 |
 | Home | Contact Us | FAQ | Search & Site Map | Link to Us |
 | Sign In | Join | Other 45 Sites in Network |
| HomeDiscussion GroupsGeneralRural LivingHome AutomationSecurity AlarmsConstructionRepairPlumbingCleaningPest ControlLawn and Garden |
Homeowner Forum / Construction / May 2006Start building before planning permission
What are the risks of starting to build before permission is granted (in England)? Background: - Plot has OPP for single dwelling - The current application is for approval of the reserved matters - 2 Storey house in non-conservation area. No "Grand Design" - There were no objections from the neighbours, parish council, highways office or environmental office - Planning officer is recommending that permission is granted - The planning committte have to give their final decision - I have checked, and there are no England World Cup games before the decision date so there is no risk that one of the committee will be in a filthy mood if England loses The reason for wanting to start building is explained below, in the second part of the message Could I build to DPC level, or at least the foundations? (will the building regulations people ask if planning has been granted?) The Council is taking a lot more time than the 8 weeks allocated for decisions. Does this 8 week period have any weight or is just to say that it will be nice if they give the decision in this period of time? In any event, what is the point of this week deadline? > What are the risks of starting to build before permission is granted > (in England)? I'm building in the UK and it took me 18 months to get PP (it also had OPP). You would be very unwise to do anything more than clear/tidy the site and arrange for things like a temporary water supply. All it takes is one councillor to feel his decision is being taken for granted and they will refuse the application. They can also recommend minor changes... What would you do if they refused your application but told the planning officer he could grant PP without further review if you moved it 1meter to the left? The 8 week figure is a government target. When we submitted our application they sent us a letter by return asking us to waive the 8 week rule... "or else"... Ok they didn't actually say "or else" in the letter but it implied that a rushed decision was more likely to result in a refusal... or something like that. In the end they insisted on a minor change after 7 weeks and 6 days. We agreed it instantly and we got our approval exactly on the 8 week mark. Have you checked when the next planning committte meeting is? They are usually every 4 weeks or so. Is your application on the agenda? Have you had a friendly chat with the councilor who lives nearest to be sure he's happy and will speak up for your application? Once the meeting grants approval check for any conditions. I wasn't allowed to start work on site until I had a landscaping plan agreed with the landscape officer. He wanted me to plant a huge hedge close to the house. Took another four weeks to negotiate that away. There were other conditions on the approval as well - like fencing and tree protection measures. Good luck. Hello, Thanks for the feed-back. Just one thing is not clear to me: you say first that it took you 18 months to get the planning permission but then you say that it took only 8 weeks. The next planning committee meeting is early in June and my application is on the agenda. I just worry when I hear "committee" as in the old joke about the camel designed by a committee. Some officer asked the planning officer to put it to the committee instead of delegating it, so I wonder if this is an omen. Does it not look bad trying to influence the councillor in the committee? I know that the planning officer is on our side anyway, but that may not mean a lot to the committee. They have not said they want to see materials samples, I guess that will come with the decision. > Hello, > > Thanks for the feed-back. Just one thing is not clear to me: you say > first that it took you 18 months to get the planning permission but > then you say that it took only 8 weeks. Sorry for the confusion... It took me 18 months of negotiating with the planners to get them to the point where they said they would recommend approval. Upto that point they were 100% against it and said they would refuse any formal application we made. Then we discovered a letter they had sent to a previous owner of the site. This contradicted what they had been telling me for 18 months and was very embarassing for them. Suddenly they changed their mind and said that if we submitted a formal application they would recommend it. We submitted our application and they still took a further 8 weeks to approve it - even though they approved it themselves without referring it to a planning meeting. Now the house is 75% built everyone is telling us how nice it is and how well it suits the plot. > The next planning committee meeting is early in June and my application > is on the agenda. I just worry when I hear "committee" as in the old [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > > Does it not look bad trying to influence the councillor in the committee? Ah well don't go bribing him. That's not what I mean but you can allways ask him for his opinion on your application or advice on the approval process. I work on the theory that it's harder to shot your best friend than a stranger. My parish councillor lives about 10 houses down the road from our plot. He's not on the planning committee but he would have been asked for his opinion in writing. Before we submitted our application I gave him a call and told him that I was hoping to build a house to live in and asked if I could come and introduce myself. I went along to his house one evening and took 3D cad images of what we wanted to build with me. Basicially we just got to know each other. I wanted him to know I wasn't a builder after making a fast buck - I wanted to live in the village. Basically he just wanted to be sure we were building a nice house and asked we keep the neighbours happy. You say there were no objections from neighbours or the parish. It's worth keeping an eye on the file and certainly worth checking it a week or so before the planning meeting.. We wern't copied