To object to a planning application from my NDN? And how do I object?

[Ninjawanabee]

I got a letter from the council a couple of days ago, I now have 48 hours left to object to my NDN's planning application.

We live in detached houses next to each other. There is very little space between our houses - a narrow path down the side of my house is the only gap between my external wall and theirs.

My main objection is that their proposed roof extension to add a dormer in the side which faces me will give a direct line of sight through from their new loft bedroom into my skylight, into a bedroom (currently 7yr old DD's).

Their house is a bit taller than mine and so from their loft you would be able look down into my house. You can't now as the roof is solid! They may not even know I have a skylight (if that is the term?) in the sloping bit of my roof which lets sunlight into my upstairs. The house is relatively long and thin, and without this skylight the upper floor would be dark in the midsection.

As well as the loss of privacy, adding a dormer would cut the amount of light which gets in through the skylight.

I have no idea how to object, whether I need to add diagrams, write my complaint 'as a letter' or just write some text in Word and upload it.

DH is going to go round tomorrow morning to verbally let them know we're objecting - I like the neighbours and don't want any hard feelings, but we can't not object can we?!

I don't think the planning department distinguish between bedrooms and hallways. Loss of privacy is just that, regardless of which room you are in.
I think you should certainly write all your concerns in your objection.

Given they didn’t bother to let you know I really wouldn’t send your DH round.

Just object properly via the council - it’s all in the letter they sent you.

I’m not sure your neighbours will see your objection letter so not point souring relations. They clearly think it’s fine or wouldn’t have submitted it.

You also need to look at your own council’s planning docs.

Here’s North Somerset’s for example www.n-somerset.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2020-03/Residential%20design%20guide%20supplementary%20planning%20document%20part%201.pdf

That will give you a flavour of what you can and can’t object to.

@Jangle33

Given they didn’t bother to let you know I really wouldn’t send your DH round.

Just object properly via the council - it’s all in the letter they sent you.

I’m not sure your neighbours will see your objection letter so not point souring relations. They clearly think it’s fine or wouldn’t have submitted it.

If the council do planning applications online any postal correspondence is scanned, with some details redacted.

My new neighbours built a dormer at the back of their house. They can now look out of the window and directly down through our skylight into our kitchen (we have a kitchen extension at the back). We did everything: local counsellor, planning, building regs, bringing them into our kitchen, showing them and appealing to their better natures. No one in the council cared one jot. The neighbours then agreed to put opaque glass in those windows, but never did it. We don’t speak now. In fact, I hate them. We’d only just moved into this house ourselves (choosing it for privacy) and, between the dormer and nearly killing my son by dropping an entire chimney into our garden plus a year and a half of building work, they destroyed it for us.

Councillor not counsellor (though I probably could have done with one of those too!)

Can you opaque the skylight, but put another one elsewhere to let light back in? Presumably your property doesn't have to comply with such strict rules as it is modern?

Loss of light or privacy into a hallway is not a material planning issue. If it were a bedroom it would be different.If you want to complain you need to review if it is one they will consider otherwise you will be wasting your time. It's quite easy to find the ones that are of you google. Planners deal with this all the time they deal in logic not emotion. Leave out how it makes you feel and stick to facts.

@Jangle33

Given they didn’t bother to let you know I really wouldn’t send your DH round.

Just object properly via the council - it’s all in the letter they sent you.

I’m not sure your neighbours will see your objection letter so not point souring relations. They clearly think it’s fine or wouldn’t have submitted it.

This.

Nothing to be gained by telling them when they never called to you.

I think loss of privacy is a huge thing, not to mind the light.

You will kick yourself for not objecting if it impinges on your enjoyment of your own house.

@Ninjawanabee

I'm off to bed now so thanks for all answers and places to look etc

Finally Twin the house itself isn't any more or less interesting than the others in the conservation area - they're relatively homogenous, though none have this sort of dormer extension in the roof and the residents association have already complained about the element from a street aesthetic POV. As the owner of a house not really part of the same aesthetic myself I don't feel I need to object on those grounds, but I do worry what it will do to the nice light airy feel in the top half of my house. Frosted window or not, the extension from a pitched roof to a dormer right where my skylight is will block a lot of light coming in.

