flanagaj

My wife and I have recently had that pleasure 😞 Some folk certainly have a way with welcoming new folk to the neighbourhood! We have this joyous prospect in mid March or April. ps - are there any rules regarding using a stone saw on a Sunday?

It is quite astonishing that local objections can delay applications. Personally, I think the process needs to change so that objections are objectively reviewed and not given any further consideration unless the planning officer feels it deserves further attention. This would then hopefully means less applications going to committee and stop nimby neighbours from stalling applications and having influence regarding objections that are not relevant when policy is applied.

I was under the impression that applications were only sent to committee if there were more than half a dozen objections? I just feel our case officer who via email has stated that she is not opposed to the proposal, is just bidding for time and is kicking the can down the road, as she wants the decision to be made by someone else. She requested an extension to our application and it's now back in consultation for 2 more weeks. This is because biodiversity wanted some photos and a statement to be provided about the site. This has now been provided, but I would not think that would be grounds to put the application back into consultation, giving the local NIMBYs more time to get further objections fired in. All seems very underhand and not actually following any rule book.

Ok. Thanks. We have had a total of 4 objections from neighbours, all of which are using a cookie cutter style template. So not sure why it has been referred to committee. I have also discovered that the sneaky buggers, have put the application back into consultation state. Just feel that they are bidding for time now and the case officer who says she generally supports the proposal, does not want to approve for fear of ***** off the locals, hence the committee. Point noted about the upload of the documents to the portal.

The architect has address these points directly with the case office. He has also raised why committee when the objections don't carry any weight, eg being sited too close to the road, when it sits in the same location as the previously granted application (which no one objected to) ... Will the case officer upload our responses to the portal or is that something our architect can do?

Thanks Alan. "it is going to the planning committee, so prepare." - Is this something we do, or are we better off using the planning consultant? "Fish for the amendments (which consultees have not replied yet?)" - I have not seen any request for amendments in any of the consultee responses. "a couple of supporting neighbours" - chance would be a fine thing

Don't bother. Most neighbours are nimby 🤬. Why should you need their blessing. It's your house and your money.

Just wondering how much you can push and knowing how you push. I sometimes think that the LPA refuse the PP so as to appease the local neighbourhood, knowing that the application will get approved at appeal. I suspect it goes on a great deal and they should be reprimanded for wasting both the appellant's and those who deal with the appeal's time.

So our Architect finally did receive some feedback today, but my excitement was short lived. The LPA Case Officer's response was as follows. I don’t have a problem with the principle of the development. Until we get all of the consultations in I am not able to confirm that this would result in a final positive recommendation however I would anticipate that if problems arise they could be considered and amendments could be made to overcome them. It should be noted that given the number of objections the application has received, under the council’s scheme of delegation if I recommend the application for approval it will need to go to the Development Control Committee for determination. I asked the Architect whether this was positive and his response was as follows. Bit early I'd say. The need for a committee determination not great. Allows for words in corridors by people with local influence! This is frustrating as we had 4 objections from the NIMBY luddite neighbours who for some reason seem to enjoy opposing any changes on the lane. The local parish representative neither objected or supported the application. I was hoping the Case Officer might read the objections and just dismiss them. Here is one objection and they are all pretty much the exact same (I think someone visited each neighbour) "The design now proposed presents a significant change which I and my wife cannot support. The change from a single storey dwelling to a two-storey building, and one that is so close to the lane will be extremely imposing and will be totally out of character with the rural surroundings and the neighbouring buildings in the Lane. The Council has recently refused planning applications for anything other than single-storey buildings in White Lane, therefore we do not see how the Council could permit a two-storey development on this site. In addition, to our objections to the impact of the two-storey development from White Lane, there is also the objection to its visual and environmental impact on the view from the farmland rising at the back which is an AONB" Our proposed dwelling is the same distance from the road as the previous one. The ridge height is the same. The frontal massing of the proposal is less and although in an AONB, you cannot see the property from any of the local bridleways. Admittedly, the trees in the ancient woodland behind the paddock that sits behind can see the property, but there are no public rights of way in the woodland. Plus, at the beginning and end of the land are two 2 storey dwellings. So really intrigued why it needs to go to committee where I suspect said 'words in corridors' might come into play.

