ToughButterCup

Nobody checked our site. And I was naive enough to think they would. But I did everything the ecologist required to the letter. All good so far. And then - this Our (then) next door neighbour applied for PP. He submitted my ( yes mine: he downloaded it from the LPA website) initial and Detailed Ecologists Report. He re-jigged it suitably : the only difference was the address . The LPA accepted the report (why wouldn't they - they had already done so once before), and submitted that report to their Partner Ecologist (the LPA ecologist) for comment and Action Plan. The response of that ecologist has -forever- damned the sector for me. Our Conditions relating to ecology cost about £6000, and nine months delay. The ecologists response to the neighbours application was (summarised) Put up a notice that Great Crested Newts may be found, and also advise readers that if they find one, they should put it in the grass at the road verge. Cost £10. I paid half my ecologists bill and never heard a peep out of him from that day to this. 4 years later (after Refusal, Appeal and Enforcement) the neighbour had the good grace to apologise -I think- sincerely. And they all lived happily ever after. Now go out and hug an ecologist because they have feelings too - mummies and daddies just like you and me. Go on now. You know it makes sense.

Sensible. A look at my posts about ecologists will show that I have form with that particular breed of human. Maybe the two or three ecologists I came across were Albino , Melanistic perhaps - whatever, they were deviant, sloppy, expensive and over-qualified in the technical sense: underqualified in the common-sense sense. Apart from my aversion to paying their mortgages, if Permission merely requires builders to take advice, or simply follow guidelines, we can do that without needing someone to do it for us while being paid £200 an hour on our dime. I forgot to say, you can easily do a Bird Survey by using any Bird Call Analyser (App). There are a good few available (Here) The thing about them is they will list and make recordings of the bird calls for you - and thus give an independently verifiable record of what is likely to be found nesting around your place. Give that, you can make a good stab at where they are likely to be nesting by consulting any of the many online resources about the species nesting habits. For example the app may detect a seagull. You can be sure that one will not be nesting in your hedges or trees (because they don't nest in that habitat). But most importantly, if anyone asks for evidence of your survey, if you've used the app, you have time, place date and species identity records right there on your phone. Ian

Politely tell the ecologists that in this context, ( non dischargeable..... no evidence) you will do your own survey and subsequently follow published guidance on building and wildlife. Cue mini explosion from the ecologist Sit tight. And there's nothing the ecologist can do - nothing that is enforceable. Demonstrate how you have followed guidelines : evidence the process. Images, notes, photos.... Cost £ 0.

Take a lesson from the Afghans: pile more mud (or whatever you want to use / have available) on top of the damage. Where is your local bulk clay supply - and is it suitable for building? Next to our house we have an old clay 'quarry' It was used to supply clay for the local canal (100 meters away). You could do worse than find out which quarries supplied clay from for the local canals. Idea? Got me interested now......

Apply and wait. My guess is the same as @joe90's. Its a Material Matter. And, unless the issue is clear-cut, then the answer will always be to err on the side of caution. You could spend a bit of time looking for similar applications on your Council's Planning website - has anyone applied to do something similar - or not? If they have, there's your answer. If not, thats a hint you might get away without formal Permission. Thinking about what appears to be the local micropolitics, it may be better -anyway- to apply and get on with other stuff until the Council makes a decision. Don't be too concerned about neighbourhood objection: they need to make sure their objection is Material (that bloody word again 🤨), and Planners are used to pointless objections. Immaterial arguments are (should be) automatically rejected. Please remember, we are interested (some would say nosey) amateurs. We are not experts.

@Jilly, if it's like I suspect it MIGHT be - there's in all probability a push-rod behind the button. The 'stroke' of that button may be adjustable. If I'm right thus far, then all you might need to do is rotate that push-rod clockwise or anti-clockwise such that the rod extends outwards (towards the user) a bit. If it's an old design, the linkage will be brass, and might be clogged up a bit. If its plastic, then you're in luck. If you are able to screw in (or out) that may well mean that the mechanism engages that bit more with the innards. It could be that the button itself is firmly attached to that push-rod - in which case, does the button itself rotate? I had a loo in Berlin that was just like this - it had a sloppy linkage (as in there was lots of play in the various bits) design. (Yes, there was an inspection panel in a cupboard next to the pan 😐)

Another job for a cheap inspection camera with a fiber probe ? Here's one I found earlier 🫡

The guy who fitted that (and it wasn't a woman) was getting his revenge for something.

