Alan Ambrose

Suggest you read the threads here using "CIL Legislation" as the search term. The CIL legislation uses phrases like principal residence and sole or main residence. (You can always read the legislation yourself.) These don't seem to have been tested in the courts much yet (for CIL). IMO LPAs seem to make it up a bit re CIL and CIL teams are often quite aggressive, so they may fancy punting it in the courts. I have had one otherwise competant commercial property lawyer say to me "we can't advise re CIL" as though it were not part of property law. So, you could easily find yourself being a test case. Fine if you're OK with that. Of course, you could ask your LPA's CIL team first if you want to be sure ... but then you've put them on notice.

OK, we have permission now. It will probably take me months to recover from the PTSD caused by 1 year of purchase shenanigans and 2 years of planning BS. Most conditions are standard, but I was surprised to get this one below. The plot is in a hamlet in the countryside and currently a bit of old pasture with grass, 3 trees at the back, one old apple tree in the middle, and little else. Anyone had something similar? 5. Prior to the installation of any external lighting a "lighting design strategy for biodiversity" for development, the new building, and features or areas to be lit shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority. The strategy shall: a) identify those areas/features on site that are particularly sensitive for biodiversity likely to be impacted by lighting and that are likely to cause disturbance in or around their breeding sites and resting places or along important routes used to access key areas of their territory, for example, for foraging; and b) show how and where external lighting will be installed (through the provision of appropriate lighting contour plans and technical specifications) so that it can be clearly demonstrated that areas to be lit will not disturb or prevent the above species using their territory or having access to their breeding sites and resting places. All external lighting shall be installed in accordance with the specifications and locations set out in the strategy, and these shall be maintained thereafter in accordance with the strategy. Under no circumstances should any other external lighting be installed without prior consent from the local planning authority. Reason: To ensure that impacts on ecological receptors from external lighting are prevented

I believe that most LPAs ignore local objections unless there's a dozen or so. They assume a few people will always object and most of the 'objections' are not on planning grounds so they are ignored. I'm amazed that even 'nice, kind, worldly neighbours' often can't see beyond they're own petty interests - a lot 'want more houses to be built'. Yeah but not next to them.

Of course, you should get an advantage with sustainable design, but it seems to play little part in the planners' thinking and also they don't have a 'points scoring system' for weighing up a balanced judgement. The planing system behaves as though the issues are black-and-white and everything is 'policy' when, of course, it can't be and isn't. By and large the rules are written for large developers (IMO) and they want to build min building regs designs.

Tacwise, of course, have all sorts of cheap electric staplers and small nailers. I think manual, electric, battery and air driven. They have stainless staples also if you need them. I have a couple of the small electric staplers. They need a bit of downwards pressure. No safety nose on the ones I have so I’m careful with them. Useful for fixing into softwoods and can take small brads too.

@Jeremyw @G and J @olley @LSB @zzPaulzz @DIYHacker @GaryChaplin @Nick Laslett @JohnnyB @marshian @FuerteStu Anyone interested in a Suffolk meet-up? I'm thinking maybe 1st Thursday of the month at a pub somewhere in the 'centre'. If you are, let me know your post code prefix so I can figure where the 'middle' is? We're living in IP6 and our plot is in IP17.

In fact, most sustainability credentials are irrelevant to the LPA unless they have a specific concern/remit e.g. biodiversity or external lighting vs. wildlife. Think you'll get brownie points for your Passivehouse spec? By and large, no.

While looking ahead to 2030 and beyond, electricity demand is expected to rise as transport and heat are increasingly electrified via EVs and heat pumps (see below). According to NESO’s recent advice on reaching clean power by 2030, demand for electricity is expected to grow 11% by 2030 and to nearly double by 2050. https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uks-electricity-was-cleanest-ever-in-2024/

And why on earth would you imagine that the British use British Thermal Units? 😀 I guess we did in the 1900s. They are useful though - see the following equivalents: One Btu is approximately: 1.0551 kJ (kilojoules) 0.2931 W⋅h (watt hours) 252.2 cal (calories) 0.2522 kcal (kilocalories) 25,031 to 25,160 ft⋅pdl (foot-poundal) 778.2 ft⋅lbf (foot-pounds-force) 5.40395 (lbf/in2)⋅ft3 A Btu can be approximated as the heat produced by burning a single wooden kitchen match or as the amount of energy it takes to lift a one-pound (0.45 kg) weight 778 feet (237 m).[16] p.s. BH members were mostly all brought up on a healthy diet of Monty Python.

