to not think a hairdresser working from home is a problem

[woopdedoodle]

I'm not name changing, because they already know who I am, and after yesterday so do my neighbours.

A few doors down from me a woman has opened a two seat salon in her garage. Obviously it's been closed most of the time since,she also hadn't asked planning permission. Now she has and there are two women running a campaign to shut her down.

They think she will get 5000 customers a year by car 10000 extra car journeys on our road. Before Christmas their argument was while they were home working they could see her home working .

I said I didn't see a problem, yesterday they came back and when they wouldnt leave or take no for an answer I shut the door.

I could hear them shouting outside my front door, so now all the neighbours have heard how rude I apparently am.

So AIBU to think it's not the end of the world to have a small local hairdresser, house prices are not going to plummet, and I should support the planning application.

I am not a customer BTW

My neighbour used to run one from her house and it did smell quite strong, but I couldn’t get that excited about it. They are being rude to shout outside your door!

Why were they at your door if you’re not a customer or the hairdresser?

@Finfintytint

It wouldn’t bother me either. Are these protestors also complaining about the increased traffic created by DPD, Hermes etc?

This really. I'd be telling them to stop getting any deliveries at all then, as its too much traffic and is affecting my time spent watching tv/throat singing/learning tap dancing etc.

They are weirdos. Sadly every street has them (and if you don't know who they are, it's probably you).

@ChancesWhatChances

Why were they at your door if you’re not a customer or the hairdresser?

They are neighbours drumming up support to oppose the planning application.

I think providing the 5,000 customers don't all come on the same day it shouldn't be a problem.

However if they do you may want post something further about a 'Parking Problem' (with diagram).

Worst case scenario is that there's going to be 3 extra cars there between 9 am and 6 pm for 6 days a week? (The second hairdresser unless they both live in this house, plus two customers). Is there space for this?

But in reality, not everyone will drive to the salon and they probably won't work all those hours, so it won't be as much as that. Is there parking space to accommodate that? That's their only argument really and if there's plenty of parking space, they're probably not even going to notice that the business is there.

And it's not going to be extra journeys, assuming that the clients are getting their hair done somewhere anyway and this salon could be closer than where they would go anyway.

A woman a few doors away from me runs her beauty business from home. We live on a terraced street which has no driveways so is on street parking, and parking permits are required.

Her business has never caused any problems. Yes, her clients take up a space, but it’s really no different to anyone else having a friend or relative visit. I couldn’t even tell you how many clients visit her on a daily basis.

I think these two women are the ones who are rude for how they reacted to you. And I also don’t understand where they got the 5,000 figure from. That works out at 19 clients per day on the assumption she would work 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year!

If it's 2 seats, presumably that's 2 stylists, at 8 customers per stylist per day, 6 days pw, that is around 5000 customers. Even if it's not planned for 2 stylists now, it soon could be.

WFH is not the same as running a business, which customers frequent from home, that's why she needs planning permission.

What if a neighbour sets up nails in their garage and someone else starts doing massage?

You'll soon be complaining about the parking situation and the noise.

There are ways and means to object, but they have justified concerns.

I’d not be very happy about it if one of my neighbours opened a hair salon in their garage.

The main thing that would concern me about this would be the parking, plus possible extra disruption if it was right next door, but how much of a problem things like parking are will depend a lot on individual road layouts.

The maths is definitely out though. 5000 customers a year, whether arriving by car or not, sounds way too high. And I agree that people opposed to the hair salon should not be trying to bully people who have no objections.

To those who asked, it's 10,000 extra car journeys , counting into the road and then back out.

I'm a live and let live sort, and their maths did seem well, strange.
If it were a massive Spa type edifice, I might be raising an eyebrow, but two chairs in a semi's garage.....

Tell them that one of the customers definitely won’t be using a car, because you’ll be there as soon as it opens- and will be telling all your local friends too

So you respond to the planning application, they respond to the planning application, the planning authorities make a decision.

You might want to consider that once gained, permission won't be given up easily. This is unlikely to be a temporary thing and might turn into a more obvious business premises. That would have implications if you wanted to sell your house, as people's perceptions of your street would be altered.

If they turn up on your doorstep again, don't answer the door.

