To object to my neighbours planning.

[WhenWillTheBuildersFinish]

We were lucky enough to buy our house many years ago. We are rural and the nearest neighbour is 1/4 mile away, totally obscured by trees etc. So we have total privacy. Our neighbour, who we have been friends with for 15 years has dropped the bombshell that they are building a house right next to ours for their duaghter to live in. They are also going to put a driveway across the front of our property (we front onto common land) with her access road going up the side of our house. Her house will be able to see into our bedroom and bathroom. so we totally lose our privacy.
We are so upset about this we don't know what to do. The chap submitting the planning was turned down a few years ago for a similar planning application, so he has now submitted it saying the house has agricultural tie, it is all a lie, his daughter lives in the city 25 miles away and works in journalism. He is a retired solicitor who used to work for the local authority, so he knows all the loopholes.
What can we do?

No - think would have remembered that one!

The neighbour owns all the land surrounding our house, so we feel very hemmed in and now intimidated. Our main concern is he is using our existing driveway as his own access because he knows it will be problematic to get access across the common. The driveway to our house is owned by us, it is the 'land bounded in red on' our registry document, the driveway falls inside our boundary. Why has none of this come up in the planning search etc. Just because that part of our land falls within a common it gets very complicated.
I have just had enough really and want to move

Aww don't give up. He's completely in the wrong here.

Don't move! He can't use your land to get to his without your say so.

If your access belongs to you, does anyone else have a 'right of way' along it? Does your ownership go any further onto land that they need for access?

I would be very careful falling out with your neighbour - I've lived with a NFH for 10yrs and it can be really truly awful...
However I would stick to your guns and not let him get away with anything that is even slightly dodgy.... go with the strict letter of law (as you are being advised)....because trying to avoid confrontation/compromise probably won't help...
I had an ok(ish) relationship with NFH - he did do things that were a bit like planted some things on my path - and then said he was doing us a favour and we didn't mind did we?
Then he built some raised decking -his view of the river is across my garden- we live on a slope and my 6ft fence became thigh high, right on the boundary, less than a metre from my kitchen window. It completely overlooks my garden and into my house...I was devasted. (It would now require planning permission - which he wouldn't get...)
As it was it should have been at least a metre from the boundary (a building control matter) - I didn't know this - I phoned the council asking if the 6ft fence rule was my ground level or his new ground level.... and they sent some one out to look - the BC man turned a blind eye and more or less told me to do the same - I didn't want confrontation so I did...a massive mistake...
I had complained to the council about him ...and I haven't had any peace since...things have got so bad that the police have been involved ...I have tried to compromise in the past - even let him build a 10ft+ high fence along the bottom of our path to screen him from the neighbours at the rear ...which then drops down to his deck rail height alongside the length our garden... I am trying to grow a tree to give me some privacy - but he leans over and hacks it back - so he keeps his entire view along all our garden ...
I used to be scared of him ...he would stand leaning on his decking rail admiring the view and staring into my kitchen...constantly coming knocking on my door / grabbing me in the street to complain about ridiculous things etc etc - now I know he is just a bully...and won't take any nonsense from him but it all a bit too late... I really do wish now I hadn't tried to keep the peace and had got the decking removed/ adjusted - it couldn't have been any worse than it has been...

Keep talking OP - the planners on MN are shit hot and can really help you out. See here for an example of their general awesomeness...

m.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1477735-To-give-you-an-update-on-the-Backyard-Bungalow-saga?msgid=32067503#thread

I think most of its been said by the lovely Jins and mistlethrush.

Agricultural workers dwellings are pretty hard to get permission for. The only time I have recommended one be approved was years ago near the start of my career. They had to put in tons of supporting information - business accounts, business plans, agricultural outputs, you name it. And this was for a caravan for a farm worker, not a house. I haven't dealt with one since, unfortunately but not much has changed, having seen the examples in DCP.

I don't think planners will be recommending it for approval and the nastiest, most overbearing people are nastiest and most overbearing when they know they are in the wrong.

My main worry would be renegade councillors just granting it because they like the applicant against the advice of officers, like in the example mistle gave. That doesn't shock me in the least - happens all the time. Your main protection against that is to go and see your ward councillors and get them on side. Otherwise Ombudsman the shit out of them after the event.

Get some advice from Planning Aid - they are free.

Your neighbours can apply for planning permission on any land - they don't have to own it. Equally though, just because planning permission is granted (IF he gets it) doesn't grant him use of your land, you still have all your legal rights as landowner, so that would just mean he couldn't implement that part of his permission.

As part of the planning application, the applicant has to declare if all the land is his, and if not he has to seerve notice on the landowner, so they are aware of the application. Even if he hasn't served notice on you though, you haven't been disadvantaged because clearly you are aware of his application.

Wow, the MN planners are awesome :)

Ummm ,certainly not a planner here and skim reading this a bit but....
what was that bit about him using your driveway for access .
Doesn't one have to object about this otherwise he'll end up having the right to do this ?

( our neighbour nicked a bit of our land down the side of our house to improve his access ,but it was done and fenced before we moved in so we,ve basically lost it )

Apologies if I'm barking up wrong tree and confusing issue .

