How many objections did you receive?

[joe90]

10 minutes ago, Bramco said:

Do you get an opportunity to speak at a planning meeting? If so, petition the planning committee members by email - simply point out how contradictory the recommendation is against the policy. 

I did this, spoke to one of the councillors who agreed with me it was good for the plot and didn’t see why it should be refused. At the committee meeting everyone voted against us including the councillor i had spoken to, he would not look me in the eye, several “untruths” were mentioned about our plot but I was not allowed to speak. Perhaps I was unlucky but someone “in the know” told me they had all been told to vote it down.?, wish I could meet them now ?.

[Bramco]

Which is the issue with the system - as someone who has applied (at least in our area) you are only allowed 3 minutes to state your case. Objectors can also have 3 minutes.  But......

 

The committee then debate things - and in our case, they are seriously not au fait with planning law - it's all 'well I think xyz' etc. and if the chief planning officer has recommended refusal, then he'll egg them on.  If on the other hand he's recommended approval then he'll gently teach them a thing or two....

 

And yes the chairman has generally taken a position in some pre-meeting with the head of planning.

 

In our case it was recommended for refusal but one quite senior councillor pointed out the stupidity of what they were saying, it ended up 5 for and 5 against and the chairman voted against - we resubmitted, our champion was on a skiing trip and the councillor who was sitting in for him was one who had voted against the previous time and someone else was back and it was a draw again - and the chairman voted against AGAIN!!!

 

The appeal inspector was polite but essentially said - I don't know what on earth the council are on about - permission granted.

 

There have been some twists since then - we had outline but on trying to talk to planning about what we wanted to do a contractor was assigned as planning officer who pointed out that the original application wasn't valid because the red line didn't show access from the public highway - it's on a private lane.....   the law actually says that the red line 'should' show access to the public highway, not that it 'must'   another few months of stress.....

 

DON'T GIVE UP!!

 

simon

[miike]

4 hours ago, joe90 said:

Don’t be afraid of going to appeal. After 4 planning applications (the last one was what the council wanted and enabled us to get on with the foundations) I then appealed the first application, what we originally wanted, pointing out several assumptions the council made that simply were not true (with proof) and we won hands down, council even got a rocket fir “not following their own planning guidelines”. I did our appeal myself, not rocket science just attention to detail. 

 

Fully intend to appeal and confident I'd win given how weak their objection is and easily disprovable it is. Just annoying what a waste of time it's going to be. 

[Triassic]

On 05/03/2021 at 15:21, miike said:

They're contradicting the local design guidelines for the area (which specifically describe the area as a 'mix' of different styles and say that modern architecture 'adds interest and intrigue' to the street scene) so it'll be going straight to appeal but it's an additional 6+ months of waiting for a decision now. Very frustrating. 

Make sure you say this in your Design Statement, then say it again if you get a chance at the planning meeting. Keep to the facts, if you can’t keep your cool, get someone else (architect) to talk to the planning committee.

[ToughButterCup]

On 05/03/2021 at 17:42, Bramco said:

....

and in our case, they are seriously not au fait with planning law - it's all 'well I think xyz' etc. and if the chief planning officer has recommended refusal, then he'll egg them on.  If on the other hand he's recommended approval then he'll gently teach them a thing or two....  And yes the chairman has generally taken a position in some pre-meeting with the head of planning.

...

 

Micropolitics matters.

[epsilonGreedy]

Before I purchased my plot with planning permission there had been 60 comments with about 75% against the development. It went to committee.

[Red Kite]

We have just  about finished our  modern houses  which we won at appeal  after a couple of applications. 105 objections in total but numerous from the same people , who also walked along the road encouraging others to object. The committee was a farce - planning offer wanted approval  both times  but committee said  NO . councillors so ill informed rantiing on about metal roof being seen form far and wide but its a  flat EDPM roof !!! 

 

Now that they are built so many people stop and say how nice they are its heartwarming.

 

It was so so challenging at the time but now we try to laugh about the ridiculous things the neighbors said  - not enough parking ! well we have 3 cars and a camper on the drive and room for 3 more !  2 will get in the garage very soon !  so even more parking 

[joe90]

6 minutes ago, Red Kite said:

We have just  about finished our  modern houses  which we won at appeal  after a couple of applications. 105 objections in total but numerous from the same people , who also walked along the road encouraging others to object. The committee was a farce - planning offer wanted approval  both times  but committee said  NO . councillors so ill informed rantiing on about metal roof being seen form far and wide but its a  flat EDPM roof !!! 

 

Now that they are built so many people stop and say how nice they are its heartwarming.

 

It was so so challenging at the time but now we try to laugh about the ridiculous things the neighbors said  - not enough parking ! well we have 3 cars and a camper on the drive and room for 3 more !  2 will get in the garage very soon !  so even more parking 

Only two applications, you had it easy, we had four  ?, seriously, we had a similar experience, the committee was “got at” (so I am told) and the appeal officer (who granted our appeal to the original application) told them they were not abiding by their own policies. Yes we get so many passers by commenting on how nice our build is ?