Submitting Objections- templates / best practice

[Conor]

Our new neighbours (who seem very nice) have submitted plans for demolition and rebuild next door to us, which we knew they were most likely going to do. They never told us in advance.

 

Anyway, the issue is we're not 100% happy with their proposal, and as they didn't engage with us, and the formal process has started, we're going to submit an objection - mostly to highlight omissions from the application and get clarification regarding overlooking and light. It's just a bit too big and tall at the rear. The kind of things that could have been easily sorted if they came to use before submitting... 

 

The proposal includes a new 1.5 story, 9x6m garage with living room above with 7x2m balcony. This is behind the development line of the entire street and from our guesses, will look in to our rear living room, master bedroom and courtyard. Key things we'd like to object on are:

 

1. Their drawings do not have FFLs or ridge heights on the drawings. There's just a datum point, single ffl and scale bar.

2. Their drawings do not show windows on our elevations that face their proposed building.

3. Proposed building is less than 4m from a public sewer (NIW have been consulted, but I know for a fact that the position fo the sewer on their drawings is wrong)

4. Massing. Near doubling of the height and area of existing building, contrary to policy in a conservation area. The new annex is fully in the rear garden, behind all neighbouring houses extensions.

5. They've a note stating a hedge is 3.5-4.5m in height, in reality when trimmed it's 2.5m. this is the one between us and them, too low to offer screening from their first floor balcony.

 

Any guidance how to best frame these points in relation to planning policies and general planner speak? Any templates or examples?

Edited September 19, 2022 by Conor

[Bonner]

I would still talk through these issues with the neighbours first, they may have been misled by architect/planning consultants. Nevertheless it does seem unlikely they are going to change the plans at this late stage. I am not aware of any templates, I would just look at examples in the local planning applications. Maybe focus on conservation areas where planning consultants are more likely to be involved. My in laws live in (Royal) Hillsborough, worth looking at some of the planning applications which seem to be approved despite widespread objections.

[Madasahatter]

You appear to have looked at your 'Local Plan' - they will have a policy in respect of replacement buildings and maybe restrictions on percentage increases in footprint or height.  You need to reference this in your submission.

 

If the plans change the access for vehicles to their site or impair parking or turning there will be reference to requirements in the Local Plan and if this is so, again reference in your submission if it breaches them.  Visibility splays are a good starting point.  If the site is currently in conflict with access requirements but they don't intend on changing to the detriment, then the planning officer will likely 'ignore' any objection on those grounds.

 

If there are any protected species that you know of nearby, then point this out and ask where the ecology mitigation report is.

 

In respect of being overlooked, you should request that any ground floor fenestration of a greater area should not be entertained and any 1st floor should not have windows overlooking your property.

 

Your parish or borough council may have restrictions on boundary heights, if they do it will probably be 2m, but that may only apply to boundaries to a public highway.  Some councils have no restrictions.

 

The position of the public sewer would not normally be a planning issue, more to do with building control, but still mention that your neighbor's proposal would conflict with the guidance.

 

Your chances of getting an application for a replacement building refused are probably zero.  You can however make life 'difficult', and the planners will be respectful of your loss of amenity.  You can delay things by drip feeding your objections in.  If there a drawing revisions or additional information added to the application, make comments about them if you have any to make.  The Planning Department put a time restriction on the receipt of comments but in my experience have always allowed comments well after the expiry date.  You can check that with the planning officer allocated to the application.  You can also ask when the planning officer is going to visit the site and can he be available to listen to your concerns.  I believe they can refuse, but it is unlikely they will.  Probably the best outcome for you will a scaling down of the building and a planning delay of a year or so.  Falling out with your neighbors is likely, but it sounds like your not best pleased with them anyway.

[Kelvin]

Rather than object right now go and see them pointing out the things you are concerned about that directly impact you. They’ll either listen and agree to some changes that you are happy with or they’ll ignore you forcing you to formally object. When you object you need to focus on the things that contravene planning policy. Drip feeding objections with the sole aim of slowing everything up by a year doesn’t help anyone not least of all you.