RIghtbuggerforit. Alternatively OP could consult with Planning Aid members who are already on the thread....

Mistlethrush - are you a planning aider? Slight thread hijack, but this is something I've been thinking about doing but have psyched myself out because - well because I'm not sure whether am too rusty!

11 years LPA planner (busy unitary authority dealing at the time with large caseload, predominantly urban areas but some green belt work), senior planner by time left after dc2. Then had a year off before freelancing appeals statement writing/hearings for the same LPA. But that all dried up when had dc3 nearly 3 years ago (understandably - freelance budget first to go). Still rtpi member and trying to do odd bit of CPD to keep hand in. As well as being unofficial friends and family objection writer .

It's the gap since full time LPA employment that worries me. I miss working so much and would love to be able to do something planning-related that would fit round the children.

Can't help on Planning Aid Pooka, but get yourself on Linked In with us. You never know what might turn up, all sorts of stuff is advertised. PM me if you want an intro.

I wouldn't worry about being rusty. All the guidance has been cancelled anyway.

20 yrs (nearly) consultancy... Planning aid volunteer.

Planning aid - tend to volunteer for the community assistance options rather than specifics most of the time.

Thanks for info Missmarjoribanks and mistlethrush. :)

i liked the email idea, drop an email asking him to clarify but politely. such as saying hey, i just wanted to ask about the house for 'melissa' is she the one who works in 'town' or is she the one at home... (something that gets him to say its for her) and then just ask about where its site is, in a polite tone. then you have your evidence for it not being agricultural ties.

I live in the countryside and everyone objects to any planning application that is put in, it is the norm, so don't let neighbour browbeat you because you want to do that.

There is a planning permission for a house on neighbouring land with agricultural tie, the 100 acre farm had had its farmhouse sold off years ago. The 100 acres provides work for 1.2 people so that means, according to planners, a house can be built to provide the worker. Also the plans place the house next to neighbouring properties, something about new laws keeping housing groups together in the countryside, so that might be why the property is next to your house, not just neighbour being malicious.

Am amazed that anyone feels they can put road on common land, would have thought that would be a nono with planners.

Yes Pooka - Linked In is your friend for this sort of thing. I did a bit of Planning Aid years ago to try to keep up with mainstream stuff but real life intervened. I've got a LPA/Consultancy background and now have my own consultancy. May have bits and pieces of contract work on occasion so PM me and hook up on Linked In :)

OP if you want any of the MN planning team to have a detailed look then pm one of us. We won't let your location go public and we love a good ruck

I'm not a planning expert but I think you need to be really clear about WHAT your are objecting to, both for the legal process and for your own relationships with your neighbour.

I think it might be hard (even churlish) to object to ANY and ALL building by your neighbour, it sounds like he has enough land and his heart set on 'developing' it. If i were you i'd concentrate on influencing the location, orientation, windows and access for the new house.

That way you can say to the neighbour that you are not trying to stop him building, just protecting the value of your own property blah blah blah...

Work out what you would be happy with in terms of those things and then frame your arguement that way. e.g. "i object to the fact the access goes here when it could just as easily be located there"

maybenow - in fact there are policies that guide where you can build houses - and just because you've got a big garden doesn't automatically mean that you're going to be able to build a house in it. So, there may be a very good 'in principle' veto against building any where on the land - which in fact is supported by the fact that he now says he's going for a tied dwelling. However, we can't help with more specifics if the OP doesn't get back to one or other of the planners on the thread so that we can advise with slightly more information.

I agree with mistlethrush. There is no need to put up with inappropriate development just to keep relations sweet with a neighbour.

However we can't really advise much more without specifics and I hope there's enough advice here for the OP to build a case

Hi OP, for the common land, are there any other users of it, local dog walkers, kids playing football? When you draft your objection, mention how it's used / could be used by the local community and how this would be lost if there was a road across it. As others have said, your neighbour would have to be exempt from any descision making due to conflict of interest, so don't let him intimidate you on that.

Also are there any public footpaths, drainage issues, big old trees, hedgerows that would be effected? Also worth mentioning them, in your objection and if you get to meet / speak with the planning officer.

When you get to writing the objection, include any alternatives you would like considered or any conditions you would like to see included.

With the sewerage / borehole issue - what is he proposing for the sewerage? If you're quite remote there, would it be a septit tank or cess pit? That could have a significant detrimental effect on your borehole, especially if you're using it for drinking water. The Environment Agency call centre are really helpful and could provide guidance on that 03708 506 506. They can forward you to the local area officer if you need a more detailed chat.

Hi, I'm not a planner and I haven't had time to read the whole thread so apologies if someone has raised it already but about him being the leader on the Commons bit. Isn't this a conflict of interest if he has any say in whether or not his application for the use of commom land is approved or not? Shouldn't he declare his interest and excuse himself when the decision is made. Is this aspect a governance issue?

Oops I bow to Sallingforth, there before and with a much better answer.

Good luck OP, from your point of view don't take it personally and keep it on an objective level. Otherwise it can become all consuming and very tiring.