ToughButterCup

Thing is @Dave Jones, all my professional life I've had to deal with challenging behaviour: from nasty hairy-arsed sergeants to screaming toddlers or neighbours who nailed our gates shut when we got Planning Permission. Or people who broke my nose in the Pot Still in Glasgow. I've got to the stage where I think of bad behaviour as normal and to be expected. And to admit that mine isn't perfect either. In this instance, I should have been more than capable of dealing with the core issue (safety) and have been able to look past the rudeness and sloppy practice. Its just when you've been in pain for a good month or so, it wears you down. There's less spare capacity to deal with an official who tells simple lies and on the basis of that, threatens unwarranted legal action. I'd just had enough AND wasn't taking my pain killers. Next time, I'll ignore the email, take my pain meds and wait 48 hours. Then be as unreasonable as I can be.

Perenial Allergic Rhinitis. Had a friend who had it: she said it protected her from hayfever. Cold water swimming sorted it out almost instantly (week or so)

That's a ma boy..... wish many others learned that before they started posting Welcome!

After having written the above post, I took a shower and a dose ofTramadol. The world looks different when you've had a good slug of morphine. You know how a friend or close relative can see what you - ill, upset, cross and in pain - can't see..... well Debbie asked me if I'd had my painkillers yet this morning. 😔 I'm trying hard to do without them - but I should have taken the hint when they sent me out of hospital with 100 Tramadol (morphine) tablets. Maybe I'm not the RoughTough HeMan I once was. I was hoping to finance a decent night out in Lancaster with most of that box of Tramadol. A more detailed reading of the email from the HoD of the BCOs at Wyre Borough shows that the original rude BCO is off the case: I've been told to contact his younger colleague. Is it just me and @nod who get rude BCOs? Lesson? Stay fit and well or don't build a house. Welcome to the newly avuncular, pleasant Ian. Now, lets check: where's that Tramadol ? - Top stuff

That's very loyal of you Gary. Thank you. Yes, all of you are all right. I should; shut up, read my signature line and fit a restrictor of some sort. Even just a bit of 4x2 across the window will do. What I object to in this case is the manner in which this whole matter has been handled by the BCO. I really can't do any work on the house at the moment because both my hips have been operated on and it's hard enough to pick up anything from the floor let alone do any work around the house. They have been told that formally. I intend to start work when I'm signed back on again , I've sent them the minutes of our meeting outlining what should happen and when. I think they've lost those and they've just decided to have a little paddy. Well I can have a paddy too. It's about time I learned from my English colleagues. Stuff them.

Yes, it's safety. I'm close to losing a sense of humour about this BCO. He's just covering his own Botticelli - couldn't give a stuff about our saftey. I can't do what I can't do at the moment. And I - in turn - couldn't give a stuff about Sign Off. We don't need it. Maybe one day we will, so it'd be nice to have. Thanks Gary. If feel a brief - Up Yours - email to the BCO coming on. Ian

By what authority may a BCO require a job to be done by a certain date (fit a Juliet balcony) Yes, I have one who is insisting that I get this job done by the 28th of April. I wish him a hearty dose of Osteoarthritis in his hips and a fifty year waiting list.

The drainage sector is the single most dysfunctional building sector of all. There is no formal qualfication for practice in this sector - except maybe that your nose has been cauterised at birth. . He works closely with [... x, y z, eh...] Ask for his contacts - do a bit of Due Diligence. Trust your instinct. If I were in your situation, I'd have less hair than Kojak or Bruce Willis. You can't find anything in the GBRs..... Here's an extract from my blog about this sector. Have a smile on me. ========================= Adapted from my blog Let me take you with me on my first steps on the road to cynicism in the building sector. For some reason (sewage smells?) many people appear to delay attention to the soft and smelly until it’s either too late or until they’ve backed themselves into the smallest room in the house; and then, trousers round their ankles, they allow someone to lock the door from the outside. Evidence? Use the search terms refusal and percolation on our LPA website. ‘Refused pending percolation test results’ is all too common. Imagine then my incredulity when, on the recommendation of a colleague, a company turns up to do a ‘PERK test (mate)’ for a drainage field on our land. Just a bit of context…. we live in sight of what was a clay quarry, within cricket ball throwing distance in fact So, there might just be a bit of clay around “Yeah, that looks fine (mate) you’ll get a drainage field on here no bother” he says without so much as lifting a shovel. “Tickety boo ” I say. “Gonna do the percolation test then?” “Aye… I’ll get ‘t shovel from ‘t van” “Where’s your machine then?” I ask. “ No need for one (mate)” “I’ll get the tea on then” . Tea duly made…. yer man’s gone A square foot of the turf has been gently disturbed in one spot, and carefully replaced. An alarm bell sounds in the dim, dark recesses of my brain. And instantly switches off. Time for the pub. Friday is International Party Night in our place. ============================ Good luck .....

