Hello - Our woodland garden self-build retaining 81 trees finally underway (planning approved)

[Great_scot_selfbuild]

Hi,

 

We're just really starting to plan our the construction of our build after 2.5 years in the planning system. I've amassed plenty of knowledge of the planning process, how subjective it can be and how important it is to manage your own expectations from the start. It's also shown me first hand why land with planning permission is worth so much - those that can get a site from nothing to approved have put a lot of risk on the line if like us you have bought a blank site.

 

I believe a lot in knowledge capture and exploitation, so although I'll be here to learn and draw on others for the next phase, I'm keen to share an unhealthy depth of planning experience and knowledge I've now amassed. Initially I'm holding off from publishing our exact planning reference number etc.

 

Our Initial Process:

Our rough process at the start was:

• Purchased land from family based on valuation of land with no planning, and actually paid more than a neighbour had offered shortly before (so the risk wasn't the same as buying 'any old plot' - there is a lot of history and ties for us to wanting to preserve this parcel of land whether we achieved planning or not).
• Reviewed all the planning applications for the immediate lanes and roads to understand the likely reasons for refusal (we already knew planning was difficult to achieve) and, importantly, note the architects and planning agents that had been used successfully.
• Searched for local planning consultants and spotted a name that was familiar(!) - they were previously the head of planning for the LPA for 15+ years and had signed off many (many!) refusals and approvals in the immediate area.
• Approached this planning consultant and they attended site (£250) and basically thought we may have a 50:50 chance, weighing everything up. Asked his view on some architects - he reluctantly gave a couple of names (not endorsing them, but as examples of some he'd worked with)
• We searched locally for an architect and approached two. We were upfront with them about approaching a couple of different firms, both attended site (free - very local) and we selected one. They clearly have a lot of approaches from people 'who have bought some land...'; what gave us significant credibility was that we had a planning consultant (who was well known and respected) who thought it had a chance; by all accounts, he was known for being pessimistic and so 50:50 was apparently pretty good from him!
• ...and then we got stuck into the detail.

 

Expectations:

We'd set our expectations (based on the planning consultant's advice) as:

• Expect it to take 12mths for the application to be refused (having trawled the LPA planning history it seems to be a right of passage for any new dwelling application, just to see if you really want it).
• Appeal - expect this to take 18-24mths.
• Review the refusal and submit an amended application in parallel to the Appeal.

 

Timeline (attached):

I've attach a timeline summary of our first (refused) application, which we ensured our planning consultant included in our appeal submission - maintaining a meticulous action log of all emails and phonically during our planning process proved invaluable.

 

Summary:

Here's a small extract of a summary that I ended up including in a few of the documents submitted in the second application - putting this at the front really helped land the salient points of the development. As with any application, there are a lot of site specific details and it's a skill writing something that is short enough to be read - including this bulleted list at the start gave me more confidence the LPA (and committee if it went that way) would see that I'd covered off the main areas they may seek to refuse. We submitted a very comprehensive full planning application so that they had to work hard to find a reason for refusal. It worked, because it got approved.

 

a.         Not a developer-led application; applicant-led and meets criteria for Self-Build Housing; the applicant is registered on Part 1 of the Custom & Self-Build register.

b.         Proposal is for a single 4-bed house, single external garage (4 parking spaces) and external home office.

c.         0.84-acre plot; private garden. 

d.         Last undeveloped plot along the lane.

e.         The plot boundary has been set out since 1909 as part of the low-density design of the area.  

f.          It is not a sub-division. 

g.         It is in the developed settlement area. 

h.         It is at the intersection of two dead-end unadopted private roads.

 

i.          Mains services run directly past the plot. 

j.          It meets criteria for being classed as windfall and infill. 

k.         It is not in a conservation area. 

l.          It is not in an AONB, AGLV, or green belt. 

m.        It is not overlooked by any neighbouring properties

n.         Although there are many trees on the site, it is not ancient woodland (closest ancient woodland is ~400m away).

o.         It is adjacent to a small public wood.

p.         There are no TPOs on the site. Protecting and preserving the trees was the over-riding brief to our architect. Application proposes removing 2 low quality trees.

 

So, that's us and if you have a plot with a lot of trees and you're trying to work with them rather than fell them, I'm happy to share my experience.

 

Kind regards,

 

David

 

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Great Scot! Planning Timeline (for buildhub).pdf

Edited September 1 by Great_scot_selfbuild