How much info

[Russell griffiths]

Hi we are currently putting an application together for a replacement dwelling. 

 

What I am after is a list of any information that either should be included with your application, or information that you included as you thought it was relevant and could help your case, we think we have got a fight on our hands as the replacement is a lot larger than the house on site so would be happy to do anything to smooth the path th full planning. So far we have had done: 

Topographical survey 

flood risk analysis 

hydrological analysis

ecological survey

 

so I'm now thinking of all the good bits about the new house compared to the old one,. But unsure what to include and what not and also are a lot of things covered later at building regs stage or is it best to chuck so much at them there seems little point in arguing with you. 

 

Thanks russ #confused.com. 

[dogman]

We have a replacement dwelling that went through planning straight away

 

Start with is it urban or rural as different rules apply.

 

Then read up on local rules. We were allowed 50% in Berkshire some other areas are a lot less. check if there is a parish, town plan etc

 

look at other successful planning applications to get a feel.

 

Or shell out for a local planning consultant.

[Russell griffiths]

Ok a bit more about our build,

we have a planning consultant working with us, earlier this year we secured change of use from a managers dwelling to permanent dwelling, we are continuing to use them for the next stage which is replacement of existing dwelling, I am just trying to help them with any info regarding how fab the new place will be compared to how crap the old one is so it makes more sense to replace it, 

so far planning has cost us £5000 to date and I see it costing another £10000 before we get to the building stage so just trying to smooth the way with a lot of reasons to justify why we want to build it. 

 

As as far as the local plan we are told Cotswold district plan is so outdated that they are supposed to have drawn up a new one which they are a couple of years behind doing so there is little in the planning polices regarding how big it can be

 cheers Russ. 

Ps it's fairly rural we sit on 17 acres with the next nearest house 300 m away. 

Edited December 19, 2016 by Russell griffiths

[AliG]

On my build they wanted a bat survey for the house I was going to knock down. Because we didn't have it ready it caused major delays. I'd check to see if they will need one.

 

Although your planning consultant will be doing this, best thing to do is probably read up on any similar proposals and local plans. They will give you an idea of what was asked for and what the stumbling blocks were.

 

I would have said that a footprint calculation would be useful as it doesn't necessarily mater if the new property is larger than the old one, more that it is an appropriate size for the site. However at 17 acres that really shouldn't be an issue.

[dogman]

Remote then. 

 

Local to us was a farm field of about 10 acres. They applied to change from farm to grazing for horses and got planning

They grazed for a year and applied fro a stable block and barn and got it.

used this for a while and then sold it.

New owners grazed sheep and chickens and then applied to live on sight in caravan that was refused.

They then applied to change unused stables to a house and got that. (and caravan as temp accommodation) 

So it 5-6 years from a field to private house can be done.

[Ferdinand]

1 hour ago, Sensus said:

There's a very easy answer to this: as your local Planning Authority for the specific 'validation requirements' they want to see for your site.

 

The snag is that most Authorities now charge for pre-application advice, of which this is a critical part (for anybody, on any site, you should always  ask for the validation requirements when you seek pre-App advice).

 

Unfortunately, due to resource pressures, LPA's are increasingly reluctant to give you the validation requirements in advance of an application if you don't pay them for pre-App advice, and I've frequently had the response: "submit it with basic validation information and we'll tell you what else we need', which obviously leads to considerable delays if you then need to get other information together... but there's no harm in asking, even if you haven't gone for formal Pre-app.

 

There are two lists of information for applications:

 

There are the National Requirements, which must be submitted with every application.

 

Then there are the Local Requirements, which can be picked from a long list (typical example here), according to the nature of the application and the site. 

 

Can't you just FOI them for the Validation Requirements if it is a single document? Or is it site specific?

Edited December 19, 2016 by Ferdinand

[ToughButterCup]

3 hours ago, Sensus said:

There's a very easy answer to this: ask your local Planning Authority for the specific 'validation requirements' they want to see for your site.

 

And, since they charge, the alternative is to do the legwork yourself. And by legwork, I mean reading, networking and visits.

 

Reading

Since there's an awful lot of LPA documentation online, sift it for similar applications  submitted. That'll give you a feel for what's needed: and pay particular attention to the name of the official who is dealing with your case. Read as many relevant applications as you can. And watch for the local interpretation of words like 'sustainable'. When you've had enough of reading, do some more.

Networking

The LPA will have a 'feel' about it. New Head of Department? New staff? Outsourced staff? Old timers? Visit the odd Planning Committee meeting. The pub, your mates, your mates mates, Mrs XYZ down the road, waste time with them. The Parish Council, (sorry, but it's a good idea)

Visits

Found an interesting decision? Go and have a look, especially if its local to you: you're looking for precedent

[ProDave]

A good example of this, is there were 2 planning applications in our road (one of them was mine of course) in the last 5 years with no particular conditions. A common theme to this road is we all have a burn running through our gardens.  Now another house with a large garden has applied for permission to build and they have been asked for a flood risk assessment. But we were not. I can't see any obvious reason why their plot should have a different flood risk to ours.
 

