Alan Ambrose

Well it must be a thing now because it was mentioned on The Archers a couple of days ago.

This also makes our builds look easy: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/12/style/hurricane-resistant-homes-deltec-dfi/index.html

Yes, that’s v sweet and it makes doing a single self build look easy by comparison. Wonder what happens if you find later that you don’t like your neighbours much?

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/nov/12/damned-kitchen-inventor-fitted-frankfurt-margarete-schutte-lihotzky

So, eating bacon sandwiches, while watching the F1, in front of the log burner - is very bad... That's me done for then.

duh, silly me, you're right, something like this then: https://www.local.gov.uk/our-support/councillor-and-officer-development/councillor-hub/role-councillor/code-conduct-and In accordance with the public trust placed in me, on all occasions: I act with integrity and honesty I act lawfully I treat all persons fairly and with respect; and I lead by example and act in a way that secures public confidence in the role of councillor. In undertaking my role: I impartially exercise my responsibilities in the interests of the local community I do not improperly seek to confer an advantage, or disadvantage, on any person I avoid conflicts of interest I exercise reasonable care and diligence; and I ensure that public resources are used prudently in accordance with my local authority’s requirements and in the public interest.

That’s interesting, this is what mine looks like. I am careful not to access it for long.

There is also the general civil service code re ethics etc. Short letter to individual also copied to head of planning asking that the person is not involved in your application?

Well no, if you remember I’m dealing with one of the bottom 20 LPAs in the country - a few points above special measures … if you believe that the stats are accurate. So stats give some clue re LPA behaviour, expectations, likely quality level (if they’re struggling, they’re probably cutting corners too). That is, the stats provide some useful context.

Yeah totally agree, and the payoff for all the work is having things as you want them.

Congrats. There are some quite pretty colours fyi 😀.

Thanks, I wonder how '8 weeks or EoT' works its way into the .gov stats, which has a '% decided in 8 weeks' as a metric. That's theoretically used for special measures status? Do the LPAs self-report for consolidation do you think?

>>> we will see 6 plinth bricks We have a similar situation with levels that go down towards the back and to one side. The plinth has a level top and, yes, you can see more bricks from some sides. Not a problem visually for me, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Feel free to check this aspect out at my gaff if you need.

I've never noticed this before. An alternative to the Excel tables: https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiMDQ1MmRlMjEtMThlMy00MWIxLThmNTEtMzU4M2I5ODNmYTJlIiwidCI6ImJmMzQ2ODEwLTljN2QtNDNkZS1hODcyLTI0YTJlZjM5OTVhOCJ9 I'm looking at PS2 / District Matters / Minor Dwellings e.g. ...

I have a bunch of Reolink cameras. All good except for one that I dropped - and I mean to take that one apart sometime to see if I can fix it. My latest acquisition on a whim was a 'Go Ranger PT' for the plot - there's no services there atm. Battery and solar panel and 4G and pan and tilt. The battery seems to be held up fine by the solar panel, pan and tilt covers the whole plot (I was thinking I might need two) and the recognition of cars and people is very good. Modern day magic if you ask me. I took care to check the best provider for 4G signal and bought the camera when there was a special offer.

So, the LPA comes back to you before (or after 8 weeks) and says they want more time. What are the options and what are the limits in practice (a month?, 6 months?, a year?) How accurate / precise should the LPA's request be - e.g. 'a few more weeks' or 'by 5th November'? At what point do you say 'no' and what happens then?

@DevilDamo - by all means if you don't like my contributions, feel free to ignore them. There may even be a forum 'block member' option to help achieve that objective. In other news - the LPA admitted there were no application naming rules (actually there is one - the application name needs to be somewhat accurate) but the excuse was offered by the LPA "we just like to try and make them as short as possible, especially when they have to be advertised in the press". I think that means they were embrassed by the application name. The LPA also confirmed they would backdate the validation date to the application date. I just realised re the 8-week rule, that if you're the LPA, the best use of planning resource to optimise the stats is to get all the easy/quick-to-process applications done within 8-weeks (7.9 weeks is fine), then leave any that miss the cut-off on the back burner for as long as you care to or until some spare resource becomes available. Or until you become scared that you're going to hit the 70% special measures cutoff. But even then, you want to completely focus your resources on the 'can be done within 8-weeks' applications. Something like this distribution (below). If I was running the LPA, I might even issue red and green stickers

>>> Good job i did delay it. Yeah, sometimes procrastination is by far the smartest option.

I have a variation: Figure out a job, measure up, consider options, choose parts and materials, find cheapest supplier that has items in stock, get ready to order... Get distracted by something more urgent, then return to job sometimes months, sometimes years later. Look for notes on job. Realise I didn't make any notes or I lost them. So ... start figuring out the job again, measure up, consider options, choose parts and materials, find cheapest supplier that has items in stock, etc etc You can keep this up for quite a number of cycles or until you don't need to do the job anymore.

Brilliant and innovative at the same time.

Many thanks for that clarification.

For expense, probably gas unless you have lots of insulation underfloor. Some on here, add both, so that they can have pampered toes when it's a bit cool but not warm enough to have the boiler running.

Thanks for that, much appreciated.

>>> thermostat Oh yeah, thought it was a timer, but the blue and red pips suggest temperature and it must have rotated the little 10K pot underneath.

Yep, of course. BTW it does seem to work OK but the cover is a bit broken. Seems there an NTC connection available but not connected.