Alan Ambrose

Hi, Having recently won our PD rights back, I thought I might scope out a rear extension on our detached barn conversion. I see the 'rules': Single Storey Extensions – between 4m and 8m for a detached house – max height of 4m and not higher than the ridge-line of the house – max eaves height of 3m if within 2m of a boundary and not higher than the eaves of the house – up to 50% of the original space around the house including any existing outbuildings or sheds etc. My question is about 'max height'. We're on a small (5%) slope which runs parallel to the road and the main axis of the barn. There's also a step at the back of the barn from FFL to GL of about 55cm (image below) - measured in approx the middle of the building. At the front door the step is a normal 15cm. If we had an extension, of course, we would prefer to have it at the same floor level. So, the question is - would 'max height' be measured from the rear or front GL and at which end of the barn?

Ah, this is one of the organisations hoping to make a bunch of money from this reg. I see the numberer £150m mentioned... https://environmentbank.com/ Environment Bank’s Culver says the firm typically has, at any one time, live enquiries, which indicate interest in more than £150 million worth of offset sites. But, she says, there has been a mismatch between this “extremely healthy pipeline and the challenge of actually transacting”, with only “several” sales so far completed. That is, they're off to a slower start than they wanted in extracting money from the system.

Oooof, that sounds a complete nightmare. Maybe SIPS is the new double glazing?

>>> And the relevant columns for self-build applications are headed "Non-major development excluding householder development"? Yes, that's right. Why would planning call it 'minor' when you can call it 'non-major'. There are two good measures - 'time to process' (% processed within 8 weeks) and 'quality of decision' i.e. % of appeals the LPA wins. And, call me suspicious, but why are these presented as big old spreadsheets with confusing headings rather than easy to view graphs or charts? Note that times are time from 'validation' rather than submission, which gives the LPA some latitude to play games with validation time. For Dorset, I'm seeing 43% made within 8 weeks, 86% made within '8 weeks or the agreed period' (and we have no idea what that period was). I'm also seeing 89% of all (major and 'non-major') granted. I've never really understood what happens if you don't agree with your LPAs proposed time extension? The appeals stats are here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/planning-inspectorate-statistical-release-24-october-2024

Thanks for the update, I'm just about to email my own councillor to see if they can help speed the process up a bit.

Yeah, unless you're slagging off Dyson or someone who does SLAPP orders, you're pretty safe if you're just reporting facts. Even better if you have evidence, like photos. Just don't communicate anything that you wouldn't want read out in court or reported in the press (which is my own guideline for anything I say publically anyway). I appreciate some people's reluctance to be transparent, but otherwise this thread is a bit of a tease without any content. And if you don't tell us (a) some of us are going to fall into exactly the same trap, which we would prefer not to, and (b) the organisation in question has every incentive to carry on carrying on.

Guys, I haven’t had my breakfast yet.

Check out your LPA on the .gov planning stats page. You want full applications / minor developments. That will give a range and set your expectations. Our LPA has been known to take a year also. Hopefully, you will have a better result. Of course, your consultant will probably know the local score too.

@Kelvin - are you suggesting we should all drop UFH in favour of big-arsed HIFI systems?

Ah good point. I guess that new self build 5 acre / single dwellings are fairly rare and the reg was mainly written for larger developments of multiple custom builds, but it seems you are still caught. As there was some recent chat here on self builds being potentially trapped by BNG in future, I’m interested in how that all goes for you. And I’m sure we would all love to see some images of the plot and your designs when you’re ready.

Well congrats. BTW, if this is a self build, why do you need to do BNG?

Go old school and use a 17mm box spanner.

>>> self weight of the stairs - is that just the total weight of the stairs or something else? Yes, including balustrades etc. Your SE will then allow for suitable 'live' loads (e.g. all your guests at a party standing and admiring your build) - actually the number is probably specced in the regs somewhere. Then they'll calc the loads to be supported at the top and bottom.

>>> Without checking I think it is for coulomb Yes it is, but in another context it's also the battery charge/discharge rate (which may be different). So, a 10 Ah battery which has a 1C charge rate and 2C discharge rate will charge ~10A in 1 hour and discharge at ~20A in 0.5 hour.

>>> Sign off what’s the prize ? Presumably you'll get a BuildHub gold watch at the self build completers ceremony.

OK they acheved their first objective. Ask your solicitor?

You should be able roughly measure what length you need. Something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/Siegen-S0595-Drive-WallDrive®-Socket/dp/B000ROB1AM/ref=asc_df_B000ROB1AM/

Probably just the relay - you can probably change it easy enough if you can do basic electrical soldering. It'll be marked with it's part number.

@PNAmble - are you saying grid supplied PV will get super cheap v soon?

OK so: Kimberly is a journalist/lawyer Mark is a thought leader with degrees in geography and history Here’s the source: https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=63025 Actually maybe that way of reporting capacity is somehow standard for some reason? https://www.energy.ca.gov/data-reports/energy-almanac/california-electricity-data/california-energy-storage-system-survey#:~:text=From 2018 to 2024%2C battery,by the end of 2024. For baby batteries, I know the generation/current is often specified in ‘C’ with C being the capacity and often around 1 see e.g. https://www.power-sonic.com/blog/what-is-a-battery-c-rating/

Written by liberal arts grad trying to explain to ‘the man in the street’? (ducks and hides behind wall)

See: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/24/power-grid-battery-capacity-growth This sounds good, but what are the implications: No point in having house-based batteries as the grid does it cheaper? Renewables + batteries as good as nuclear etc? More transmission capacity required?

@Fred F - I'm wondering what your outcome was?

Thanks, that's v helpful. Amusingly, the question in the planning application says "Would you be willing to accept a condition and/or section 106 agreement...". Well you would be an idiot to agree to enter into an agreement without knowing what the agreement contains. Sometimes feel like you're dealing with badly behaved fools?

Yeah, that's a tricky ask - to navigate through the regs in a practical way in that situation. Most regs and systems are written fairly dumbly to try to cover all eventualities - I just filed another planning self builld application and had to answer stupid questions about employees, hours of opening, non-residential floorspace, waste management, industrial processes etc etc. Yeah, it didn't take that much time, but ffs once I say it's "1 unit of 3 bedroom self build housing", do I then need to answer the questions 'Reason biodiversity net gain does not apply', 'Are you building more than nine houses?' So, very reasonable to try to avoid having a ton of expensive and intrusive BC fall on your head. It's counter productive, of course, to have BC be a negative influence on your desire to improve thermal efficiency. I wonder whether you could have an informal chat with your LPA BC and a private BC and see whether there's a common sense path? (I appreciate that common sense isn't really a thing nowadays) Otherwise I wonder whether you can do a few back-of-the-envelope calcs (J Harris spreadsheet if you fancy) to see how far away from the regs you might be. That might be helpful to you anyway as, for instance, the extra cost of triple glazing may not be warranted if the other fabric still remains lowish in U-value.