Vijay Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Morning guys, Another crap nights sleep after receiving a letter from the council as someone has complained about my site. I think I know who it is and let's just say if I'm right, their intentions are pretty screwed up. They have basically complained that my site is abandoned, untidy and unsafe. I have been on site for months most days so I was shocked to get the letter. So my question is what is allowed to be left on site and are there rules about it? I do have 2 cars there that I want to restore (the dream of working in a workshop/garage). Am I allowed to keep them onsite if they are covered up? Thanks for any help, Vijay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Surely it’s your property and you can keep what you like on it, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Good morning and sorry to hear your getting grief, there are lots of houses that are untidy and I cannot imagine there’s rules on this, However dangerous might be an issue, that’s why heras fencing is used on building sites. I think your only issue is upsetting neighbours you have to live near in the future and whether you can live with that. Personally I would not worry. Have the council asked you to reply to their letter? If not don’t bother. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijay Posted August 14 Author Share Posted August 14 there is nothing dangerous about my site. It is secure and insured. The council said "Please note that should you fail to comply with this request, we will consider what further action is appropriate to address the breach. This could include the service of a formal enforcement Notice pursuant to sections 215-219 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended), which would legally require you to undertake the works set out above." I have replied to them asking for them to meet me on site to show me the issues they need resloved 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeSharp01 Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 10 minutes ago, Vijay said: I have replied to them asking for them to meet me on site to show me the issues they need resloved good move - face the daemons head on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susie Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 You can store your cars in the open that’s allowed but not necessarily good for the car, depending on their current condition you might want to invest in a carcoon. Could the neighbour think you are going to start a business up and not be happy with that. Perhaps he thinks your storing fuel. The sentence ending ‘works set out above’ implies something specific they want you to do if the letter doesn’t state that then I would be asking for more details. if you only just sent your letter of reply then give them time to reply then phone them. a safe site is what they want to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbeard Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Appreciating that this is an evolving issue, do you wish to share the list of 'works set out above'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijay Posted August 14 Author Share Posted August 14 yeah I have nothing at all to hide 1) Secure the site - it is 2)Tidy up building materials - shocked cos people have commented that my site is always tidy - it's a building site! 3) Remove unnecessary items and vehicles from the site - got the 2 cars 4) Store any oils/fuels/liquids in a safe manner (i.e. spilltrays/secondary containers). - only water on site in 2 IBC's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 7 minutes ago, Vijay said: ... which would legally require you to undertake the works set out above ... Can you let us know what the Council have asked you to do, and post a photo of the site as it is at present (not an old photo) please? That would help us help you. The council are only saying that they intend to ... we will consider ... what they should ask you to do. That hints at the possibility that all they are doing - at present - is thinking about it. I bet they haven't been anywhere near the site. But now they can reply to the complainant saying that they are dealing with the matter. And possibly that'll be the end of it. In a similar situation, I'd wait for the letter detailing what they want you to do and by when (make them do some thinking) go round other sites and photograph the mess that's there respond asking them how your 'mess' is worse than the images of other sites and wait for the response ONLY THEN ask for a meeting require an itemised list of the works required At the moment there's a high likelihood that an LPA official (Enforcement Officer?) is merely doing the minimum required to get the issue out of the IN tray. Understandable these days....... Make them 'fail' you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijay Posted August 14 Author Share Posted August 14 he said he visited my site on June 12th (the only week I took off as I had family over from America for my parents 90th's). He said "I can confirm that we consider the condition of the land to be unsatisfactory and a cause for concern due to the following issues: 1) Potential health and safety risk from unsecure building site / scaffolding - it's secure and the scaffold is erected and tied to the house 2) Harm to visual amenity - no words 3) Potential environmental harm should machinery/containers leak fluids - cars have no fuel in them and only other machinery is a digger and dumper I will take a pic but the only thing I can agree is an issue, is the cars are near a neighbours fence. I would happily move them to a less viewable place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbeard Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Thanks for the list @Vijay. My biggest concern is the anxiety and irritation that it's causing you. That may govern how much you try to speed it (them) up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijay Posted August 14 Author Share Posted August 14 34 minutes ago, Redbeard said: Thanks for the list @Vijay. My biggest concern is the anxiety and irritation that it's causing you. That may govern how much you try to speed it (them) up. The upset is more that I believe a neighbour has this for horrible reasons. I'm a very approachable person and if anyone had an issue, I'd want to deal with it if I could. Last thing as already mention is not peeing off neighbours before you've lived there..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjc55 Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Why do you think the neighbour is doing this Vijay? Have you had a falling out? Have you talked to them about the situation or re they unapproachable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToughButterCup Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 (edited) 1 hour ago, Vijay said: ... 