[TerryE]

One that @Sensus might be able to clarify, but I am confused here.  Whether we like it or not, most Local Authorities now have to run their planning services under cost recovery targets.  If you want to engage constructively with the LPA then PPA is their cost recovery mechanism for doing so.  There are normally defined fee schedules and service levels, and as Sensus says, you can use this as a mechanism for putting obligations back on the LPA to provide data within response targets.  If you've spent £5K on consultants, then surely you've been through one or two rounds of PPA at a £100 or so each?  Or does the consultant have a coherent and credible rationale for not engaging with the LPA?   OK, this might draw up battle lines, but isn't it better to know what the opposition's position is and to spend your money and resources on battles that you need to fight and not on ones that the LPA don't even want to have?

[ToughButterCup]

14 hours ago, Sensus said:

 

You are NOT looking for precedent. You're looking for specifics related to your site.

 

 

A quick read of paragraph 8.1 of our Delegated Report will explain my focus on precedent.

 

'... The approval of the outline application in this location is not seen to set a precedent for further new dwellings and development in this immediate setting....' 

 

[Ferdinand]

3 hours ago, recoveringacademic said:

 

A quick read of paragraph 8.1 of our Delegated Report will explain my focus on precedent.

 

'... The approval of the outline application in this location is not seen to set a precedent for further new dwellings and development in this immediate setting....' 

 

 

To my eye that quote reinforces @Sensus' point because it reinforces independence of each application.

 

But .. having read the doc, they are distinguishing between Policy (which is probably also code for Precedent) and site specific, and appear to treat Appeal results as determinants for their policy. Said policy is then applied to specific sites.

 

So you are urbanising rural Lancashire singlehanded with a radically different out of step design, you naughty person :-) . THe parish church also looks remarkably different to the chocolate box cottages, so they had better demolish *that* and let the PC Meet in the phone box.

 

Ferdinand

 

Edited December 20, 2016 by Ferdinand

[ragg987]

Our old bungalow 92m2 footprint got replaced with a 178m2 footprint house on 0.25 acre plot. LPA did not raise any points about this at all - so I am not convinced that size, alone, is a factor.

 

The application covered some core points that might cause issues or fall foul of published policies - e.g. principle of dwelling, appropriate / fitting to the surrounding, oversight to neighbours, over-bearing, blocking of neighbours amenity, turning / parking space etc. You MUST address these.

 

We then made sure we brought our immediate neighbours along to avoid any objections there.

 

On bat survey, I nearly embarked on one costing about £1k, but happened to speak to our LA environmental officer who agreed to review the site for a nominal fee and gave us the green light. Phew!

Edited December 20, 2016 by ragg987
typos

[Russell griffiths]

On 19/12/2016 at 09:57, AliG said:

On my build they wanted a bat survey for the house I was going to knock down. Because we didn't have it ready it caused major delays. I'd check to see if they will need one.

 

Although your planning consultant will be doing this, best thing to do is probably read up on any similar proposals and local plans. They will give you an idea of what was asked for and what the stumbling blocks were.

 

I would have said that a footprint calculation would be useful as it doesn't necessarily mater if the new property is larger than the old one, more that it is an appropriate size for the site. However at 17 acres that really shouldn't be an issue.

 

Thanks for all the replies 

just to fill in a few gaps. 

We will be contacting the local planners as soon as we have finalised the drawings, I just wanted to hit them with as much justification for the replacement dwelling as we could, the planning consent we have in place at present we managed to secure through the planners complete lack of enforcing there own rules, so managed to slip it past them. I believe we are not exactly on there Christmas card list, so as soon as our application goes in I think it will make them sit up really quick,so just wanted to be fully prepared. 

Bat survey done

newt survey done

full topo done

flood risk assessment done

hydrological survey done

so the things I was wondering about was what things I could include regarding energy efficiency and how the house will be far superior to the one already on site. 

Thanks russ. 

[ToughButterCup]

14 minutes ago, Sensus said:

What Planning is interested in in terms of sustainability is the wider impacts on environment and infrastructure; eg. will you be reducing wildlife habitat, increasing flood risk, or creating a dwelling in a location where it will be necessary for the occupiers to use 'unsustainable' forms of transport to get to work, shops or school.

 

Exactly. It was the change in the understanding of the term 'sustainable'  that caused my neighbour's application to be refused.

The Planning Office drew attention to the change of understanding, and cited  Appeals decision evidence. Interestingly he didn't cite which Appeals cases. 

 

Sustainable.  Annoying word - that means too many things. Depends who's saying it, what the context is, and who's listening

[Russell griffiths]

Thanks everyone, will have a good chat with the consultant in the new year.