Manchmal können Deutsche Designers wirklich dumm sein. Echt doof. Foto bitte ..... Close-up if you can

Wouldn'tcha just luve to talk to the dick'ed who left the system like that. Now, there's an exposed summat or other yes? Is soem sort of push-rod visible?

Ideally is an understatement. Thats the only way you can do it and not lose your teeth swearing.

Kaput eh? You sayin' German engineering is Scheisse? Or wot? Seen summat like this in The Fatherland. Does the button unscrew? If so Bingo. Access to the wall behind (as in the room behind) the assembly : in other words a service void accessible from a room adjacent ? Wenn nicht, dann ist hier Alles Quatsch. If not, sure as Hell a German didn't have anything to do with the design.

Build the wall and the step(s) Make a little trench (200mm) between the steps and the lawn , fill with 10mm /20mm if you'd prefer to (say) 400mm .

You have full PP? Or Outline permission? Have you submitted your plans to BC for approval? (Often called The Building Regs Application) If so ( and they are happy) , then No is the answer. No (as proof) is the answer to the second question too. One quick way I have heard of as showing commencement is to install a temporary electricity supply (you may already have one?). Photograph and date the installation. Send via email to Building Control. Job jobbed. As usual @Temp (above) has the definitive, official, water-tight answer. It's a bore though. And costs munee.

People are where they are in the house-ownership cycle. Maybe their ' push ' to just get-on-the-ladder was (is?) harder than you realise?

That's a good emetic now. Oooops there goes a biscuit. 🤮.

Three aggressive tomcats.... on patrol most days - when not so deeply asleep that they appear to be in a different time warp.

Welcome. I'm not sure if anyone here (on this board) has any experience of Baufritz: as I understand it they are a "Turnkey" company. Our focus is more on doing it on your own. Perhaps you could ask the company if they have any existing clients who are willing to talk to prospective customers.

Yes Joe that's what everybody says, except when you live there loads of people who live in Shrewsbury always call it Salop - as well . That's quite interesting because 'Salope' is French slang for 'prostitute'.

Wuster. It's another of those places like Shrewsbury - locals call it Salop.

Smells sometimes evoke powerful reactions. The OP above presumably is talking about a smell that isn't wanted and that's really inconvenient. I can't think of a way of dealing with the problem other than to mask it in some way. Or presumably learn to live with it. I had a mate who lived in a flat in Worcester, not far from the Lea + Perrins Sauce factory. I used to visit him on my motorbike. I knew I was near his flat about half a mile from where he lived , sometimes from further away than that. When I asked him how he managed to deal with the quite intrusive smell, he said that after week or so he just didn't smell it anymore. Visiting his flat used to make me hungry -like - really hungry.

Invite them to eat at yours? Our neighbours are 25 meters away : liver and onions, bacon butties, an indecent curry , our teenagers' armpits (when that age) - all within smelling distance at 25 meters. Years ago, I did an attachment in a hospital as part of my job - the doctors (with glee) sent me to work in the the morgue for the first week. A fabulously professional morgue attendant took pity and told me - breathe through your mouth only. 'Click' smell disappears.

Morning, welcome! SWMBO and HWMBO together eh? So who's the boss? 🫡

I'm on first name terms with the local rats. Mice are almost irrelevant. We have some field mice hereabouts so I'm quite careful about controlling them. The rats have already done some damage, they were in the roof. But I sorted that out - took the roof tiles off , clean the hole out filled it with foam , recovered and repaired the felt, popped the tiles back. That's one thing about being a self-builder you can get the job done instantly and you know how to do it and you know how to do it well. We all suffer from rats round here because we are right next to a pig farm. In addition we run a good few chickens so rats are never not a problem. They appear to me not to mind a weekly onslaught by me with my rifle . They don't take much notice of their colleagues being shot. In fact they sometimes use their dead colleagues as lunch. They are worthy opponents and in some senses I'm grateful for them keeping my shootings skills almost as sharp as they once they were. There is of course a dreadful temptation to use poison : but that seems to cause our three cats to have upset stomachs so we try hard not to use it. I will never shoot any of the birds that decide to nest in our Cellotex. They are all most welcome. No matter what Steamy Tea says, I'm almost sure that the U value of a warm starling is higher than the u value of the insulation

Exactly Terry. That's what Debbie says.