We received the below from the LPA Case Officer today and I wanted ask whether this is standard and what direction would people recommend? "I have sent this to Biodiversity today but have to allow them a standard 2 week re-consultation window. I am also chasing the last few outstanding consultation responses. Bearing this in mind, can we please agree an extension of time for the application to 28 February 2025? To confirm, there is no obligation for you to agree to an extension of time. Should the application lapse then it will still be an application that has to still be determined by the Local Planning Authority and would fall within a backlog of similarly expired applications that we are currently dealing with. The advantage of having a timeframe against an application is that a greater priority is given to the determination of such applications because those with a timescale secured against them count towards performance statistics submitted to Central Government. I would reiterate however we are endeavouring to deal with all applications that we currently have within a timely manner, regardless of whether these remain within an agreed timescale or fall outside of this" As to date we haven't received any feedback from the LPA regarding the proposal, even though our Architect has requested this a number of times. Quite frustrating.

We currently have granted PP and are currently waiting on a revised application. The house will be sited in the same location though. I was wondering whether I could install the TP and drainage field before any other development works starts. Given a drainage field has to be in the top 750-900mm of soil? This along with distance from TP and TP distance from house, means that the soil pipe trench depth at the house is all calculated relative to the distance to the drainage field and the required fall. I suspect that to install the drainage field, I would have to get the conditions signed off on the current application first, before I could start? If we have to go to appeal on the current app, then it won't be decided this year and as I get a decent amount of annual leave, I wanted to try and get some tasks done. I've also got a retaining wall that needs to go in. All depends on what constitutes commencement of development?

Cut a long story short. The electricity company want 25k to move an electricity pole 2 metres to our boundary. I personally feel that they are trying to get us to pay for them to upgrade their old pole. The rest of them in the line were replaced a few years ago, but as there was a structure near to this pole, they obviously didn't do it. Said structure has now been removed, and I was going to try and play it, that having the pole on the boundary will make any future work a lot easier for them as the land on the other side of the boundary is an empty paddock which will never be developed on. We are not expecting to not have to contribute in some manner, so just wondering whether to simply use the "ease of maintenance / access" with them when we meet on site tomorrow so as to try and reduce the 25k that they want. The pole doesn't really need to be removed, but if we don't move it now, the new dwelling will be very close to the pole and any future maintenance that is required, will be very difficult for them to achieve.

Nutrient neutrality credits have been allocated for the granted planning permission, and said credits have been put on hold. We are however, submitting a revised planning application, and although for 95% of the time it will only be my wife and I residing at the property, the property will be a 3 to 4 bedroom, and I will be installing a 7 person sewage treatment plant. I obviously, don't want to have to pay for more offset than we need to, but also don't want anyone asking questions later down the line. Anyone have any wisdom on this specific topic?

Welcome. This is a great forum, and there are some very knowledgeable folk on here. Our search for a plot started 20 years ago, and during that time, I did the following. 1) Wrote more letters than I can count to landowners who had prospective plots (spotted during my cycling rides around Dorset). I think I received one email to say no. The rest just completely ignored me. 2) Paid £50 and signed up to the Dorset Self Build Register (£50 down the drain) 3) Used PlotBrowser - the FREE listing of house-building plots and self-build land to look at potential plots, but never had the cash in the bank to enable me to move quickly. Plots are so few and far between, and to give yourself a fighting chance, you need to have the money in the bank, and ready to go. Seeing a plot, and then trying to get financing arranged takes weeks if not months. Most people will not wait, and there will always be someone who has the cash in the bank. In the end we got so fed up, that we sold our house and moved into rented (also tried that tactic in 2014), and we found our plot on Rightmove, but we stopped looking just in Dorset, and expanded our search area to Hampshire and Wiltshire. It is a frustrating task, especially, if you don't have huge amounts of cash sitting in the bank, but that being said, you might be fortunate to have a £1,000,000 for a plot. In which case, your task will be much easier. Good luck.