2) Harm to visual amenity ... Can't you just hear the LadysThatLunch table talk.... " Ey, hev yoo walked parst that dredful heys ... yoo kney the won thets being bilt ? "Oh ya ... I mean just think of what its doooing to heys prices. Dredfool. Go round your locality with a camera and Photograph every site that has scaffolding up for as long as , or longer than you - and ask whether the LPA has made similar requests of those sites Tell them firmly that the '... potential ...' that they identify has absolutely no basis for complaint in law. Nobody is being harmed. Nobody has lost money. No injury has been caused. Everything has the potential to cause injury. If I had had those points levelled against me, I'd appeal the decision, and if the appeal is denied, I'd wait until the day before they take action ( probably six months later) and then start work on doing the absolute minimum: If needed, get the HERAS sorted out. Thats it. Fookem PS, presumably the cars would be OK if the house had been built - so why is there concern now? Know what, .... I'm quite cross on your behalf. Edited August 14 by ToughButterCup 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Ambrose Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 Assume your site has heras or similar around it? Add screening fabric? Sounds like the neighbours just don't like the look of it. You could ask them directly - a little transparency goes a long way. And then offer to put up some screening fabric. I believe enforcement has to react to anyone's complaints even if they think they're nonsense. Also, enforcement appeals are crazy slow, so you can probably spin this out for 3 years if you want. I once had enforcement ask for drawings after a neighbour complained about the height / bulk of a PD cart lodge. Supplied drawings. (Actually I did need to draw them at that time as the building was so simple it didn't need real drawings.) End of. I've an antsy neighbour atm who is worried about drainage. He also complained (to me, not to the LPA) about having windows in the side of our single storey design. He has a 3m high x 1m wide hedge between us FFS. Take your time, try and stay calm and respond rationally. Re the drainage, I sent him our topo and some references to SuDS and asked him if he had any calcs, drawings, images etc. He didn't reply, so I assume he hasn't. I suggested that with some good science and engineering we would handle whatever potential problems we faced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gone West Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 4 hours ago, Vijay said: receiving a letter from the council as someone has complained about my site I had this after we had built our house. We were in the process of dismantling the bungalow we had lived in during the build, we had three months to do this, and an enforcement officer turned up to say they had received a complaint about the length of time it was taking us. He was just ticking boxes and said he was monitoring the situation and we never heard anymore about it. Try not to get stressed about things like that, if they've received a complaint they have to investigate it. Try to work with the enforcement officer as much as you can. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 call up enforcement and ask to meetup on site. Ive allways found them reasonable. Ask for specifics what they want. ref scaff if it was put up by a professional pass on their details etc if you put it up then ask a professianl firm to come inspect it and give you a cert. If they are asking for anything blatently unreasonable tell them that and say you will appeal any enforcement and ask for costs. Appeals take a year so you will have likely finished the build by then anyway and it will be moot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joe90 Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 NIMBYism, as others have said my worry is your stress levels, not the actual complaint, give your answers, wait for a reply then deal (slowly) with them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilly Posted August 14 Share Posted August 14 I was always worried about complaints and so blanked as much as I could with black painted ply where the hedges were thin. Developers do this (or with branding) on a lot of sites in London for screening rather than Heras. if they were really worried, they would refer it to Health and Safety, so double check you comply, perhaps? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Jones Posted August 15 Share Posted August 15 21 hours ago, mjc55 said: Why do you think the neighbour is doing this Vijay? Have you had a falling out? Have you talked to them about the situation or re they unapproachable? its a building site, neighbour hate comes free. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelvin Posted August 15 Share Posted August 15 I was obsessive about keeping our site neat and tidy and not letting waste materials build up for a variety of reasons not least of all giving anyone an excuse to raise a complaint Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijay Posted August 15 Author Share Posted August 15 23 hours ago, mjc55 said: Why do you think the neighbour is doing this Vijay? Have you had a falling out? Have you talked to them about the situation or re they unapproachable? no falling out at all. I can't say openly at the moment but if I'm right, it's very underhand...................... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjc55 Posted August 15 Share Posted August 15 As others have said Vijay, I really wouldn't let this worry you. It doesn't sound as if you are doing anything wrong and it really is not your concern if a neighbour has issues. It's a shame because we all want to get on with our neighbours but at the end of the day what is more important is your own peace of mind. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vijay Posted August 15 Author Share Posted August 15 Thank you all for your responses and kind words. I've missed this place and it massively helps reading all the replies. Does anyone know if there are actual laws/rules on what can be left on a building site? It would be a real pain for me to have to move my 2 cars off my land. There's plenty of room to move them which I'll do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorfun Posted August 15 Share Posted August 15 2 hours ago, Vijay said: Thank you all for your responses and kind words. I've missed this place and it massively helps reading all the replies. Does anyone know if there are actual laws/rules on what can be left on a building site? It would be a real pain for me to have to move my 2 cars off my land. There's plenty of room to move them which I'll do what if you heras fenced off the 2 cars so they weren't actually part of the building site but were still on your land? potential loop hole? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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