To be sorry we've lost our nice view?

[Timetochange11]

We have an elevated bit of garden level with our upstairs windows with a lovely view of a field and woods. Yesterday our neighbour put an office type chalet up in the field right in our line of vision, sure we'll get used to it but it looks so out of place in the country.

I think in your shoes I actually would say something, it's an AONB and the rules exist to protect that, if everyone turns a blind eye because the neighbours are okay, then we risk these areas being marred for everyone.

YNBU I'd be miffed too. I'd still check if it needs planning permission. It's worth a try.

Check your household insurance yo see if you have legal expenses insurance cover. It might pay for a solicitor to look at it

Plant a line of trees, definitely. Maybe with an area of wildflower meadow under them. They will conceal the building and give something beautiful to look at.
I know none of us have a right to a view, but that is very obtrusive.

Op, don't be a dock about it. It's just a posh shed and it's just a bit of a otherwise nice view. There are bigger things to worry about in the world and you will get used to it. If you kick ip a fuss then you will fall out with your neighbours, which is worse than having a shed in the garden!

Soooo many typos!!!

@gryffsmum @ did you mean dick I wont, as you say it's a shed and we can still see the view around it. I think she might get in trouble from the council, I've checked - there is no planning, but it won't be from me. She just fenced off part of her field so her garden is bigger and then it went up!

If it's not in curtilage then there are no permitted development rights on the land and it needs permission. Esp if in aonb.
I'd also be miffed they didn't mention anything.
If the one they've put in has lighting etc ecology impacts may need to be considered.
If you want to plant, maybe birch would be good, quick growing and screening but.not so dense they feel imposing. Group or a line or a grove of them looks lovely too.

I agree it spoils the view, but even if planning permission had been needed, what is the OP going to do about it? She's going to be extremely unpopular with the neighbours, whom she has said she likes, if they are forced to remove it.
On second thoughts, I suppose they could site it closer to their house where it wouldn't be such a distraction, but I think either scenario would cause tensions.

I used to have no truck with so-called nimbys but recently realised how important veiws, trees, landscapes are to well being.
People buy a property with a view or close to countryside - it's not nimbyism to be upset that the point of your purchase is changed by someone else. It's also the biggest purchase you will make in your life and can't be easily changed if you don't have the money.

you can put one in your garden as a summer house/ home office etc so long as it complies with permitted development

You DH is wrong though,. you CANNOT just plonk one down in a field, it absolutely IS change of use.

Having spent lots of time going through all this with a fine toothed comb I think you would be able to object to this.

and in an AONB they laws around permitted are even tighter and local planning would need to approve.

have a serach on your local planning portal - you would see if there was permission granted

Don't say anything as too late now and the potential for a bad atmosphere will be worse in long run.
Just remember it if you ever want to do anything 👍👍
Lot worse things going on in the world.....
Also at least it looks a nice one.

Fencing off an area does not make it into garden.

Ah OP, I'd be so disappointed too. No idea about planning permission where you are (in on the south east coast of Australia) but I share your pain.

We bought a house next to an empty block at the end of the main drag in our town. It's an elevated spot so lovely views of the distant hills from the back and side.

Inevitably someone built a house on the vacant block, so we lost our beautiful side views. Sad, but nothing to be done. At least the tenant is nice :)

I like the idea of trees. Feeling your pain.

@LIZS

Fencing off an area does not make it into garden.

agree. and I would step very careful here with the ignoring it, because if they have 'created' a new area, sperate from the official curtilage of the house, you have the first steps to a whole new property.

You may think they wont do that, but its happened alot around here.

is it simply a summerhouse, or has it got water/electricity? Do you think they are going to AirBnB it, as lots of people do this, under the radar of the council. And might be a reason why its been placed outside of her garden, because she doesnt want the bother of seeing guests.

you do realise you can report it without giving your name. I certainly would give the planning dept a heads up

@Zanzibar55

I agree it spoils the view, but even if planning permission had been needed, what is the OP going to do about it? She's going to be extremely unpopular with the neighbours, whom she has said she likes, if they are forced to remove it. On second thoughts, I suppose they could site it closer to their house where it wouldn't be such a distraction, but I think either scenario would cause tensions.

Exactly. They don't have to remove it, they just have to put it in a part of their actual garden. It's a question of suiting them less, not depriving them of something vital.

AONB and designated agricultural land? - have a word with the neighbour on the Parish Council. I believe that there may be a problem both with the 'summerhouse' and the adoption of additional land as garden.

I think she might get in trouble from the council, I've checked - there is no planning, but it won't be from me
So it doesn't really bother you?

The OP has already said there's no permission @NettleTea

@Timetochange11 - I would speak to the council. AONBs are for everyone to enjoy.

Awfully ugly and very upsetting.

She would know well that that she would be spoiling YOUR view doing something like that.

I would not be happy and would not keep the peace.

That's what people like that depend on.

@whatevernext33 that was my next question. What should I plant treewise? I'll look at birch @Timetochange11
@NettleTea I've checked planning portal, no permission

I agree with everything that's been said, Its a small community and not worth falling out over. That said there are a couple of people here who moan about everything so she may get some grief from them.

It's very uneighbourly of them not to have consulted you about it, especially since it could have been in a different position.

You can't just fence off part of a field you own next to your house and call it garden.

We had exactly this situation near us: all you can do with such a piece of land it mow it a couple of times a year. No ornamental plants, no kids toys, no patio etc. A whole row of houses had bought a strip of land from the local farmer and incorporated it into their gardens without permission.
They got away with it for a few years, then someone reported them to the planning department.
It took months, but they all had to apply for planning permission and had to remove sheds, greenhouses and the like. All they were allowed to do was use it as grass and for fruit trees.

If you are bothered, report anonymously, then they can move the shed nearer their house.

Phone the company and ask anonymously if it is possible to move a built hut/house.
If it's possible to move it it's worth contacting planning dept (also anonymously initially).