Ferdinand

A further one is that if you ordered online, you have 30 days to return the goods as of legal right. No idea how that works out with a bust company, though, and for goods that are not here yet. Ferdinand

I do not see how Development can start whilst you only have Outline Planning Permission, by definition. I do not think that you can start development in law without Detailed PP. Outline is about the principle of development. But this is the sort of area where it may all turn out to be muddy water, and I can well see someone trying to argue that you had started because you did and therefore xyz, even if it is not allowed to happen. I would definitely be wanting a Council Confirmation in writing to cover my back.

If you plan to collect your clippings, shredded grass is more difficult. The other option would be a traditional scythe, which might be quite fun on half an acre once a year. (Full disclosure: I do not have half an acre of grass.)

Might argue for a decently strong ride on with a big collection bag or even a trailer. TBH that is traditional management of hay meadows. I would check with someone who has a small wildflower meadow of your type, or eg your local Conservation Organisation, or cold call the council verge man. For example our previous Residents Association ran a community hall and woodland in the village; they would know. Of course, in a strict world that means you would have to poop a scoop your goats. ?

You win the game of lawnmower bingo if you get one that is as old as you. .?

Do meadows not require to be unimproved soil,and so the clippings need to be removed after their summer cut?

If you paid recently by Debit card you could try a ‘chargeback or claim under the scheme. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/shopping/visa-mastercard-chargeback/ You will need to read your card terms.

Hi Mark. I believe the local authority has a legal duty to fund certain adaptations of your house if it costs less than £1000. ’Building Regs’ sounds like a bit of a red herring, though that could be the convenient standard your HA has adopted as policy. This rather comprehensive info sheet from Age UK covers it I think. You will need one or several pots of tea to read it ... 28 pages. Then talk to them, and you may get a visit from an Occupational Therapist. I might anticipate attempted buck-passing between the LA and the HA. Though it is Age UK, disability is covered too, which should ... by the sound of it ... apply in some way to you. The key is to pay attention to what categories of need they have to meet, and place yourself in those categories. They like to do things like keep you out of services requiring more extensive and expensive support. I suggest checking in whether it is means tested. Though we did not qualify due to savings etc, they were still happy to come out and advise us before I installed an Accessible Bathroom for an elderly relative. .Ramps are specifically mentioned in I think 3.2 . https://www.ageuk.org.uk/globalassets/age-uk/documents/factsheets/fs42_disability_equipment_and_home_adaptations_fcs.pdf You can also talk to the Disabled Living Foundation, and other orgs. Age UK may also have a directory of local tradesmen and installers who MAY be pre-approved in some way. Ask. HTH Ferdinand

I think for secondhand mowers it is the same as anything else. Buy a recognised brand, especially of engine, and probably one that is heavier duty than you thereotically need, and do as much as you can to verify it. The best ride-on I ever had was a brand called Simplicity. We were advised to buy American at the time, and because it was specced via a pto for things like rotavating the basic machine was solid. Would recommend as robust. F

Two other options. One is a wheeled strimmer. Eg https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Cobra-WT56B-22-Wheeled-Lawn-Trimmer-Grass-Paddock-Strimmer-Field-Lawnmower-Mower-/272732108034 The other is a ‘two bladed scythe’, which is like a two bladed hedge cutter on the front of a mower platform. https://www.frjonesandson.co.uk/products/apache-m210-sicklescythe-mower-87cm-cut The difference is that both of these will cut your plants and grass from the bottom, rather than shredding it like a Flymo. They should have large wheels, and are perhaps less prone to go wandering than a flymo . These are perhaps the sort of machine that you would use once or twice a year to stop a small field going to scrub. Ferdinand

For another possible example, I tend to pay about £30-40 per barrel for anti snap anti bump keyed-alike locks ordered together from a local hardware shop. These are for rentals. Ferdinand

Maintainability? Perhaps likely to need easier access to a blind than a window?

I am in Englandshire, so will not be participating, but I think you may have an issue with not having given a definition of "environmental sustainability" as used in your research project. It is largely a matter of opinion. I can think of dozens of different meanings - it is a chameleon word like "ethical" in investment, which I think of mainly as a flag of people who think they are morally superior. For a specific example, there was a lot of shouting when subsidies on solar panels were cut off at the knees back in 2011-2013-ish. Some green campaigners demanded continued subsidies at that level, whereas others took the view that reducing the level of subsidy would enable more solar panels to be adequately subsidised for the same money. That is different concepts of utility in those circumstances. If you have a definition, it may help to post it on your survey page. Best of luck. Ferdinand

I would probably go with normal masonry paint, in a colour and type that you know will not leave the market. I tend to use Sandtex if I have to paint masonry or render, and redo it every few years as required. F

To wrap up my project on this thread, here is a list of my blog posts based on it, and the final sheet of costs and components and sources:

For the shower I do not need one yet, and it would have entailed disturbance to the waste and digging. Should one be needed I have the space to raise the floor and provide a ramp that could be removed later. F