Hmmm, a common ICF 'worry'. And it needn't be. I built in one particular ICF, sent the design to an SE: his response was (can't remember the detail) - but in essence, you'll need to fetch enough from your local steel mill. Asking colleagues on BH , one response was - ask the ICF producer's own SE: and what does the ICF's published guidance say? The reason for that (apart from the obvious) is that the BCO may well not know. S/he'll want access to the formal documentation about it I rang Durisol's (spits quietly) SE up and had a chat. He listened to what had been specified, and when he'd finished blowing his breakfast out of his nose with laughter, sent me a prpperly certified design. Including his fee, we saved several thousand. In places, I doubled up on his recommendation - a few quid extra. Get the official documentation Ask for Ndura's own SE to specify for your design.

Yes, and Yes. And so can the wall and the cesspit. The pigs may well remain too. I think I permission about a month before the window shut. Had the applicant managed the micropolitics of the situation better, I guess he could have squeezed his application through too. He's so in-yer-face with anyone and everyone: even his partner admits that he has anger-management issues. He also deliberately delayed his application because he wanted to open a bakery on the site where the stables now are. A fatal delay. 8 / 9 years ...... talk about grinding slow......

You are not alone in suffering unreasonable and threatening behaviour where soft and smelly stuff is concerned. Here's my neighbour cutting off (by nailing the gate shut) access to our Skeptic Tank when he heard we had gained Planning Permission. I can't be sure, but I think I remember that I might have reversed the nailing process with the bucket on my digger. Surprisingly easy to make mistakes like that I am told. From that day to this, we've not paid a penny towards pumping the tank . Saved £400. That makes it about £10 per nail.

Phhhhhhhhhhhh. He's going to be even more inbloodysufferable now. 😔

That appears to me to be threatening behavior. You have no alternative now other than to go formal.

7 years ago : at least we used rebar and not 2 by 2 in the trench 😝

Ok: forewarned is fore-armed @Losingsleepoverdrainage. 🤨 I need to tell you this (apologies of you already know). In seeking to to discharge elsewhere in land that isn't yours to cross : you create a potential 'ransom strip': the owner can (justifiably) charge you to put your foul drainage pipe across the land. We had one neighbour who threw a hissy fit, and another neighbour who was completely cool about the process - made sure that an estate agent was consulted who gave both parties a reasonable price for us to have a covenant which lasts 88 years (why 88 - search me) paid for the landowners legal fees dug the trench within a week of the agreement being signed. You are correct The process above gives a fair to all way out of the problem.

I grew up on a pig farm: and love them. If you know what you are doing, well-handled, pig-poo is top stuff. I would be as pleased as punch to look after them. Well-kept porkers don't smell at all. As a kid I always had a pet piglet. And I love shooting rats: they're worthy opponents. But, as you might expect, my soon to be has-been neighbour is not well disposed to me. He's the kind of bloke who makes constant reference to England not being the kind of place his dad fought for any more. Lucky he doesn't know I'm German ( 'old a minnit... if he did then that'd explain a lot. Ah well, never mind what a shame)

