conditions, submitting the amendments, handling cdm as principle designer, as well as producing the regs' drawings. His bill will be circa £7k. Wanting a 'collaborator' I purposefully treated him like an architect, not a draughtsman when agreeing the scope of his involvement. I'm not going to begrudge this money but equally i'm not yet convinced i'll benefit from it versus the alternative AT who was just going to produce reg's drawings of what I put in front of him for £2.5k. The next few weeks will reveal the answer but i'm feeling at this point like many questions i'd thought he might give strong guidance on, i'll actually answer for myself (e.g.; should I choose ICF). This is surely the typical self builders problem....our own level of interest in, and concern with the detail of our builds can render much 'professional' advice academic. As I think Sensus sort of suggests(?), 'genuine' self builders and architects might not be a great fit for each other (unless that self builder is wealthy and easy with his money).

I inherited planning approval with my plot but have not gone to the original architect for my detail drawings...i'm using an architectural technologist who is taking the role of PD and applying a fee of £1250+vat to cover the Health & Safety CDM regulations duties that imposes on him. (Also he has not been keen on me taking the principle contractor role, repeatedly suggesting I appoint a builder.)

PeterW and Ferdinand, yes, all good assumptions that have a wealth of unofficial support. They also contradict each other so for example the officially certificated and authorised water fiddlers say ; "we are concerned that this issue is Wessex Water jurisdiction and therefore the only party to assist would be wessex water directly... Wessex water have adopted all water mains up to the individual property boundary boxes, therefore this would fall into their responsibility to either re-route or make safe." Meanwhile Wessex Water maintain "not us mate, it's a private water main". So daft as money is no object too....any cost associated with shifting the pipe to make the build feasible is agreed as deducted from the land purchase price. At least WW are now investigating...5-10 days for an answer or an absolute written statement that permits me to contract someone to shift it. Maybe it's just me being a paranoid first timer but the idea I can likely just get the builder to do it and 'get away wth it' isn't an adquate basis on which to spend six figure money. Thanks for your suggestions and help....i'll play the waiting game with WW for the next week.

Thanks Crofter. Peter, the pipe is as old as the houses it serves....50's council houses. The current land owner is relatively recent and owns/occupies one of the ex-council houses, and the deeds only contain typical non-specific easements for pipes and cables etc. All the houses are now ex council in private hands, no-one really even appreciated the pipe was there, even though it was serving them. It's been suggested to me today that the water authority's description 'private water main' may be misleading as really in practice its a 'shared private water supply pipe'. That description would help as it would lessen the terms around which one can mess with it as opposed to a 'main'.

Yes, the 70cm lift may well force a new PP app' but my AT whose favourite part of the process is winning permissions feels its worth a try as a non-material so i'll let him lead the campaign. I've a question and don't know what section it should post into, i'm sure not here; A private 3" cast iron water main runs through the plot and I definitely need to move it once out of the way for excavations then again into its final resting place when groundworks are at that stage. Key points are the pipe serves 15 houses with water from Wessex Water BUT its not their pipe, it's private and no-one can confirm ownership of it. The absolute likelihood though is its the council's who would have installed it when they built the council houses it serves, now all sold off....they lack the record keeping efficiency to show it is/isnt theirs. A/ My conveyancer says;"When a council property is sold off there are no specific easement reserved, because the Housing Act under which the right to buy was created is used as the power to sell the property, and this Act implies into the transfer all necessary easements which are in use for the benefit of the property at the time and equally reserves out of the land being sold any easements necessary for the use of the adjoining land retained by the council. I do not know whether the Housing Act contains detailed enough provisions to allow for moving / relocation of a water pipe such as this, my feeling is that it probably does not. We could obtain specialist advice from a property barrister on the easement itself and what the options are, I am thinking probably £1,500 to £2,000 in fees for that." B/ Wessex Water say; "You'll need permission from the pipe owner and all 15 houses you'll affect, to move the pipe". C/ The land seller's conveyancer says; "The water main is PRIVATE, it's not Wessex's and it's not adopted by them, so on your land its yours, do what you want". D/ Builders and ex-Wessex workers say; "How many times a day do you think this happens....we just get on with it, prep the new pipe to minimise off-time, warn the neighbours, do it...blink and they've missed it". I'm buying the land at agreed price minus the "impact cost of the pipe". We've known about the pipe all along and endeavoured throughout the conveyance period to identify an owner and get a clear official route of action to move it and work out the cost. However, now we all want to exchange but are held up by putting a price on this due to the difference of opinions & lack of clarity on pipe ownership and therefore what the prevailing requirements are for its legal re-routing. Does anyone even know which forum section to post this in !? Thanks

I'm really interested in your build...looks great and mine might turn out to have a lot in common. I'm in Brighton (though my build is Dorset). I'd love to come be nosy and happily help a couple half days on the flint ('help'..read learn, or perhaps hinder. I'm a total novice who hasn't dug a hole in my plot yet even).

Well, thank you all for your comments. to answer; Yes, full PP. No soil survey but high confidence from multiple sources....gravel initially into chalk mainly, not hitting water (other than the stuff in the bloody pipe!). We need to achieve approx only 70% of the architects £ prediction. All permitted development rights removed. I've had my dad's old flat cap in the drawer for years unworn...I knew it would come in handy some day....nice idea thanks, the provisional figure i've got for the excavation & muck away is around 18k....so considering learning and having a crack at excavating, i've so much to practice on before I get to the critical edges. Hmmm, woodworm....i'm not going to have a go at justifying that really but I guess it was a way of keeping me on the ground safe rather than constantly climbing scaffold to jump 2 storeys into the sand pile. Thanks for the kind comments on the plot and design. It was all there ready and waiting, we can't claim any of our own inspiration went into the design. I'm going to try for permission to lift it all 70cm or so out of the ground mainly to make the entrance and driveway less hilly, change internal layout a bit, alter cladding type and substantially change the landscaping to make it more natural, less manicured. The whole thing is in danger of being a bit too slick 'sandbanks' style so we've gotta knock the flashy edges off it for it to be 'us'. There is no other building in the village even vaguely contemporary....thats why the planners want it pushed into the ground out of sight.

Hi I'd just said hello on eBuild back in late February when our project consisted of nothing more than ideas and aspirations. The site closed before there was anything concrete to say. Talking of concrete....thats what i'd planned on minimising the use of as I gravitated towards an MBC or similar structural approach.....but the plot dictates eh....and now finally after failed attempts to get offers accepted on land in first Frome, then Castle Cary we now find ourselves about to complete on a sloping plot in North Dorset with permission granted for a pretty much underground design....so concrete is now the key ingredient. Other fun factors include the water main running bang through the middle of the plot, the architects cost projections being in another galaxy relative to our funds, the impossibility of extracting a static caravan once the house is built, our currently living 2.5 hours away in Brighton and having no head start via local knowledge/contacts, area house prices not supporting this concept even if we bring it in relatively cheaply, the sum total of my building experience involves throwing darts into old railway sleepers as a 9 year old to replicate wood worm (my contribution to my dad's self-build/renovation). Pic of plot and permitted house attached. I look forward to picking many brains here...thanks in advance.