Karl

Thanks everyone for all of your responses! we are outside of the 400m exclusion zone. This dissects the north east corner of our plot, including touching our church. natural England (5 years ago, when we were converting the church) were fine in principle with developing as long as the development outside that part .. Which it definitely will be. Although this was some time ago, I am fairly confident that they will give the same conclusion now.

I currently live in a small, locally listed church, which my wife and I converted 5 years ago. It is on a plot approx 25 by 50 meters (over to one side). i wish to cut off the bottom of the garden (15 by 25 meters), and build 2 semi detached houses approx 110 sq meters. That would leave room for very small gardens (60 Sqm) and 2 parking spaces each. When I (informally) approached the planning office, this was their response: ... However I have checked the location of the site and it falls within the 400m exclusion zone of the SPA therefore it is highly unlikely that any new residential dwelling would acceptable. Further to this the site also falls within a conservation area, curtilage of a listed building and sits outside the settlement boundary. Although these issues are not as insurmountable as the SPA exclusion zone it would need to be heavily justified as to why it is acceptable to build a new dwelling(s) in this location. The above is a similar response to what you would receive if you submitted a formal pre-application advice request however if you would still like to continue you are welcome to do so. The first part, regarding the exclusion zone is a mistake, I know categorically that the garden falls outside of the zone. The rest I am not sure of. Because the church does not sit centrally on the plot, losing the end of the garden will actually make the church look better (with a bit of careful landscaping!). There is a large building (stable converted to offices) about 5 meters from the church on the other side. The new houses will be approx 15 meters away). The main reason for building the properties is for my elderly mother to live close to us. The second house will be sold to fund the build. (In my favour, a similar build on a similarly small plot has happened a few hundred yards away. Has anyone got any views on my realistic chances of getting permission? If it helps, it is Hart District Council. Any advice on how to approach things would be appreciated. I have almost zero money, and obviously want to spend as little as possible, before I get a realistic view of my chances. My big concern is the sentence 'it would need to be heavily justified as to why it is acceptable to build a new dwelling(s) in this location.'