To think neighbours are being selfish over extension?

[nearlynot]

Extension is ground and first floor, 5.5 meters long, with ground level extending a bit further. West facing.

Is neighbour BU to object if half the garden will have no extension or shadowing. Neighbour always home and claims it will be detrimental to have shadow over back of the house/windows. Who is BU?

OP, is it laziness, greed, bloody-mindedness or just general cuntishness that's stopping you from being a miserable nuisance to your poor 'neighbour' and just moving the fuck out of their street?

PeninsulaPanic. Try RTFT. OP is the ‘poor neighbour’.

This wouldn't be allowed.
Loss of light and overshadowing, non compliance with 45 degree rule, over development of site.

You can't say that categorically. Many Councils don't have a 45 degree rule. In terms of over development, you don't know the size of the site, or the amount of development on the site, or the levels of development around the site.

Stick to the fact that your property will be overshadowed and, if you have windows to primary living rooms that will be impacted, refer to the loss of light.

I would also refer to the overbearing nature of the extension as well. If it has any side windows, you may be able to argue a loss of privacy too.

Email the Case Officer concerned and request that the visit your property too. They are not obliged to do so, but many will if they have the time. I would send some photos illustrating the relationship between the two properties, and the impact the addition will have along with your objection.

YY to getting your local Councillor on board too.

@nearlynot

Look back to this post on your thread:

2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney Wed 19-Feb-20 11:23:22
I am a planning officer. If you can PM me or say on here the name of the District Council where you live the I can check and quote for you the planning policies that will be in play.
What you don't say is whether this is in effect a new dwelling where somebody can live separately with separate entrance, address or an extension to the existing house ie extra bedrooms , bigger living room etc. Again PM me the application number and I can check the plans.

Loss of light will be taken into account where it affects principal rooms eg living room , dining room and kitchen. Therefore not the garden and not bedrooms or bathrooms etc.
Overbearing is probably an issue too that you can quote too.

Thanks to whoever said look at the map view of previous applications, I couldn't see the highlighted ones until I zoomed right in and so I totally missed then when i've tried in the past. There have been no other applications of this size in the past that I can see and any other applications of houses in our orientation have built out the north side rather than extending back west (and very sensibly not impacting their neighbours). Every application for an extension this year has been approved but they are all much smaller. I can't find a filter to easily see any applications that were not allowed in previous years.

I could try and pm pics of the submitted PDFs of the extension to any planning officers or architects and black out personal details, if anyone could take a look?

They have included a 45 degree angle but we're west facing at the back so the sun is directly behind and creates a much larger shadow. The 45 does put our kitchen, dining room and bedrooms in shade though as 5.5 meters is significant.

Existing house is 10 meters deep and proposed 2 storey extension is just over 50%. Only the lower level extends in part to 7 meters, but unfortunately it is all on the boundary with our house and it's a couple of feet higher than the existing garden buildings so the shadow will be greater across our property. They could have moved it to the other side as it wouldn't affect that neighbours sunlight but they won't.

They won't put it on the other side as then it will block out their own light! Selfish buggers

Bloody hell, that extension is massive. Surely it wont be accepted.

@nearlynot

See 2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney (I reposted their post just above yours)

They are a Planning Officer and have offered to help.

OP,
This exact thing happened to the parents of someone I know. Young couple moved into the attached house and doubled the size of the house rendering my friends parents house into complete shadow at the back of her house from noon on.

They loved their garden and enjoyed the afternoon and evening sun so much.

It utterly ruined their home for them.
It triggered a MH crisis in her Mum, which may sound dramatic but having lived in their lovely home for 40 years, they were heartbroken.

They didn't object as the neighbours completely misled them about the size involved.

I would not be passive about this. Do not believe a word they say.
You need to do everything you can to object.
Otherwise you will have huge regret.
Do not be bullied by them.

Sorry to hear this OP. Find out who your Planning Officer is, contact them directly and make sure they understand the implications for you.

Our neighbours got planning permission for a single storey extension then put through an amendment citing a ‘change of materials’. They failed to mention the second storey they’d quietly added to the plans - the Planning Officer missed it and approved them. The first we knew about it (because we weren’t consulted on the amendment) was when the shadow started to loom over our patio...

@nearlynot PM me if you would like a little help. As I said before I am a planning officer.

OP It's your choice wether you object or not. Just bear in mind emotive objections are irrelevant. Only planning/legal arguments actually matter. So if you can, get a surveyor to have a look and assist you. Don't just object outright, ask for amendments to mitigate impact on your property, set back further, windows not overlooking, etc.

