neighbour has objected to our planning permission

[vioilly]

We recently bought a house that has 2 bedrooms and we need to create a 3rd bedroom as we have 2 children. When we bought the house, we were told that it already had planning permission to put 2 dormers on the front of the house and 2 dormers on the back of the house. We got a builder around who said that we should actually go with a a ful dormer on the back of the house as it will give us the most amout of head room, plus it falls under permitted development. We thought this was a good idea as the dormer is actually well hidden behind some trees that form the adjoining neghbours garden.

However, when we spoke to the 4 neighbours, one of them got quite difficult failry quickly, whilst the other 3 said they had no problem with the plans. This neighbour actually came round and started to tell me that in fact, I should put the dormer on the front of the house and also re-arranged the plans and changed the staircase to accoomodate moving the dormer to the front of the house.

I was quite shocked but I spoke to my wife and agreed to get him round to talk about the plans. He did not responds and the next thing is that we have had 8 objections on the planning works and he has also got a profression planning company to object on his behalf. He has a lot of money and lives on a very exclusive estate.

We haven't responded and the next door neighbours think he's been very difficult and have supported me, although the date had passed for comments so I told them not to bother putting any comments on to support our plans, even though 1 neghbour was happy to do this for me.

He got 7 of his friends to object. The closest lives about 500 meters away from our property and the furthest live 1.2 miles away. We live down a lane where no one comes down, (it is past a commercial site and we are at the end of a provate lane).

My question is whether these objections will make any difference. I suspect the planning company he hired told them to put in a load of objections, but will the council see that its a campaign against us? What should we do? We are currently being quiet as the dormer falls under permitted development and it is the kitch extension that requires permission, which he hasn't got a problem with. Will the case go to a committe? Should I speak to anyone ? We feel victimised and hope the council planning authorites see that he's got a bnuch of people to comlpain. Just unsure what to do.. any advice will be greatly appreciated.

The council will only consider objections based on points of planning law. They will take no account of those that object because they simply don't like what is proposed.

I don't know really....

When we put planning permission in it was first presented at the village level planning committee before being forwarded to the local authority level . We found it helpful to contact the chair of the village planning committee and invite him over to discuss our plans prior to the meeting. He was then onside and put his support behind it - and spoke in favour of it at the local authority committee.

So yes - if yours is going through a similar route you can do similarly.

From memory you should also have a planning committee case worker responsible for your application - ours came for a site visit

If it is permitted development, then I don't think objections can be taken into account.

So your neighbour encouraged you to change your plans and then heavily objected to your plans? Nasty.

You have every right to submit plans. They have every right to submit an objection. See it purely as part of the process

It sounds like that there will be no point in attempting to build a neighbourly relationship with these people. Cool politeness from here on in. Speak to the planning office if need be but don't waste your energy on what might or might not happen. Good luck.

If it's permitted development you don't need PP.

Did you mention PD in error or was your builder mistaken?

How close to you is the neighbour who's objected? Will he be able to see the new dorma from his house? Can you see the details of all the objections?

Our immediate NDN objected to our house extension plans despite being quite friendly when we took the plans round to show them. The planning authority passed our plans despite their objection. We'd had a pre-application visit with a planning office which helped a lot i think.

Useful article here about what does and doesn't constitute a valid planning objection:

www.iobject.co.uk/what-are-valid-reasons-for-objecting-to-a-planning-application.html

Why did you discuss it with your neighbours? When I had a two storey extension built a neighbour was against it and tried to get neighbours to sign a petition. My extension would have no impact her but she just didn't want us doing it. Our extension plans were accepted and we went ahead with our build.

on what grounds are they objecting?

So he's objecting to a dormer that you're not even applying for PP for? How bizarre!

I'm sure someone will be able to correct me if I'm wrong but when we had our loft done we could only have the former at the back under PD - to put it at the front would need planning permission.

I think the issue here is that you bought the house WITH planning permission. Why are you having to get it again?

Secondly, as others have said, permitted development doesn't require permission?

I'm confused too. Why are you applying for PP for the loft conversion if it is PD?

We have a 2 bed house and are extending the kitchen and converting the loft to add 2 bedrooms. We don't need PP for the loft (full width dormer at rear) so just applied for PP for the kitchen.

Our neighbours on one side objected for a variety of reasons but our plans were within planning guidelines and were approved.

Both times I've applied for PP I found the planning officer quite willing to discuss the prospects of the application - if might be good to speak to the planning officer.

Do you know exactly what his objections are? Would it overlook his garden etc.

We had the opposite problem my NDN wanted permission for a second floor extension which would have meant a view from one of our bedrooms would be a brick wall. This would reduce the value of our house and we were told it was a fire risk as the extension was too close to that room and you couldn't safely get out if there was a fire. He didn't see this as an issue as the room has blinds, even though it would go against planning laws! He wouldn't sit down with us like an adult to hear our concerns so we had to raise an objection and his permission got rejected.

And now he seems to think it was a personal attack on him and death stares us whenever we are outside.

I am a Planning Officer so speak from experience!

So you have applied for planning permission for a large dormer at the front?