This is the last post in my series, with details of a couple of finishing touches and details of what I bought and what it cost. Summary For drive-by readers, the total cost came to just on £2200 including VAT, or about £2500 if the project had replaced everything - I kept the washbasin, vanity unit, storage unit and mirror. There is also potential to reclaim VAT on the approximate £200 spent on specific accessibility pieces such as the shower seat and grab rails. Counting up the wall tiles in the bathroom, I find that no fewer than eleven from about 60 now have holes drilled in them. That is the smallest number of spares I will need to buy now to restore the bathroom to should I need to do so later, of for example an elderly person dies or moves into a care home, and the property needs to be sold on. A thing worth bearing in mind; these are not projects where 2 or 3 spares will be sufficient ... "for a want of 15 tiles the bathroom was gutted". In practise in this case I have umpteen spares as someone gave me 10sqm of tiles when I only needed about 6sqm. Extras I added a shower caddy storage unit. These figures do no include fluffing. Lists of Costs List of Suppliers Most of the products above should be easy to locate. Here is a list of clickable deep links that I have available. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01CC6UNZG/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B017O89SG2/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01CC6UNZG/ https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074T41X9F/ https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Modern-Rainfall-Square-Twin-Head-Exposed-Thermostatic-Bar-Shower-Mixer-Chrome-54/232674611695?var=532155236037&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIM.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20190212102350%26meid%3D48370791d06f43a1972ba71707e98bf6%26pid%3D100012%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D332130829568%26itm%3D532155236037&_trksid=p2047675.c100012.m1985 https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/lillangen-washbasin-cab-1-door-2-end-units-white-s09188045/ https://www.tiletown.co.uk/en http://probablythebestpubsintheworld.co.uk/ Wrap up That's all folks. Ask any questions below, and I will do my best to answer. If you are between about Junction 24 and Junction 28 on the M1, check out http://probablythebestpubsintheworld.co.uk/ - a local company with about 5 eating pubs, which are decent quality and very good value. And have good beers - my local one has Abbot and Taylor's Landlord.

Yep and the use patterns match when the sun is out. So a good option. They have and do invest heavily; according to OFWAT somewhere north of 100bn since privatisation. Quality is massively better than before. I like the public regulation / private management model because it removes conflicts of interest. In the first few years investment doubled - but there would be a level of politics in that. On the SE, they have a huge reservoir project on the stocks called Abingdon Reservoir, Nimbies and CPRE notwithstanding, which would be the largest in the UK. It is basically ready to go when needed, subject to Planning. About 10 years ago the Govt decided it was not yet the best option. I can recall documentaries about preparations in eg purchasing property back before the millennium. I think that reduce would be a better option for the South. Uk water use levels are 150l per person per day - Germany is about 120l. Universal metering would be a good option, as would further use of rainwater, and further leak reduction. That 20% alone should be worth some years - though I am not sure what the rainfall reduction profile will be. In performance on investment and leakages, the privatised parts of the UK water industry seem to do better than the nonprofit publicly owned. Not my normal source, but the numbers seem right and comparative figures are hard to come by. F

I know the feeling :-). That usually means that somehow you have only rotated the thumbnail. A Refresh on the thumbnail may rotate it back if it has not worked. Plan B is a mini app like eg Irfanview.

There is some irony there ... the system came in with Attlee in 1947 and a major intention was to assure supplies of land for development. The original wartime reports make interesting reading. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_and_Country_Planning_Act_1947 F

I think that as an Engineering Operation, which will apply at least to the foundations, you will need PP anyway under the definitions in the 1990 act. Especially as that channel is potentially a flood relief thing of some sort. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/when-is-permission-required IMO any debate about avoiding PP is probably a red herring. Though there may be other relevance. I would call that the other way, on the basis that Wales has for 80-90% of the last 20 years basically been an elected one party Principality controlled by the most theoretically centrally-controlling of the mainstream UK political parties. Though given the current English situation, any of the three main parties could take that crown. Not intended as a political remark. Ferdinand

Called trench arch. Used in eg rural churches where the average over time might be equivalent to one person occupying full time, or under a path when there are skeletons and archaeology everywhere. Church archaeology costs a fortune that makes self-build versions seem a smaller challenge. I was involved in one where they found a plague pit under the floor. 300 tons of sand to fill it rather than several months for archaeology. How to here: https://www.gloucester.anglican.org/content/pages/documents/1352755360.pdf https://www.greengloucestershire.org.uk/content/pages/documents/1424700436.pdf

I am full of admiration for the creation of a smallholding from scratch in a decade of hard work, and that it is a working business by the look, and that it has been done inside the system. But 290k plus the need to fund a house build puts it into Southern Hobby Farmer territory, which I think is a push too far. Might be 290k is the House was still there. I think they are deserving of a healthy gain, in return for the risk they have taken and the work they have done. But, as ever, they can hope for what they would like, and the market will pay what it is worth. Ferdinand

The newspaper report says £290k. Which means - that like everyone else - the most value was in the Planning Gain ?. I would accept that they have built an impressive unit - the Planning has output conditions attached under the Welsh regime - and eg they have installed 1500sqft of glasshouses growing things like vines. But £290k seems a little ambitious - I would say £150-200k potentially. F

If it was a CC payment, all you will need is to be sure that they have gone through. An email, or even a statement that you have checked should get the payment reversed. F