on all the letters that were sent in. One of our future neighbours objected because they wanted the house further back on the plot - no way were the planners going to allow that. > I know that the planning officer is on our side anyway, but that may not > mean a lot to the committee. No they normally go along with the recomendations of the planning officer unless someone takes a dislike to the proposal or someone goes to see them and kicks up a fuss. > They have not said they want to see materials samples, I guess that > will come with the decision. Probably. There were a bunch of standard conditions in our approval - about 13 in all. One of them was approval of the materials. That also took 8 to 10 weeks. They lost the first samples we sent in. Then the conservation officer left her job and they had to recruit another, then the next lot of samples sat in reception for a week because they were addressed to the old one. Then they rejected them! We wanted to use hand made bricks and clay roof tiles - they said they had "too much texture". We ended up using some nice machine made bricks. One good thing is that the particular bricks we used don't effervesce white salt. Good luck Colin >> Thanks for the feed-back. Just one thing is not clear to me: you say >> first that it took you 18 months to get the planning permission but [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > without referring it to a planning meeting. Now the house is 75% built > everyone is telling us how nice it is and how well it suits the plot. Sounds like these guys! http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4666 > Sounds like these guys! http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4666 Yup thats them. My planning officer once made a comment about my house needing to compliment the church next door. Fair enough but at the time we were sitting in his office high up in an ugly 1960s concrete tower block that totally dominated and dwafed the historic church next door. At one point they wanted us to use a mixture of two slightly different tiles on the roof. Presumably they meant in a random pattern but since the PP didn't actually say that.... my wife and I joked about laying them out in stripes or so that they spelled out something rude about the planners. Here is the bit that adds insult to injury. Yesterday, at the end of the 12th week since I put in my planning application, the planning officer wrote "requesting" and extension of the 8 weeks to make a decision. He did not send the request during the 7th or 8th week when he must have known they were going to delay it. The planning meeting for the decision is set for the first week in June. If we object to the extension of time we will have to go to appeal and the council will put the application on hold indefinetely and the appeal will have to go to a tribunal: months of waiting. So he must have had a good guess as to what we were going to say to his request. > Here is the bit that adds insult to injury. Yesterday, at the end of > the 12th week since I put in my planning application, the planning [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > appeal will have to go to a tribunal: months of waiting. So he must > have had a good guess as to what we were going to say to his request. The know they have us over a barrel. That's whats so sad about the way public employess approach government targets. They don't just fiddle the figures to show the targets being met they change their systems to make the service even worse. We're still being told we can't book doctors appointments more than 48 hours ahead because the government target is for everyone to be seen within 48 hours. It's not the target that's the problem its the implementation. I'm from Northern Missouri so please pardon my ignorance. How do these folks -- planning officer, etc. get their positions? Aren't they elected by the village? making them accountable to the voters? >> Here is the bit that adds insult to injury. Yesterday, at the end of >> the 12th week since I put in my planning application, the planning [quoted text clipped - 17 lines] > problem > its the implementation. They are probably "elected" by their cronies from their local pub. They are certainly not accountable to the people. > I'm from Northern Missouri so please pardon my ignorance. How do these > folks -- planning officer, etc. get their positions? Aren't they elected by [quoted text clipped - 21 lines] > > problem > > its the implementation. > I'm from Northern Missouri so please pardon my ignorance. How do these > folks -- planning officer, etc. get their positions? Aren't they elected by > the village? making them accountable to the voters? The planning officers are employees. The council officers who serve on the planning committee are elected. Thanks! >> I'm from Northern Missouri so please pardon my ignorance. How do these >> folks -- planning officer, etc. get their positions? Aren't they elected [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > The council officers who serve on the planning committee are elected. >> I'm from Northern Missouri so please pardon my ignorance. How do these >> folks -- planning officer, etc. get their positions? Aren't they elected [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > > The council officers who serve on the planning committee are elected. This piece from 1944 makes the case pretty understandable. http://tinyurl.com/rk47s (Link is to Amazon.com) >> Sounds like these guys! http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4666 > [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > didn't actually say that.... my wife and I joked about laying them out in > stripes or so that they spelled out something rude about the planners. Dictators, though, don't like being messed with. Unfortunately, it seems the only way of dealing with them is catering to their psychosis. The alternatives are quite drastic. |
Reply to this Message |
 Sign In
 Join
 My Latest Posts My Monitored Threads My Blog My Photo Gallery My Profile My Homepage Start New Thread Enable EMail Alerts Rate this Thread
|
©2009 Advenet LLC Privacy Policy - Terms of Use
This website includes both content owned or controlled by Advenet as well as content owned or controlled by third parties.