In attempt to prevent someone else suffering what we have had to put up with for the last 8 years, this post summarises key aspects of this case and itemises our lessons learned. Here's the background to a long and determined attempt to squat on open farmland. The saga started 8 years ago, and will end on the 27th of December this year. And here's the Inspector's uncomfortably-well written Decision . I found myself clutching my withers at her uncompromising written style, attention to detail, diplomacy and mastery of detail. Summary We were awarded Planning Permission in 2015 25 yards away - crucially separated by a farm track - the new landowner moved in to a caravan sited on the field next door A cesspit was dug - open to air within a meter from a fence by the track He made Planning Applications . All were refused. Then he builds a dwelling house INSIDE the caravan. Swing a mouse? No chance. Subsequent Appeals were also refused. Enforcement Notices (EN) were issued HM Inspectors visited The first EN was quashed. Because the owner had built a dwellinghouse inside the caravan. Yes, you read that correctly. A further EN was issued Inspectors visted again and a Public Meeting (of interested parties only) was held. Despite an invitation, I stayed away from the meeting. The Refusal was published yesterday (Enforcement Notice Upheld with amendments) Lessons Learned Cesspits need Planning Permission and Building Control Sign off. Here's the point: The moment you see an open cesspit in use, write to your LPA with evidence. Heres the point: Stick to the knitting: the lack of Planning Permission: the LPA tried to fob us off with Environmental Health Heres the Point : If the LPA does not address the issue within 8 weeks or so, make a formal complaint. The Environmental Agency is a chocolate fireguard I didn't take a log of the number of times I rang them or wrote to them: but each time I was fobbed off. One unusually candid Officer told me directly that unless there was a major spillage of effluent they were not interested : a two person cesspit was almost irrelevant he said. Here's the point: save time, forget about the EA Caravans are not always caravans If a caravan has block-work poking out of its underskirts and the block work is connected to a foundation pad, its a Dwelling House If a caravan is hidden behind a high wall, densly planted Leylandii and guarded by a Rhodesian Ridgeback dog: smell the rat Here's the Point: be as persistent in your pushback as the applicant is in deceit. Do not bother to contact your MP Here's the point: ours thought of herself as a referral unit. No action was taken as a result of her involvement. Why have I bothered to make this post..... ? Had I taken effective , determined action promptly - the following would not be the case The high walls that disfigure the lane will stay : why ? 4 Year Rule The cesspit will stay will stay : why ? 4 Year Rule The Caravan will stay: why ? 4 Year Rule The Leylandii (30) continue to grow in a hedgerow full of natural species. And all because the LPA simply did not do their job in a timely fashion. And when they stirred their stumps they did a sloppy job. If you have a point to make in terms of Planning Enforcement and - on the basis of evidence , you are sure of your case . Go in hard, determined and armed with every scrap of relevant evidence clearly itemised and described. The only excuse I can muster in self-defence is that I had a house of my own to build. The Head Of Planning has resigned recently. I pity the organisation that recruited him.

Happy to help annonomise the graphic if that helps. PM me and attach the graphic if you like. ... I'm bored as hell recovering from a hip operation at the moment, so I've got time on my hands .....

The rule idyl often stops where the soft and smelly starts. I don't think I've read a more exasperating thread ever on buildhub. It has all the elements of deeply nasty local hamlet life. Passive aggression, mendacity bullying. I feel for you a great deal. I have a strong feeling that there is no way out of this problem other than to formalize it. Yes, that will lead to unpleasantness. Yes, it will lead to conflict. But unfortunately, I think that will be the only way to break through the crust of lazy thinking and '... We've always done it like this...' Is there a way of you posting a suitably anonymized map of the problem on this thread? If we could have a look at that, we might just be able to 'see' a creative way out of the problem.

Did you buy the house from the landowner? If you did, that would explain the reluctance of the landowner to -implicitly- admit that anything is less than up to scratch. And if you did then ...... [no point in further speculation] This is the nuclear button: report the system as non-compliant to the EA. Tell them who the landowner is. And work towards a resoultion together. You have a delicate few weeks ahead ..... my sympathies

OK, @LionessHeart, now would be a good time to scream. While you are considering if the @pocster is actually worth a scream - and not a mere snigger- , here is a reading list for you on Class Q by a really well-known author Martin Goodhall. Good luck. Ian

Welcome @LionessHeart. Your Other Half called Richard by any chance? Anyway, here goes with the advice. Keep the post short, simple and focussed. That way you get much more detailed answers. There is no limit on the number of posts you make. For example, ask : Does anyone have experience of Proquant? Are there any alternatives to it? Are there any gottchas with it? We're hoping to build to PH standard. Has anyone got any key bits of advice? Is @pocster really as gorgeous as he thinks he is? In other words, make the chunks of the problem as small as you reasonably can. It's OK to scream on here

"Ere, Canski, mate.... whassat pole for ?" .... "Ya wot ?"...... One Oh FFS moment down, several more to go.

Could not agree more . So important that ... you might like to insert the date in that field too (if its a new issue) as in Salamander Cottage LA[..] 9[...] : Steels Drawings : 14/02/2023 Just have a quick look at your own email IN box. Look at those Subject Lines that draw your attention. BCO's got the same problem. Make it easy for everyone.

Mange your Inspector. How? Evidence. Request copies of the original Inspectors Notes (they have to keep records ) Take your own contempraneous notes: phoographs, videos, recording, written notes Send copies of those notes to the Inspector Ask the new Inspector to request and refer to the original Inspector's file notes. Long term Sickness cannot not refer to the notes that (should have?) been taken.