To think my uncles neighbour can't build houses in his garden?!

[SodaFountain]

My aunt & uncle are retired and live in a quiet country road & have a very long garden. Their neighbour (a solicitor) has put in a planning application to extent his own house and build two more houses in his own garden... My uncle is devastated and obviously opposing it. I am surprised that the neighbour may be able to do this, any advice?!

My uncle did mention there were asbestos sheets in the garden (have been there years) which may have contaminated the land...

If your uncle wishes to oppose the planning app, he needs to research what sort of objections have worked on similar applications in his area and use those (if they apply).

Although saying that, we did this - not to object to any development but to the type (6 tiny flats on a small plot; we discovered that the larger plot our own house and neighbouring house had been built on had been turned down for 3 but granted permission for 2 houses, so we used the same objection). We were not successful but that was the best we could have done).

I would say YABU to think your uncles neighbour can't build houses in his garden.

Aren't current planning rules being relaxed so this sort of thing can happen?

I think it's a shame; but every other person seems to be crying out for new homes to be built for the 'housing shortage' so should think this will happen more and more.

How are the new householders going to gain access to the houses if they are in the NDN garden.
And if NDN extends his own house that may well limit access more?

Hmm. I dont think people who are homeless and desperate for housing as described in some of the replies are typically the people who would purchase a naice house in a country setting that I am sure would be £££££££

Lets not forget the fact that the neighbour is motivated by greed and making money. Providing homes for the homeless has nowt to do with it.

Two houses on my parents Street have done this, one has built a house in front of his own, another to the side. If the only objection is that they can see into his garden they will probably just put up privacy screens or plant trees on the boarderline.

I think if you genuinely want to live somewhere rural it can be very difficult to find that the privacy and calm you wanted is about to end. We definitely need more houses and more and more people will find their country view under threat. But hopefully there will still be places where there is room for people to live more isolated if they want to.

Tbh I think your uncle and aunt would do well to consider doing the same thing, selling their home with planning permission for a lot of money, and moving to somewhere less popular.

Tryharder people can bump up the chain. Someone moves out of a smaller place to live in one of these, someone moves into their place and so on down the line.

The neighbour is creating housing. He might be motivated by money but he is still creating homes that were not there before.

Our house back in the Uk, backs onto two massive gardens with two massive houses. They owned both properties and the land. They put in planning permission to knock the huge houses down, and build 9 houses with gardens on the land.

After lots of community meetings, conservation society intervention it has been turned down three times. The houses are also on road where you cannot put up signs and so on (forgot what that comes under).

Your Uncle and Aunt need to see if other neighbours object, and see if a local Conservation society group exists. The power of numbers usually helps.

Oh, and this is in a town shirt of housing. The town planners saw straight through his lot, as just wanting to make a profit, as their first plan had loads of houses, but none were going to be social housing as there's a limit.

Shirt? Short.

Well, without sitting on the planning application committee none of us know if YABU or not.

There's a process to be gone through, and your Uncle can object if he chooses, but if permission is granted, then of course the NDN can sell off some of his land to a developer. Whyever not ?

what is the access like?That is where most of these plans fall down?
I would advise your uncle to ring the planning office and ask them what they think the chances are of it going ahead.They won't know for sure what the planning committee will decide, but they will know whether it meets the criteria with regards to overlooking/overbearing , access etc

Tabitha,

That makes no sense at all. If there are to many people already here and a housing shortage then we clearly do not have enough houses.

Op- if you don't want houses near your house you have to buy all the surrounding land and keep it perhaps your uncle should have thought about doing that.

We are constantly being told that there is a housing shortage - but who is really saying this? What type of housing is in short supply:- large houses, bungalows, holiday homes? Where are the figures to support this - if anybody knows (has facts not just assertions) please give us a link! Social housing seems to be in short supply, BUT this is not the housing being built as mentioned by the OP - this would seem to be private housing. Get your uncle, OP, to contact the local Parish Council as well as registering his own objections to the plans. He might be able to get the Parish Council on his side and add to the objections.

''Only 6% of Britain is built on.

We need a lot more houses.''

Not everywhere though. In my town there are a crazy amount of houses that have been for sale for a long time. Things aren't selling. There are also hundreds of houses for rent - many stand empty for months and months. Certainly no new houses needed here and if there were new ones it would make it even harder to sell here.

Radio 5 just now - local Council is selling houses for £1 each. We don't have a housing shortage - we have a shortage of work outside London and SE.
Cantdo You raise an excellent point - the mejia and a few others seem to have decided there is a housing shortage and are expecting us all to just accept it - it's nonsense.