I was wondering whether this could be ammunition at appeal.

So the public consultation period on our associated planning application expired on 7th Jan, but another NIMBY luddite on the lane submitted an objection today, and the council have uploaded it to the planning portal. Are they not in breach of their own regulation in allowing these submissions? I'm most likely going to end up with a restraining order, as I'm seething at these 🤬 for their objections.

But said reports keep people employed.

I think that is where we messed up this time. They have an in house Planning Consultant, but he only seemed to get involved at PP submission time, to draft the design and access statement, but that wasn't very good, and it didn't even contain photos of the mixed bag of properties along the lane.

I spoke with the Architects, and they suggested we left things as they were. TBH, confidence regarding us getting PP is at an all time low. On the day of the Case Officer's site visit, he sent her an email addressing the letters of objection. At the bottom of the email he added a paragraph relating to possible compromises. I was thoroughly annoyed that he'd basically shown his card hand, before the Case Officer had enough made any comment. At no point too, along the whole journey have they ever made reference to the local planning policy documents, and whether we have any hope in getting what we want. You definitely get what you pay for, but if we get refused, I'll be binning them off. Question is, do we hand the reason for refusal to a decent Planning Consultant or do we just find an Architect who specialises in AONB applications.

They don't want to see windows above the hedge, but in the next breath one of them objects to the large gate, and wants it removed. Won't they see the house then 🤔 Their objections are full of contradictions and inconsistencies when compared to the original application.

That is actually a good idea. The planning application did show the reduced massing, so I was hoping that would suffice.

I'm contemplating offering it to the traveller community for 12 months. In no made rush to get building, and it would be great to see their faces with caravans on the site and a Cob grazing on the road verge.

Not looking good. What a bunch of **** "ORIGINAL PLANNING APPLICATION 23/00259/FUL Proposal "replacement of existing cattery buildings with a single dwelling and detached garage". In our comments on the above planning application we noted the "we have two considerations for any proposed developments in White Lane: the first is the visual and environmental impact and the second is with regards traffic generation, highway safety and parking". Regarding the former consideration, we concluded that... "whilst the single storey bungalow will be slightly higher than the cattery (the buildings it would be replacing), its position, the slope of the ground and the height of the hedge along the boundary with the road will minimize its visibility for the public." Taking into account the above, and other comments in our submission, we made it clear that we were in support of the ORIGINAL proposal... which was subsequently approved by BDC. HOWEVER, the ALTERNATIVE DESIGN TO THE DWELLING AND GARAGE now proposed by the new owners of the land presents a substantial and material change to which we can NOT support. The change from a single-storey dwelling to a two-storey building, and one that is so close to the lane will be extremely imposing and will be totally out of character with the rural surroundings and the neighbouring buildings in the Lane. Despite the proposal for the new dwelling to be partially sunk and with a standard hedge on the roadside, the building will present an overpowering presence for anybody 2 passing by. My understanding is that the Council has recently refused planning applications for anything other than single-storey buildings in White Lane i.e. Patchbourne House, Primrose Cottage and the original planning application 23/00259/FUL. I do not see how the Council could permit a two-storey development on this site, when all previous applications in its vicinity have been limited to a single-storey dwelling. In addition, to our objections to the impact of the two-storey development from White Lane, there is also the objection to its visual and environmental impact on the view from the farmland rising at the back which is an AONB! The property would be unable to erect any screening or hedging sufficient to even partially mitigate the building's visual impact as there is no space between the rear of the building and the boundary of the property. In conclusion: we OPPOSE the 'alternative design' on grounds of its visual effect on the lane, on the rural area and on AONB that it is sited in" Given the building is basically sitting in the same place as the granted one. I am also keen to understand how the council (if this bit is true), can refuse anything other than single storey dwellings. The lane has a mix of single and two storey dwellings, and AFAIK, there hasn't been a house built on the lane for decades.

The relationship is truly hosed, especially, after our neighbour was the one who was nice as pie before we handed over the money to purchase the plot, and then submits an objection.

Ok, thanks. Not sure if they have PD rights.