@SingingLoud

While I wouldn’t complain to the councils or start a petition about this, in my last house, there was a beautician working from home in our cul-de-sac, then someone else started up as a dog groomer, then another neighbour decided to fix cars out of his garage.

We had people knocking at our door almost daily thinking we were the beautician or dog groomer. The car repair man’s home was obvious due to all the crap all over his drive and the rusty cars outside the house.

We lost the turning circle in the cul-de-sac due to their costumers parking, and the kids couldn’t really play out the front any more because of the amount of cars driving in and out and dotted around.

So depending on the layout of your road, I wouldn’t be happy about this.

This. One hairdresser may not be an issue, but several businesses could change the ‘feel’ of the street with extra traffic etc. Once planning permission has been granted for one business, it’s harder to refuse planning permission for another business nearby because they can say ‘well, you gave them permission, why not us?’ So it’s not about the hairdresser herself, but the future impact.

You can’t really compare it to deliveries, who park up for a few minutes, when a customer at the hairdressers would be parked up for an hour or more.

My hairdresser has a similar set up, the great thing is most people don't drive. I used to drive into our local town and pay to park, now I just walk round the corner, young mums get their hair done on the way home from school drop off or on the way to pick kids up, oldies like me like the convenience. I'm sure she has the occasional customer who drives but they aren't likely to block the road, she can't see loads of people at once.

A lady down our street converted her double garage into a lovely play area with 2 toilets and some sinks and a mini kitchen area and has opened as a childminder which was desperately needed in the village

We had some awful neighbours asking us to sign a petition against it and I was delighted to tell "absolutely not it's very convenient for me and my children"!

They had to stick that in her pipe and smoke it
That was 5 years ago and it causes no trouble at all

When we first moved here the house opposite always had someone faffing with their hair in the window. We assumed they were the just vainest person on the planet. It took some months to realise it was a home hairdresser

My hairdresser has 2 seats and wfh. One seat for the person having their hair cut and another sitting waiting for colour to take etc. Never had another stylist. As Toorapid says, more like 8 per day for a stylist and at times there could be 3 clients. One having a cut, another a colour and a third pootled along to book an appointment or arrived early etc.

Is there plenty of parking op? Some of the neighbours do not like the hairdresser being there despite being at the end of a cul de sac with client parking annoying no one.

No I wouldn’t be happy about someone setting up any business in their garage.
But I wouldn’t get into an argument with the neighbors about it but put my objections into the planning dept.
As it stands without planning and change of usage she is running an illegal business so no insurance which would also be an issue for me.

Our NDN did this before she moved. Th only issue I had was that for some reason, her customers didn't want to block her driveway.... so they' d block mine instead. But NDN was very good about asking them to move.

The only reason to have an issue with this is if parking might be an issue and/or they're likely to block you in/out. Otherwise, it's hard to believe anyone would even notice the odd person coming and going to a hair salon. And it's not noisy/intrusive as it would be if, say, she was a mechanic or a carpenter.

Depends on parking really. If it's a nice wide street with many drives then it would be fine. However if it's a close with a narrow road, then no I wouldnt be happy about an extra 4-6 cars parking. Also if she does get planning permission so will others in your street e.g dog groomers and car mechanics. It sets a precedent for others to do the same. Before you know it you'll have a few businesses in your road. I wouldn't want to buy a house there, it looks horrible.

Although in itself it may not be a bigg problem, it's the thin end of the wedge. Someone else could set up with a more unneighbourly business in another house. Even if they got planning permission, a subsequent owner could change it to a worse business within the same Planning Use Classes Orders.

I wouldn't like it TBH.

Wow! 5,000 equates to almost 14 clients per day - every day of the year. She must have more than two hands, and not like taking a day off...ever! They could do with brushing up on their maths and minding their own business

It’s only like anything else people do in their homes. I have music lessons in someone’s home, massages at another. Lots of people run a business from a spare room or their back garden. Best of luck to them I say.

It doesn't matter. Regardless of the number of journeys or the smell or the cars...you have no objection. End of.

They were rude

It doesn’t matter wha any of you think, really, does it? She’s converted a garage and invited customers into the premises without planning permission. Two chairs suggests two hairdressers so it’s not just her working at home alone.

If it’s a residential road the local authority will not be happy. Even less so during a pandemic. She won’t get retrospective PP.