New Build Planning Frustrations

[Alan Ambrose]

Ah thanks, interesting.

[garrymartin]

2 hours ago, Alan Ambrose said:

but I assume this is because these docs are nominally 'new evidence'.

Not really. If they were referred to in the statement of case, it's probably just that the Inspector can't locate them.

 

2 hours ago, Alan Ambrose said:

Would I be allowed to supply new documents at this late stage or would I be penalised for failing to provide them?

I'm not sure what the question is meant to be asking, but you certainly won't be able to introduce new documents that haven't been previously referenced in your application or statement of case.

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> it's probably just that the Inspector can't locate them.

 

Yes, because the LPA didn't supply them, so they are supplying them only on request of the inspector a mere 1 year after the appeal was lodged. My question was rhetorical - would I be allowed to do this in a similar way to the LPA? Or would I be penalised by having that part of the evidence ignored or a similar penalty. That is, is the LPA getting more lenient treatment than the appellant might? And to avoid any doubt - yes, I think they are. Similarly for following the Procedural Guide.

[garrymartin]

It's weird that if they are policy documents, they are not publicly available...

 

You are right though, if you'd just mentioned a document by name but hadn't provided it, and relied on it to make your case, I doubt the Inspector would ask you for it now as technically it wouldn't have been available to the LPA if it isn't public.

 

It's sort of the same reason why you can only respond to the LPA statement of case and can't introduce anything new at that point otherwise you'd end up going around in circles with each new piece of evidence.

 

It does sound strange. Did you have access to the policies mentioned at the point of appeal?

[Havkey100]

Inspectorate have come back to me asking that I attach the relevant plans from the refusal notice, which I thought I had. It seem not, the refusal notice is referencing the outdated drawings that were superseded and formed part of the re-consultation we had to go through. I have now had to go back to the planning department and ask what the process should be. I am not sure if they need to issue a corrected decision notice and new circulated report!

 

Can't make this up.

Edited August 21 by Havkey100

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> It's weird that if they are policy documents, they are not publicly available...

 

Actually, they are, the inspector is just being 'thorough' or lazy.

 

>>> Inspectorate have come back to me asking that I attach the relevant plans from the refusal notice

 

Just send those to the inspector even if they're not correct, explain why they're not correct and also supply the correct ones?

 

>>> I have now had to go back to the planning department and ask what the process should be.

 

It's likely they have no idea, so suggest as above.

 

This is the 'validation' stage of your appeal?

Edited August 21 by Alan Ambrose

[Havkey100]

Yes, already done as recommended by the planning consultant.

[Havkey100]

LPA response is no change to their assessment, but they recognised the incorrect versions of the plans had been referenced in their report. Final comments are open until 12th November. Still awaiting a site visit date from the Planning Inspector.

[Havkey100]

We have an appeal inspector now and hopefully will have site visit. On the bright side, I think we have somebody who can bring a balanced view to the application. Having read a similar one the inspector decided on, they had this to say on the 12m rule we are being subjected to:

 

'The amendments made to the previously rejected scheme are noted, as is the appellant’s contention that the western facing wall could no longer be regarded as ‘blank’ in terms of the Council’s TAN3. I share the appellant’s view that ‘the 12m minimum distance is guidance rather than strict regulation and each application can be reviewed on its own merit and the local impacts assessed’.

 

Given we are at 11.5m, at an angle, don't have a blank elevation and much much better than guidance on the 25 degree rule I would hope that we can reach a similar accordance.

[Alan Ambrose]

You've clearly been doing your homework, so you deserve to win on this

[joe90]

3 hours ago, Havkey100 said:

We have an appeal inspector now and hopefully will have site visit. On the bright side, I think we have somebody who can bring a balanced view to the application.

Fingers crossed, with my appeal the inspector sided with me on all counts. 

[Havkey100]

On 03/12/2024 at 16:20, Alan Ambrose said:

You've clearly been doing your homework, so you deserve to win on this

 

Have spent a lot of time on it. As many others have experienced, we just want a fair shake at it. It seems we are being held to the whims of a personal opinion from one person, given our case officer was actually happy with even our original design. We made several changes to offset the concerns of the authorising officer, but they pretty much ignored them.

 

I did have this from the inspectorate: 

 

"In the interests of clarity, and having regard to the appellant's initial correspondence and grounds of appeal, would the appellant produce a list of the plans, with references, it wishes the Inspector to consider, and which it considers was subject of the Council's determination. "

 

Maybe that says a lot about the lack of clarity from the council on which version of the plans their report was based on. I have clarified again, which aligns with my appeal documents.