 

Our plot had several objections raised to the initial planning in principle application (wasn’t us that made the application) When I was buying the plot I read through the objections. All bar one was inconsequential nonsense that could be best summarised as ‘I just object to this’. None of the objections were acted upon and planning was approved. When I bought the land I did my best to take into account some of the objections. I didn’t need to but I wanted to get on with my one neighbour. I showed her the plans etc and did everything to be accommodating. No further objections were raised and we got approval. The neighbour has subsequently died and the house is now empty. 

[Temp]

12 hours ago, Conor said:

The proposal includes a new 1.5 story, 9x6m garage with living room above with 7x2m balcony. This is behind the development line of the entire street and from our guesses, will look in to our rear living room, master bedroom and courtyard.

 

Many councils have a separation of dwellings policy. Can have various names eg "Seperation Distances and Amenity SPD". This specifies things like the minimum distance between the back of one house and another to reduce overlooking. (Eg between two facing bedroom window's or similar). See if you can get a copy from your planning office. If they meet this its unlikely the planners will consider it a problem.

 

Here is one for East Saffs...

ttps://www.eaststaffsbc.gov.uk/sites/default/files/docs/planning/planningpolicy/spd/Separation%20Distances%20and%20Amenity%20SPD_Final_Jun19.pdf

 

Quote

 

External Separation Standards

4.3 The minimum back to back distance between habitable rooms should be 21 metres where dwellings are of the same number of storeys 

 

 

The distance is less where one building doesn't have habitable windows so important the planners realise yours aren't shown.

 

[Mr Punter]

Only raise points that will impact you.  Drop the bit about the sewer proximity and FFLs.

 

The balcony and windows will compromise your enjoyment of your private garden.

 

The size, location and massing appear oppressive.

 

You will lose natural light into your garden, kitchen or whatever.

 

@Tony K is a planner and may (or not) be able to offer proper advice.

[BigBub]

On your first and second points, you should have a look at your local planning authority's Validation Checklist which sets out the local requirements for drawings and supporting documents needed for an application to be validated. If the drawings did not meet all of the validation requirements then you can raise this with the case officer to have the applicant revise the drawings.

[Conor]

10 hours ago, BigBub said:

On your first and second points, you should have a look at your local planning authority's Validation Checklist which sets out the local requirements for drawings and supporting documents needed for an application to be validated. If the drawings did not meet all of the validation requirements then you can raise this with the case officer to have the applicant revise the drawings.

Hi. We know that was an issue as they initially submitted the plans at end of July but we're not validated until 12th sept... So obviously the planners we're not happy with the drawings. They are still rought but good enough to get accepted. We submitted our objection with six key points, missing and unclear details on the drawings was one of them. 

 

 

Thanks.

[Tony K]

On 20/09/2022 at 14:30, Mr Punter said:

Only raise points that will impact you.  Drop the bit about the sewer proximity and FFLs.

 

The balcony and windows will compromise your enjoyment of your private garden.

 

The size, location and massing appear oppressive.

 

You will lose natural light into your garden, kitchen or whatever.

 

@Tony K is a planner and may (or not) be able to offer proper advice.

 

Sorry all, not logged in for a bit.

 

Right, I'm afraid this won't inspire @Conor, but in my view the public consultation/objection system is at best highly limited in value, and very often a bit of an irrelevance.

 

Fundamentally, and as a matter of law, planning is a question of assessing technical merits. You adopt Policy A. Thereafter you take Proposal B and compare it to Policy A, and it's either a yes or a no. Obviously it's more complex that that, but the subjectivity and flexibility in the decision making process comes from the policies reflecting a world that changes over time, and each case being slightly different to the last anyway. That doesn't mean the process is anything other than an impartial technical assessment. Ignore any talk about backhanders, political connections, rampant incompetence, etc and so on. That's almost always nonsense. The best advice I can give is that either your neighbours plans are acceptable on their technical merits or they are not, regardless of what you do or say.

