Moonshine

but fit the MF ceiling to joists with a GAH1 type acoustic hanger.

You owe them quite a few cold ones, for quickly getting you out of what could have needed an expensive solution.

What acoustic properties are you looking to achieve? What is the noise you are trying to insulate against? You will also need to consider ventilation requirements under the roof layer and U values, as acoustic / porous insulation doesn't perform as well thermally as PIR board, therefore you will need to add thicker insulation

Cheers, not much i can do otherwise, and tbh that is making me more relaxed about it, just a resigned to the process now

First off, glad that everyone is safe and that the damage isn't too significant. Respect for posting. I have brought down two 35 - 40 cm diameter pines in my time, under the steward ship of a very capable chainsaw operator. Getting the tree down was pretty easy, once it's on the ground its a real game of kerplunk. Even on flat ground its work that isn't to be rushed, trying to figure out how the weight is going to shift once cut. Without seeing how its fallen its difficult to tell how it could be approached, but its seem very awkward with some resting on the wall. As advice above, I think that its time for a pro with their experience of how the trunk may move, and how to safely cut it. Good luck.

Well the public consultation process at least, no indication on the website of neighbour consultation or being advertised in the newspaper. So the 3 week consultation period is still to commence.

8 weeks and counting, and the LPA still haven't put my validated application out for consultation.... I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed I should start a sweep stake on when a decision is going to be made, first prize a stout round of applause;

move to wales and live off-grid? (e.g. https://www.krisharbour.co.uk/)

Not all LA's charge for pre-app advice, but most do.

It wasn't clear (to me anyway), but i think that you are going to have to apply for planning, rather than permitted development. Even then, it if a planning application i doubt that you would be able to permission, as based on the street images the existing wall ties in with the existing front facades of the houses to the rear, and the side of your own house. I think that you will have a job on your hands to convince the planners to deviate from this line, though worth contacting them and seeing what their thoughts are.

from your description of what is needed, could you not use a wall chaser? basically its two cutting discs side my side, used usually to chase out walls for electrics to run in. https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb293wch-150mm-1700w-electric-wall-chaser-230-240v/80530

Unless you have the land with planning permission already paid for, i doubt £35k is enough to get you started. Budget £1.5k - £2k per m2 build cost, so for a rough calc think about a 120m2 house, you are looking £180k - £240k build cost alone. Self build mortgages will lend you up to 4 times your joint income. So say you have the land already paid for, you will need up to £200k once you take off your deposit. Do you have a joint income of £50k? if you need to buy a plot with planning (~£80-100k), do you have a joint income of £70-75k?

No it won't, follage has to be dense and thick to stop significant noise

For planning for a single house on a straight forward non contentious plot, i think that a decent architect would be able to do the planning app, and you won't need a planning consultant. Planning application fee for a house is circa £500, leaving you £6,500 for the architect. To be honest you will pay for what you get, and depending on what you want you could go for a architectural technologist, or a expensive architect, but for £6,500 for i would be aiming for architectural fees for planning and building regs drawings. That said if its its a turn key timber frame company for they do the building regs drawings?

some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue.

This was my thoughts too, as with sampling you are really paying for the person to come to site and take the sample, and it is an external lab that does the analysis. @Bitpipe do you know the procedure for sampling, and who does the analysis for soil contamination testing? As an example, for my site i was asked to do some air quality monitoring, after a bit of reading up on the subject and chatting with the EHO, they set out what they wanted, and i was able to do the AQ monitoring myself based on the required methodology, with samples sent off to an external lab for analysis. Doing this, I was able to satisfy the air quality monitoring requirement for under £50, rather than paying someone to come to site and set up equipment and write a short report.

Are you sure, has the seller actually commenced the development? this is a pre-commencement condition so needs to be done before the development is started. It could be that the seller has got the planning permission and is just selling on the plot without even commencing works. The ground condition survey won't tell you were underground electricity cables would be, the thing with the substation is that they have oil in them, if the substation leaked at anytime / now it could contaminate the soil. If you want to know where the underground electricity cables are, you can't get this information from free as you don't own the plot, but you could ask the seller if he has this information, or can obtain it from the local power providers or https://www.linesearchbeforeudig.co.uk/

Circa 5 weeks if the 8 weeks is realised, but it's not validated yet. Spoke to the officer today to give them a nudge. They looked at the drawings while we were on the phone and said they generally reflected what the pre-app showed, so they were comfortable with the proposals, and were positive about the design. There are a couple of comments to get to the architect but probably nothing too exciting. Hopefully formally validated Tues/weds.

i thought that the game i was playing to begin with was poker, but it seems that based on current correspondence with the planning officer its akin to snap, hopefully it stays that way!

that was probably the whole point!

i would also concur that asking for more specific information is a positive sign, hopefully that is correct and i would bet you will have permission in the next two weeks. I have to admit looking at your proposals initially i thought that you wouldn't get permission, here to hoping i am wrong.

shitty tips from @ProDave

An interesting development, and i will be interested to see how it pans out, though i suspect expensive and poorly implemented. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48593423

I think Big Jimbo will be getting that call today!

Who are the other approved inspectors? Also only being able to get insurance from one source sounds very very odd!