Planner here. By all means mention your concerns over loss of privacy and light in your objection as they are material planning considerations. However from the picture you've supplied I don't think they will be enough grounds for refusal in this case as it is a hallway and not a main habitable room ( bedroom has a door and presumably other windows providing light to it). Hallways are not habitable rooms as far as issues of daylight/sunlight reduction are concerned.

I know you don't care as much about the conservation area point, but if your main aim is to get it refused, that sounds like it has more potential as a grounds for objection, particularly if it is disrupting the homogeneity or a particular roof line and pattern along the street. Odd one out dormers don't often go down well if the rest of the terrace/street is generally homogenous and forms part of a group. Check out if the conservation area has a conservation area appraisal document online which gives guidance as to the character of the area and whether this particular row of houses or roof line is considered to be a positive contributor to the conservation area. I would also see what the residents association has said and echo any of their points too.

However ultimately, your neighbour does have the right to make improvements to their home as log as they don't have material detrimental effects on the surrounding character or your amenity.

You should investigate the Right to Light and maybe engage a specialist. If you have had that light for 20 years, you have an automatic right to it. Right to light has absolutely nothing to do with planning though, it’s a civil matter, and they would have to be leaving you with a very low level of lumens for it to count. But worth reading up on.

0h and ot doesn't matter whether or not your house is more modern or not. We all have a right to comment on proposals that we feel harm the character of our local area, no matter whether our house contributes to that character or not

Are you planning to sell in the next ten years or so? If not then complain away. The reason I say is my parents had problems where a sour planning situation had to be disclosed as a “dispute with neighbours” on the home buyer information thing they filled out when selling and the buyers changed their offer!

@doublemonkey yes I am

@whatisheupto you're wrong on that I'm afraid they absolutely do!

We have lovely neighbours. Our houses are detached and significantly more separated than yours are. I’m saying this for context. Some years ago they put in plans for a huge extension. We objected on grounds of privacy. The result was that the planning went ahead but with the proviso that they could not put a window in the side that faced put property. It was a solution that solved the problem. They got their extension, we retained our privacy and, most importantly, good relations with our neighbours.

There may be a way out whereby everyone gets what they want and you can still stay on good terms with your neighbours ,

[quote AnnaSW1]@doublemonkey yes I am [/quote]
So we don't have a right to privacy in our own hallways? What if you like to walk around naked?

@doublemonkey Of course if you want to walk around naked in your hallway that's up to you but it doesn't mean that overlooking a hallway with be a strong planning objection.I

*will be

@AnnaSW1, of course I'm aware that I'm free to walk around naked in my own home (and frequently do!). The point is that the proposed new window in the planning application will give the neighbours an unprecedented view into the heart of the OPs home. That is surely not a minor issue.

Write or email in on the planning portal, and phone your local ward councillor tomorrow, but also explain your objection to your neighbour to see if there's a compromise and make it clear to your neighbour that you don't want to fall out over this, if its approved it's approved.

@doublemonkey it is considered minor. It's not a main living room such as bedroom, kitchen, lounge. It's minor. It's pretty established in planning it's not really a massive area of dispute to be honest.

[quote AnnaSW1]@doublemonkey it is considered minor. It's not a main living room such as bedroom, kitchen, lounge. It's minor. It's pretty established in planning it's not really a massive area of dispute to be honest. [/quote]
Ok, thanks for clarifying.

I wish the previous owners of our house, and the neighbours, had objected to the flats that have been built behind us. They have balconies, not just the Juliette ones on the plans, ones they can sit out on and and stare right into my dds and my neighbours kids bedrooms.
I would contest, I think their are usually forms you can fill in on the planning application website. You should also have something on the letter you got in the post. Good luck op.

Reading this thread wondering how it's possible for so many posters (including op) to NOT have lived in a street before?

Every house or main door 2up/ 2down I've lived in has had hall windows directly facing each other. It has never occurred to me that this isn't a normal thing.

Currently there is enough space between us to get two wheely bins down, so the window is RIGHT THERE and neither of us have blinds because there's not much natural light at the best of times.

Sometimes I see them if it's winter and our lights are on and we happen to be walking down the hall / across the landing at the same time. Never felt like my privacy was invaded but then again I don't do a lot in my hall other than walk from room to room and occasionally admire their wallpaper or note they've finally taken down the wall art that's too outing to mention.

The only issue would be the most obvious one, but if you haven't done the naked bedroom to bathroom crouch-dash for the post intercourse pee, have you even really lived?!