It’s a BH tradition that we don’t answer the exact question that’s been asked. Instead, we riff on the theme like a seasoned jazz band 😂. Think of it as a more creative process than straight Q&A … akin to ‘art’.

It probably depends on the exact geometry, prevailing winds direction etc (you don’t say whether the chimney is on the ridge or further down) but I would think yes it may well be a problem. Not too tricky to move vents elsewhere? I guess you could rough test it using a smoke source and then see whether the MVHR draws in smoke in practice? Also, FYI there’s an issue with internal MVHR vents in the room with the stove - the idea being that you don’t want the MVHR to pull the smoke into the room. The latter issue is discussed in several threads here on BH.

>>> Is it worth considering just a single electrical supply out and then putting another meter box in the garage to split all the external requirements from there? As it’s usually much easier to do lines into a garage, yes reckon so, also for ethernet (with a separate POE hub there). In fact, I could see 2 or 3 consumer units - in another thread, someone suggested a separate CU for the kitchen rather than running everything back to the main CU. Seems helpful.

>>> Do you have a design you're working to yet? Yes, several, but they're all generic and specify MOT1 and I want them to be free draining.

I'll spend some more time talking to the local aggregate suppliers next week when everyone is back. In the extreme, can I make up my own aggregate, say with a mix of stone, shingle and sand?

I read about MOT 3 (e.g. here https://www.cloburn.co.uk/what-are-the-3-types-of-mot-aggregate-and-which-would-be-best-for-my-project/ ) but yet to find a local supplier. Supposing you wanted a fairly free draining version instead of a standard MOT spec e.g. under a driveway sitting on sticky clay, what would you use?

You've seen his youtube channel mikeselectricstuff ? Fascinating if you've always wondered how a PCR / bomber sight / baggage xray works?

Maybe there's a way of covering the cables with SS mesh or tube or something to encourage the blighters to gnaw on something else?

10m sounds a long old way (although I should say that I know nothing about piles ). Poss to post up a pic of the soil layers from the soil investigation?

Pros: + Fewer tiles, so less cost and weight. + Better looking (maybe). + Easier to protect against nesting birds. Cons: + More complex fitting (check out the instructions for choosing trays and for battening). + Harder waterproofing detail. + Lock in to a range of panel sizes when renewing in 20-30 years / possibility trays have degraded by weather or UV and need replacing,

OK, supposing in December you use 90% of your proposed 40,000W / 175A supply. There are 744 hours in December, so that’ll be 744 x 40 x 90% = 26,784 kWh. At, say, 20p per kWh, that’ll be £5.4K for December. Maybe £30K of electricity a year given that you’ll be using far less in the summer? Is that what you’re expecting? No? Why not? So, perhaps you won’t be using that much electricity and maybe you don’t need that big a supply. Search for ‘Veyron’ on the forum and you’ll see related discussion around this subject.

Duchamp eat your heart out. You'll be duct taping fruit to things next...

Goodness, something that hasn’t been regulated yet. Happy times. Thanks all.

You’re lucky, major CIL here for your southern cousins.

If you asked me to guess, I’d say it was just a fault with the fridge. Sometimes those drains get blocked with general fridge gunk.

Also, was building control involved in all this and are they local authority? Ah, I see the answer is ‘yes’. Then it sounds like one part of the council is telling you to do something … without warning you that another part of the same legal entity is going to try to profit from it. Strong letter to head of council suggesting unethical behaviour to start with as such behaviour could be interpreted as a revenue scam. That’ll probably do it. It wants to be worded carefully, so maybe you want a cleverish lawyer to write it.