Planning Permission Rejected

[YellowTulips]

So planning permission for a loft conversion that would have given us an additional bedroom and playroom has been rejected.

House is in a conservation area, but all the changes would have been at the back and consistent with the materials and detailing of the (old 1730's, but not listed) house.

Reasons for rejection are just flimsy and btw no neighbours opposed the plans.

Anyway we have decided to appeal at a cost of £500 and have found out the decision will take up to 28 weeks!!!

Even if we get the decision overturned that's a hell of a long wait.....especially as I (foolishly) had been mentally shopping all the new furniture and soft furnishings and lusting over F&B paint charts ;-)

So all in all am AIBU to be cross about the whole damn matter? :-)

[Jackiemagazine]

Liquidstateisonthemulled you have my idea job in the whole world ever evah! Is it really interesting? Do you leap out of bed to go and poke about old buildings?

[liquidstateisonthemulled]

I think you need to submit an Heritage Impact Assessment for the appeal.

I am a buildings archaeologist and do these quite regularly. Your architect should know someone who does these.

[YellowTulips]

Thanks for all the helpful posts.

Our proposed dormer would fit the building in the sense of matching windows and roof tiles to match our old property (not flat roof).

The ones around us are a mix of old and new tbh.

I'm pretty sure our appeal is comprehensive (runs to pages and pages).

It's just the process making me vent.

[theloneplanner]

Hmm - am I right in guessing that the dormers in the vicinity tend to look the same, whereas yours is more modern (nothing wrong with being more modern) It sounds as if the officer has based their recommendation on the basis that your dormer is not in keeping with the 1970's/1980's dormers already there? If your dormer doesn't project above the original roofline, and doesn't have a flat roof profile, there should be no real reason for refusal, even in a conservation area. You can try to show that you sought to introduce some individuality - as it is at the back, it would not harm the character of the conservation area from the main public streetscene...

[PekeandPollicle]

You can't talk to one with the inspector! That's the quickest way to get planning permission overturned!!

Everything gets copied to you and the Council including any comments from other local residents.

[YellowTulips]

Dormer not Former...

[YellowTulips]

The key reason was the impact of the proposed former on the character and appearance of the area.

However the immediate vicinity is littered in dormers - at the front, whereas mine would be rear.

The planning consultant has referenced all the policies wrt the objection.

[theloneplanner]

...while I think of it, if this was your first go at submitting a planning application, you should normally have a free-go on a resubmitted application as long as the red line doesn't change... it may be worth a second attempt

[joanne1947]

have you talked one to one with the inspector? It might be possible to have a chat and sort out a solution.

[oldgrandmama]

Oh heavens, 'conservation area' - it's like that here in Islington. We can't even paint our courtyard railings any colour except black, even though we own the freehold of our property. Can't see why your planning people object - sounds a reasonable application. Hope you get it sorted - I used to be married to a property developer, and come Christmas, he'd go around to local council offices with boot of his car filled with crates of booze ... not sure that that works these days

[theloneplanner]

I'm a new poster, but work in a local planning authority - I appreciate you can't be too specific, but what were the reasons for refusal listed on the decision notice - did any of them relate to amenity? Local plan policy usually has this sort of policy - a planning officer could consider a development has an impact on neighbours, even if the neighbours themselves did not object...

[YellowTulips]

To be honest the whole frustration is we went to a lot of trouble (and if approved expense) on making sure the design was sympathetic and used appropriate materials.

It seems a bit like the prevailing attitude is almost as if you are trying to "ruin" your own home - when nothing could be further from the truth.

The planning consultant has said that even though he thinks we have a good case, it's 50/50 on the appeal and it really comes down to the ethos of the planning inspector who will make the judgement and how they interpret the local plan.

It's all so subjective, but for us so important.

[3littlefrogs]

I am very sceptical about planning applications.

We had our plans rejected initially - when we read the planning officer's report it contained a description of a completely different house. Wrong number of stories, wrong period. The recommendations would have resulted in a side extension with a ceiling 2 stories high.

We had to resubmit correcting all the mistakes. Subsequently heard from a couple of local builders that the planning officer concerned is notorious for this.

Meanwhile the local property tycoon was able to demolish part of a local listed building, destroy a couple of trees that had preservation orders on them and build a second house on a plot that was clearly not big enough. No questions asked, apparently.

I am a bit cynical about the whole system TBH.

I agree that you need to try and find out the specific issues and address those.

[honeysucklejasmine]

My in laws had awful problems getting approval for their self build. Essentially one officer rejected and recommended changes, then went on maternity. Her replacement then rejected again, on the basis of the fresh changes being stupid. When it finally went to appeal it was approved, 10 in favour, 2 abstain. They moved in before Christmas.

[bigbluebus]

I'm surprised at it going to committee. Even small housing estates go through on the Planning Officers say so around here

[PekeandPollicle]

I do a lot of appeals as part of my job. The time limits are there to ensure as far as possible that most decisions are reached within the time limit so some will be quicker.

But it does take a long time - there are a lot of them and big enough planning inspectors.

[YellowTulips]

Here's hoping it's 14 weeks not 26!

[SlightlyJadedJack]

I had one back just before Christmas, it took about 14 weeks.

[Eastpoint]

We re-submitted rather than appeal. The Planning Officer turned it down although we had taken out the one feature that had been objected to in the first application. After we pointed this out the Planning Officer told us she hadn't looked at our file & it was approved 48 hrs later. House is listed Grade 2.

[YellowTulips]

Without giving too much away it's not possible to alter the plans and re-submit.

The scheme we have put forward is the only way to get loft conversion to result in 2 rooms due to the location of the chimney breast.

If we could have taken the objections into account and re-designed around them then we would have done so.

It's a bit all or nothing in this case.

TBH I know they have a job to do and living in a conservation area I don't want to see a load of botch jobs on the houses around me - so can't really have it both ways! Though I would say I think the grounds for objection are poor (though I suppose I would think that, but as above the architect and planning consultant happen to agree).

Just struggling with how long the appeal will take as ideally work would have been in progress by now.

Has anyone else done an appeal? How long did it take?

[SlightlyJadedJack]

Who called it to committee? That's odd for a householder application with no objections.

I would have thought 28 weeks unlikely. I think most are heard much more quickly than that?

[PrimalLass]

I appealed the same sort of thing and won. Was told that my dormer would 'set an unwelcome precedent'. At the planning appeal the planning consultant showed a photo she had taken while standing in my garden - of the house above us with an enormous dormer... The appeal committee were scratching their heads.

[WooWooOwl]

You have my sympathy.

We have just had planning permission granted for something that three separate architects told me we'd never get permission for, and the fourth who is working with us is amazed we got a yes as well. You are right that it is incredibly hit and miss, there seems to be no sense to it.

The bit that our council weren't happy with was the bit that all four architects we asked thought would be no problem whatsoever, and the reason given for wanting that change to the plans is pathetically flimsy, especially as the change they suggested doesn't seem to achieve what they want anyway.

The whole system is pants.

[BullshitS70]

Alter your plans slightly then resubmit, don't waste 28 weeks on an appeal

[FantasticMrsFoxx]

It may be easier, cheaper and quicker to determine exactly WHY it was rejected, and resubmit your plans taking the Planning Officer's feedback into consideration.
You may have to do that anyway if your appeal is unsuccessful.