This will probably prove to be a mistake as front dormers are tricky to get planning permission for, esp the larger box dormer which it sounds like you have proposed.

I wouldn't worry about the number of letters of objection as the Planning Officer will only take into account any valid planning reasons for objection, whether they are contained in 1 or 100 objections shouldn't really matter. Why don't you give the officer a call and ask them what they think and if there is an issue, ask if there is anything you can change at this stage to overcome the concerns?

In the end if it's heading for a refusal I would probably withdraw it and just put a dormer under your permitted development rights on the back of the house instead.

If the dormer is PD, he can object as much as he likes, but it will not have any impact.
If the dormer is pd, why has it been included in the planning application? If it is pd, ring up the case officer dealing with your application, and make sure that they realise that this is the case.
You say that the house has had PP for rear dormers before?
IF the current dormer is not pd, then the fact that PP has been granted for rear dormers previously will act in your favour. There will have to be material differences between the two proposals which mean that the impact of the current scheme has a significantly worse impact than the original scheme in order for PP to be refused.

We built an extension under permitted development. Neighbours were still contacted even though it was under permitted development. Elderly lady next door told me she wouldn't object if I kept the Wisteria. I didn't have the heart to tell her that it was under permitted development so her objection probably wouldn't be considered. We kept the Wisteria.

Before we ever bought our house we checked with the local authority that planning wouldn't be a problem, we basically wanted to double the size of a small detached house.
We were told provided they approved plans and drawings and that it wasn't anything outrageous then that would be fine.
Bearing all this in mind we went ahead, we made sure that the extension did not overlook any of our neighbours back gardens, immediate neighbours were impressed with plans and drawings.
However Mrs next door but one, objected and this delayed everything so our plans had to go on to another commitee and as you can imagine we were on tenterhooks and phoning the planning dept. frequently.
Our plans were passed with only a few adjustments, my contact at the planning dept. said that none of our plans impinged on Mrs next door but one, but because of the objection it had to be all looked at again.
What i gathered from all my contact with the planning dept was that it is only your immediate neighbours that really are taken any notice of, because of boundary issues, lack of light, lack of privacy etc. I would suggest you bide your time and just wait it out irritating and annoying as it is.
We had a brilliant architect, my DH is a builder, and you would not know that our house has been extended because it was so well done.

Good luck with it all!

pouncival - that sounds as though that was an extension under the temporary pd rules for extensions, not dormers. For the larger pd rights in force at the moment, Councils are obliged to notify neighbours. On the smaller schemes, and roof additions, such rules do not apply.

Hi Funny Five,

We have applied to put a full dormer on the back of the house, which falls under permitted development, however we have also put in planning for a kitchen extension which is what needs planning approval, hence we we have gone for a full planning application. My neighbour as objected to the dormer on the back of the house and has asked us to change it and put it on the front of the house.

My concern is that the neighbour has got more than 5 objections submitted, and I understand that in our council, that means it needs to go to a committee, however will have to it if the dormer falls under permitted development? No one has objected to the kitchen extension so it seems that they've objected against the wrong bit of planning.

It seems that as it is under permitted development, it will be all ok. I have triple checked and been told by multiple builders that it is under permitted development.

The funny thing is, the neighbour complained to me and said he would be happy only if we put it on the front of the house but he then got 7 of his friends to object to the dormer being on the back. So now, there is no chance with me agreeing with my neighbour and putting it on the front of the house. Anyway, why should I do things to keep my neighbour happy? The good thing is he lives on a luxury estate and the entrance is completely separate to ours and we never see him. They even have security guards letting people in and out of the estate.

Hope this clears up my post. Any advice would be really helpful

V.

Neighbours like that are super annoying! Hope it all goes through for you !

Just reading through the replies again (and thanks very much as it has really helped me think things are ok), we have submitted a plan that includes a foll dormer on the back of the house (hidden behind some trees) but we have also put in planning for a kitchen extension, which is what needs planning permission. All the works are happening at the same time, so the architect said you submit all the plans together, even though part of it is under permitted development.

It seems that his friends has all objected to the wrong part of the plans and that objections against something that is under permitted development are considered.

The overarching thing for me, is that 3 out fo the 4 neghbours are actually supportive. This one person, who lives on one the county's most expensive estate, has objeted and also got his friends to object. His house is 30-40 meters away from the dormer and the dormer is 90 degrees so not even looking into his main garden. It just looks along the hedge line that he shares with another neighbour, who incidentally has not objected at all.

I really feel he's victimised us and we've only been at the property for 4 months. The fact we have planning permission for something slightly different shows me that we've not doing anything untoward.

I think the best thing is to sit tight and just wait for the decision without getting too wrapped up in his objection campaign.

Objections will only be upheld if the grounds are valid. I do think you have been poorly advised to roll the two projects together as it is the notification of the planning application which has brought the letters about.

The council contact the neighbours in the immediate area. An objection from a bloke over a mile away will surely not be relevant.

Smile and wave, smile and wave

Our neighbour built on the side of his house, looks awful, overlooks everyone whereas it never did before, shedloads of us objected, the council just overruled it, didn't listen to any of the valid concerns for sightlines, child safety or the lies the prick told to get it though.