Can we denied to put our own application in

[Lauren77]

So it seems we have been given a very lazy enforcement officer. Any advice so so welcome!! 

Just before Christmas (literally the 24th!) we had taken down our front boundary wall due to the structural integrity of it being compromised and it was the best time as no people taking children to school etc. 

We have only owned the property for 2 years (nearly) and had always had it in the pipeline to apply to make our large unused front garden into parking. Especially as parking is difficult around here! So we have dug the garden out laid gravel grids and gravel in place of the grass so it’s still permeable. We had been using it as a drive for 1 vehicle despite it being roomy enough for 2 and still have the walkway to our front door. It does not have a dropped kerb, however we had planned to apply for this just was a busy start to the year. 

However, by the 20th of January (less than a month of doing it!) we had been reported for turning our garden into parking. This was by our nightmare neighbour who lives next door (who doesn’t even own the property next door I might add!) it comes to light that it had been applied for and denied back in 2018. 

Once we had a look into the prior refusal they had refused mainly on the grounds that it had poor visibility (at this time people could park either side of the road including up to 10 metres from a junction.) since this the council have altered the road in extending yellow lines from the junction across our property and the property to our right and restricted all the parking with yellow lines quite some distance on the opposite side of the road (length of about 6 terrace houses) I will try to include a picture! They also mentioned it being in between 2 junctions (which will be shown in the pic!) however our parking/garden is more than 10 meters from each junction which is the legal minimum. Could I argue this? 

Given this the enforcement officer dealing with our case has said she has be liaising with highways and supposedly passed on the new information and they’ve upheld their previous decision and gave the highways “response” which was an undated document. When looking at the response I realised it’s word for word the exact same response given in 2018. So much so that there are statements made that are now untrue being 5 years has passed (saying 3 accidents have taken place on the junctions in the last 3 years when there hasn’t been an accident on either junction since 2017.) and that the visibility splay was taken at 2 meters instead of 2.4 but this was the splay provided in the original application as we haven’t supplied them a splay of own as we haven’t been given the chance to apply ourselves yet! 

We have been told by this same enforcement officer that the highways have said “they will not support any application”. We don’t understand how this can be the case especially as again this is essentially hearsay as we haven’t been given an official or dated document or email stating this from highways. 

We feel we have been treated very unfairly especially given that at the end of our row of terraces there is a driveway directly next a junction. With a lowered kerb too indicating that they had gotten approved for this despite that they blindly exit their drive onto incoming traffic due to parked cars right up to their property. 

Any ideas from anyone how to move forward? 

Hopefully it’s not too waffly but enough context of our situation any questions welcomed also!! 

With the image it’s very blurry but you can see much lighter lines which are where they’ve extended and where it looks there are none there is some they’re the original lines the yellow is where we are. Really hope all makes sense!!

[Drellingore]

Would raising an enforcement appeal be the best thing to do? Can you contact Highways Agency directly to validate what you're being told by the enforcement officer?

[Lauren77]

Thank you for your reply. Honestly we don’t know what’s best to do.. hence looking for some advice😊 The point is we know there is no chance they have spoken to highways, because the response was word for word the same as the original response, including statements which are no longer accurate as they were made 5 years ago.. plus this is all within a week! 

[PeterW]

I would start with a notification to them that you dispute the enforcement as the information within it is inaccurate and incorrect. There is also an enforcement timetable they need to follow which is sounding like they haven’t.

 

 

[Lauren77]

Yes, I was thinking about trying to contact someone higher up. I believe they think we don’t know that this has all been said before, because it sure sounds scary if I had not seen it before and I would probably bow down in agreement with them. But given I have throughly read through all the documents and comments made with the previous application I know all she’s done has copied and pasted from the comment made in 2018. 
 

what is an enforcement timetable if you don’t mind stating? 
 

thank you for your reply!