 

That doesn't mean you should do nothing. Even if only for your future peace of mind, you should participate in the process. Some general advice when development is proposed near you:

 

1. Understand the remit. As @Mr Punter says, only certain things are relevant to a planning decision, so don't waste your energy on things that are not (or at least, address them elsewhere and not as part of your planning objection). This is useful:

 

https://www.rochford.gov.uk/sites/default/files/Material Planning Considerations.pdf

 

2. Read the policies and write your objection in that context. Your Council's website will have a planning policy page. You are looking for the development plan and supplementary planning guidance. The former is the big book of policies. It will usually contain only two or three of relevance to your situation, and they will be very generalised ('The Council will expect proposals for residential alterations to comprise good design' etc and so on). The SPG/SPD is a more detailed guide to what is meant by 'good design' and may even have some pictures to look at. If you are very lucky, they will have been drawn this century. 

 

Assessing the proposal against the policies and in context is the planners whole job. You are effectvily repeating that process except without the training, experience and impartiality, so in theory you should not be able to identify a planning consideration that they have not. In theory. In reality, you've nothing to lose by highlighting details that perhaps only you will have analysed so forensically ('Window A in fact serves a habitable room, the ground level of the site is higher than mine by some 350mm, the trees on the boundary that provide screening are in fact unhealthy and unprotected and may not remain in place....). This exercise may include pointing out faults in the submitted plans, but only when they have a real effect (i.e a critical dimension such as the distance to the boundry or the size and shape of the plot have been misrepresented, and so even if the plans are approved the developer can never build what is shown on the plans in the manner it is shown. This can have the effect of making the whole permission academic and unusable, albeit in a way that becomes messy quickly if your neighbour starts to build it anyway). 

 

Sometimes, just very, very occasionally, a planner will be a bit uncertain, or not yet at full professional maturity, or unbelievably overworked, or pissed off, or whatever, and if your letter of objection writes their report for them in a way they can almost copy and paste..... Well, who knows what could happen? At worst they will have more work to do if they want to articulate a compelling counter argument. A letter full of self-righteous outrage and moaning, on the other hand, just goes straight in the bin. Very quickly. 

 

3. Play politics. Perhaps. However impartial the planning system is designed to be there are of course instances where someone has leaned on the Council and influenced a decision. It is perhaps a little easier for a planner to do a little less work on an application that has generated no objections compared to one that has. You will at least keep them honest if you object. You could lean on your local Councillor to interfere (they don't call it 'interfering' by the way) by either pressing the planner to consider the case more carefully, or depending on the Council's processes, calling the matter up to a Committee meeting for a decision to be made by the Councillors. Who you can petition. And who rely on your vote. 

 

Even if you can squeeze the process to the point that your local Councillor goes into bat for you, and even if they can get the application refused, your neighbour can appeal to the independent Planning Inspectorate. They have no interest whatsoever in local politics or the playing of silly buggers, and will happily overturn a refusal if the planning merits dictate, so an impartial assessment will win out in the end. The other reason I say you might only 'perhaps' be politically active is that you may be pulling the drawbridge up on your relationship with your neighbour, denying yourself the chance to negotiate with them personally. In some cases that is irrelevant, but sometimes appealing to your neighbours rather than the Council is a far better bet, and better for the long term relationship. 

 

4. Speak to your neighbours. As above, even if the proposal is acceptable on its planning merits your neighbour might be amenable to a compromise in the interests of a good long term relationship. Thy might not of course, but you won't know unless you try, and if you have already objected to the application then they might not open the door to you. Weigh up one course of action against the other. 

 

 

[Ferdinand]

You may find that objections are not considered until they are all in and after the closing date. That is how mine operate.

 

I have found value in an early phone call to the Planning Officer, perhaps ostensibly to ask how to object so as to avoid wasting their time with fluff and outrage buses. But if you know of policy contraventions it is also an opportunity to help write the POs agenda before they have read objections, or perhaps even looked in detail at the plans and perhaps without breaking cover if you don't want to (you don't seem worried about that).

 

If things come up after the closure date, you can submit further material and it has to be considered if it is before a decision is made.

 

Get your LPA's list of "relevant planning matters", and get as familiar as you can with their polIcies. These are their boudnaries to define "not relevant".

 

The point about habitable rooms is well observed - make sure the LPA know where your habitable rooms are if relevant. You may get things like obscured glass or a clerestory.

 

Be short, focused, well-researched, and polite.

 

Whose hedge is it? Can you trim it to 1.8m?

 

Ferdinand