Do just bear in mind though that it will seem worse at the minute because the sun is low in winter. Come summer the sun will be higher and will most likely still shine on the garden.

That’s a ridiculously huge extension . I’d object strongly in your situation .

Perhaps someone on here is knowledgeable with planning regulations and can help you draft a response ?

I would call in expert advice from a planning professional. You know your neighbours will have used a professional to get their outrageously massive extension to this stage, well, you are going to have to get expert advice from a professional as well. Someone who is highly experienced in these matters will instantly zoom in on the non-complying areas of their proposal and will be able to make a convincing argument against the extension.

The council will be able to tell you’ve had expert advice and they will be less inclined to disregard your comments.

Trying to save money by trying to become an overnight expert on these complex matters is false economy and you have a lot to lose if the monstrosity gets built, so call in the expert. Apart from anything else, it’s so much less stressful to have an expert guide you on these matters.

OP, just post the situation as it is. Clearly and simply.

People can advise you what grounds you can use to make your argument to the Planning Department.

Whoever is building this extension will need planning permission as it is highly unlikely that an extension of that size comes within ‘permitted development’.

There are 2 issues here:

1. Objecting to the planning application (you are right to do so, you are allowed as part of the process).

1. Your “right to light”. Although planning policies often factor in this right, it is possible for planning permission to be granted that contravenes your “right to light”.

If you object to the planning application and get no where. Consider legal advice. If the proposed extension contravenes your right to light then you should be able to halt the building work or request financial compensation from your neighbour. It would be a legal battle so you’re better off objecting freely through the council first.

Often people think that if planning permission is granted they have no further jurisdiction, this isn’t the case.

www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/Rights_to_light

@PeninsulaPanic is it laziness, greed, bloody-mindedness or just general cuntishness that's stopping you from READING THE FUCKING THREAD.
I hope you come back to apologise to OP and stop being a dick on threads you clearly haven't read properly.

The council will be able to tell you’ve had expert advice and they will be less inclined to disregard your comments

Not true. An expert would pick up on the relevant policy and case law in their response which, upon checking , the planning officer may agree with and refuse or condition if that makes it acceptable. Planning officers don't judge who has written the response just its contents.

I have successfully written appropriate responses which the neighbour has then used as their own.

@DevilsAdv0caat and @AlexaAmbidextra, RTFT yourselves - you'll see I'm by no means the only poster to find the combination of the OP's thread title and inital posts worded in such a way that it wasn't clear who was who.

Then get back in your prams

You need to get some additional support ASAP. Call your local councillors until you find one willing (and able) to fight your corner for you. You will need to put in a formal objection, based on planning grounds e.g. size, etc. As a housebound disabled person, you may have grounds for keeping your light. It is perfectly reasonable for you to do this.

It is depressingly common for people to do this. If the reduced plans do go ahead, watch to make sure they actually build it to the new plans and not the original ones. This is also depressingly common. Although a council can serve them an enforcement notice i.e. to put it back where it should be, they rarely impose it.

Good Luck!

I just talked to someone who knows about these things, and he tells me that there are specific rules about shadowing from extensions across windows at the back of a neighbouring house. The details are quite complex, so it would be worth asking the planner, and seeing it it does indeed apply (it looks like it does from your diagram).

If you have a gap on right hand side why would you need access via their driveway? Is there anything in deeds about access over it, if so it cannot be changed easily.

Unless other properties have had such large extensions you can state it is not in keeping with the area and inappropriate. The height and scale is overly dominant and compromising light in your property. Any windows on your side should be opaque glass to avoid direct overlooking. Are there any relevant local planning policies?

Contact your local councillor. This is the exact sort of thing they can help with, as they sit on planning committees (amongst other duties). They are elected at the very lowest of local government to represent and advise people and communities in local issues. Ask for a visit, talk about the problem, ask for advice. I’ve done it myself, it was very helpful and very useful.

Where I live they actually monitor planning applications and lodge objections if they genuinely object.

Good luck objecting op. That proposed extension is appalling.

RTFT yourselves - you'll see I'm by no means the only poster to find the combination of the OP's thread title and inital posts worded in such a way that it wasn't clear who was who.

Then get back in your prams biscuit

PeninsulaPanic Certainly at the start of the thread it was unclear but by the time you added your delightful message it was obvious that OP was the neighbour..

So shove your biscuit up your arse - sideways.