RichyC

We have planning to extensively renovate our house and was intending to start in Feb. Our external garage was due to be demolished in the planning permission but we have since thought it would be nice to have it as a summer house. We put in for a change of use, as suggested by the planning office, to now be refused the change (No explanation given). Our architect is now suggesting we could still build it under PD. It satisfies all the criteria and he has checked over the planning conditions on the approval and there is no mention of PD rights being withdrawn. However it just seems a little strange that we could still have all of our PD rights, even after an extensive build. Does anyone have any experience with where we might stand. We were intending to use the summer house as temporary lounge whilst the main house is being built so wanted to build this first. The refusal has thrown somewhat of a spanner In the works. Link to original planning approval https://publicaccess.torbay.gov.uk/view/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=QQ7GWTQIKBL00&activeTab=summary Link to summer house rejection https://publicaccess.torbay.gov.uk/view/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=RI33GOQILNJ00&activeTab=summary

As an idea I am trying to contrast similar to this house below with render, slate, grey stone (where this house uses slate on the wall) and yellow stone

We have a bungalow we're hoping to start work on within the next few weeks. Planning approved, but I'm not too happy with the external materials. We have grey/blue stone cladding, white render and slate roof tiles as seen in the image below. I am concerned the contrast isn't enough between the stone and the slate and the front facade will end up looking too dark so thought maybe we will change to yellow/rustic stone. But this may clash with the yellow stone we were intending to use for landscaping. I was thinking maybe we should keep the blue stone but reduce the amount and therefore increase the amount of render. Now im at the point where I'm going round in circles trying to work out what looks "balanced" so any ideas would be most welcomed.

Who is it that gives thr answer though. As it'd an independent decision and not the council or planning office I have no where to go with this. No contact details for anyone to ask?

We have put an appeal in on 19th Feb for planning and have yet to hear anything. Our architect did say it was a closed situation whereby there is no one specifically to reach out to on progress. It will just be a case of hearing whether the appeal is successful or not. However this seems too open-ended and is a concern the appeal could be forgotten about? Is this the standard way things are done with an appeal or is there something we can do to find out more information? Thanks in advance

So a brief timeline over the last 15months. We applied for planning and was told we needed ecological survey. Once we got this through the Planners rejected the planning app. With an informal chat we were able to get something agreed. This isn't what we wanted but set a precedence for the size of the project. Reapplied for the original plan on the basis the rejections were subjective. They have recently declined the second app. The issues are surrounding the front facade. Everything else is fine. So now we are at a crossroads with 4 options. 1. Build the house based on the approved design (the roof in particular above the garage is a mess) 2. Appeal the decision with an undetermined time to build. If this fails go to point 3 or 4. 3. Put a pre app in for an ammendment some a compromise. 4. Start all again, write off the money spent so far and design something fresh with a view to demolish the existing. Realistically option 1 isn't possible for my own sanity. The other points are likely delay a build for 6-12 months. Does anyone have any advise. Pic 1: Proposed. The one we want Pic 2, 3 and 4: approved elevations

I'm not sure where to put this one so hopefully I've got the right forum.ive Been looking online but can't find an answer. Can anyone offer advise: We had a perc test done which failed and so we're hoping to connect to a combined sewer but the utility company have declined that suggestion telling us we need to connect to a surface water sewer located uphill, 2 roads over and behind 5 other properties. The reason for not allowing the combined sewer access is because we have increased surface water flow from 2x newbuilds on the site. Our structural engineer has been in negotiation with the utility company with a suggestion that we put an attenuation tank with a hydrobrake to reduce flow but its been met with strong resistance. With this in mind I'm not sure what our other options are at this point. Does anyone have any suggestions of any specialist companies we can talk to about this?

I was told we needed the survey to identify the presence of bats in the loftspace. A standard request when altering the loft apparently. 5 people turned up for a new hours on 2 occasions with the report resulting in "no bats seen or any evidence of roosting"

The Planners wouldn't even validate the plan without ecology survey. This was a reason for the extended time at the planning office.

So this isn't a demolish and rebuild. We were trying to work on the existing footprint to save it being demolished. Thr architect suggested cascading the front facade into align with the current look. Thr Planners are flatly refusing anything like this stating 1. Too much glass ; needs to look more domesticated 2. Too many gables 3. Too large (however plot is nearly third of acre) 4. Requires pitched roof to the left hand side of the building (we're very confused as to why they want this). In this instance the architect said they weren't keen to give opinions as to advice for a successful application. Rather just tell us what they don't like. My original idea and one I still prefer is something like the picture below. However, it was suggested this was Too massive with a flat front facade and huge entrance gable.. plus it's a house, not a bunglow. It would also require demolition of existing which I was initially against. The issue is now we're about 7k in with nothing to show.(ecology survey was 2k due to size of plot) To put another say 3k into a redesign means in 10k in the hole and it may still be refused.

This is the house in its current state with the annex to the rear of the property

These properties are within half mile of my plot. I didn't get any objections because my property isn't overlooked or overlooks any other. This style isn't normal of the architects design, however we were trying to make it work within the confines of the footprint pretty much. This is why it steps back on several areas. What we were originally going for was to bring the front of the house inline with the centre left gable and just have one prominent gable where the front door is. The architect then stipulated that this may be more expensive than demolition and rebuild. The house is currently a bungalow. Interior has 11ft ground floor. The loftspace is currently 10.5ft to the ridge and we wanted to go upstairs. There is also an annex atthe back of the house that is simply joined in the proposed drawings.

Thanks for a swift response. Any reason for your comment. Just trying to get an understanding why. FYI, the footprint is based on the existing building.

Just looking for some informal opinions. We originally put planning in for our home in March. Torbay planning dept have just come back to us with an email stating they aren't going to grant planning based on it not being in keeping with the area. There are no strong styles in our area at all, and we had no neighbouring objections (infact one was quite complementary in support) so although we thought it was rather contemporary looking, it was in no way over the top. Thr architect reiterated to us what his thoughts were and will be speaking to the Planners next week but I'm sure we will hit a brick wall. However, it would be nice to get others opinions of what happens when planning is refused based on a subjective reason rather than planning policy. Thanks in advance , Richard

Thanks fornthe swift reply. I understand the pros and cons of a PCC vs warrenty but was particularly looking for anything I may need or should request to see from the architect to be sure he has the right level of indemnity .