Ferdinand

Should've called it Dennis the Menace...

It's like twitter - people only read the Headline ?

The ban is essentially retail and small quantities, and is only England (yet !).

Perhaps a built in unit / dressing table / wardrobe / srorage ottoman or window seat in the Master Suite to hide it within, depending on what is above it on plan.

What is above this WC? I am thinking ceiling and to a ventilation tile.

Since Councils are already responsible for bonfires and (?)smokeless zones, they would pick that one up, I guess. The initaitive sounds to me like the kind of thing that could have come out of the Behavioural Insights Team aka Nudge Unit (no idea if it did), which has been successful with small changes.

I think it won't include charcoal - which has been purified by the manufacturing process.

Newspaper Maths. 1 .... 2 .... 3 .... "lots" ! They need to start measuring it in acre-feet, like the American Farmers, so no one else can conceptualise it.

This is an interesting proposal. The announcement is that coal will be banned for sale from Feb 2021, and unseasoned wood (moisture <20%) in packages smaller than 2 cubic m (*) from Jan 2024. So it will be anthracite or similar, dry wood, or have space to store it whilst it dries (challenge for posh inner London eg Fulham perhaps). Graphic below is a bit simplified (different emissions from different coal types). There is a Beeboid piece on it here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51581817. It was announced by the Ag & Fish Minister. I am assuming this is devolved, so this would be England only. Sounds like a not bad idea - I think, though some dwellings may need upgrading. What a difference to the arguments that used to infuriate my dad as a Council Architect around 1970 when the argument against insulation and gas central heating from some ex-mining Councillors would be "we have infinite coal and many of us get it free for life from the NCB". Ferdinand (* does anyone have an easy way to do superscripts from a normal laptop keyboard? I am sure it exists)

I was alighting on what seemed to be @Falesh's scepticism as to alternatives, and wondering if the actual subjective experience would help.

Two pieces of information that it may (or may not) be helpful, but expect you are on top of this already. 1 - Is he actually still registered, and which organisation is it with. Worth a check? You have probably done this. ARB have an online Register of Architects here: http://www.arb.org.uk/public-information/finding-an-architect/ May affect the likelihood of whether he has insurance. If he is not and still saying "Architect", that is some sort of offence due to the reserved-in-law word. 2 - Which organisation is he a member of. They may well have a dispute resolution service. RIBA do, for example. May be too late for that. That is correct, however the quoted 42.5 degrees is marginal as a breach over the max 42 degrees. I do not know how that would be handled, but I would guess that it may be "we will draw a veil over that if it is acceptable to you", unless you had a tickbox warrior. Not sure how that point would go down in Court - whether the small violation would be significant or the Judge would harrumph, or whether it is useful as leverage. Ferdinand

I very much appreciate all the comments. I can’t go the charity shop route easily, as they are all electric recliners than are nearly 15 years old, and therefore excluded afaik. And unfortunately they will only come out in pieces as they are about 50% bigger than a standard door in any dimension, and I am built right up to both boundaries. Ditto the Council Service will only take things from outside the house. At the moment it is Big Spring Clean where they take 3 large items for free, but for that we have to get them outside and put them back together. However phoning round I have found an acquaintance who works in a local furniture factory making high end sofas, who has agreed to do the dismantling and take it to the disposal point or perhaps put it back together outside. We just need to decide. So problem probably solved ... he is coming round tomorrow for a look. Cheers all. F

It beat’s a month’s rain in a day as per the BBC report !

That is an excellent thought but TBH I do not want random (as opposed to paid and chosen) strangers in the house when I am processing mum’s estate. I may have to bite the bullet. The IVAR shelves you can see is my prototype green wall which is going where the sofa came from ? .

Consider a 2 seat sofa with two electric recliners (which weighs a ton). I also have a 3 seater sofa and a one seater chair. All of which weigh a ton and are recliners. They are as uncommfortable as they are heavy, and ginormous. These are going because they were bought for when dad was seriously ill back in 2006. To be replaced with a Guy Rogers converti-sofa and 2 chairs which I still have stashed upstairs. Does anyone know how I get these dismantled and removed - really not a job I want to tackle? Even the label is underneath so I had to behave like a car mechanic with no lift to find out what it is. I think they are these - by Centurion Furniture of Lancaster (who have now closed). Lazyboy Recliners. There is no prospect of sale due to the electric and it is only worth tuppence. I think I will need to hire 2 men for half a day, or similar. All comments welcome. Ferdinand

Oh dear. If not in place it may have helped. Mine just canned their local plan again, and have been trying to get one done since about 2010.

Do they have a 5 year housing supply in place?

I am not sure that people in Wales think they have come down in price ! ???

Might be tempting to go for Outline with a local architect / planner who knows the foibles and prejudices and PEZs (planning erogenous zones ie hot buttons *) of the particular Council, then your ideal one to do the Detailed Design. F * Eg detail of the weak provision towards the required housing mix that you can leverage, or the status of the Local Plan that might engage the NPPF presumption to develop even in a possibly marginal application.

2.4m will not be wide enough for the minimum width for a fire engine even with all allowed compromises made (think it is 2.75m), so you will either need the entire dwelling to be within hose reach of the road (I believe 45m) or plan alternative allowed provision, such as a complete sprinkler system. Or get an extra bit of width from somewhere. Check those numbers with planning (just phone up and ask what the policy is) but I think they are correct. If it has Ashes and Oaks on it then I would suggest getting all the ashes out now, since most of them will die anyway in the next few years. ATB Ferdinand

I think you have a decent chance of a modest detached house or a bungalow on that. if you are talking about rentals a small 2 bed bungalow would be a superb proposition .. you would get 5-10 year tenants no problem from parents of a local family. I would start from making it symmetrical across the corner with the neighbour to give a consistent appearance. You can perhaps have part of the garden on the corner as your private amenity space since you can just grow the thick hedge to 2m with no need for approvals. Driveways and access will be the challenge, with the proximity to the junction. The distance to the notional apex of the junction corner is likely to be 10-15m, and that car you can see will be 4 or 5m, so you may have a fighting chance of getting a new drive the far side. Many oldsters will want a low maintenance patio garden, which may help. Needs very careful planning, but could work. I would also try and buy a hunk of their corner side garden from the neighbour before breaking cover, which would help.

Thin sinks also have the issue that they flex just with finger pressure and therefore feel cheap.

I think this acoustics debate may go round in circles to an extent for want of specific experience / reference. Can I suggest you ask for a few people with varying constructions where you can go and visit, and take a ghetto-blaster or computer plus speaker with a recording of the type of noise you are concerned about (or a person with a trombone ?) to gain some real examples of how the acoustics work for you with various known types of construction? You may be pleasantly surprised, or at least could rule things out more authoritatively. I am sure there will be some near York, and BH members are always pleased to welcome fellow self-builders. Having a less complex outline and roof would potentially save 10-20k. On a more general - but perhaps too detailed for this early stage - point, I think that beds in corners will be difficult to look after eg change fitted sheets if you have movement challenges, unless you know you will have a carer / cleaner who can do it. Ferdinand

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Have you a plan (from largest scale on Council Map website would do). Ferdinand