oh arse a letter from the planning enforcement department

[Beasknees]

We've just done some building work and got party wall agreement from our neighbours. Because of the possible size of work (though much not to be realised due to lack of cash)we applied for the certificate of lawfulness which was granted back in August.

Building work completed in December but we've had a couple of letters from the planning department saying 'we notice you may have or are about to start work and it would be a good idea if you check you're not in breach of planning regulations'. I have ignored them because as far as i know the certificate of lawfulness was all i needed. But today i got a letter from the enforcement part of the planning team.

We used some of the building waste to level off the some of the slope in our garden - partly to save money on a couple of skips and partly because having a slightly flatter ground suits us. But this letter says something about a retaining wall being built less than 1m high and that we need to get in touch.

As far as i can tell from the planning portal this is not an issue so why on earth am i being badgered by the council. And why couldn't my neighbours declare their discontent to my face during the building works rather than worm up to the planning officers after it's all finished. We bent over backwards to keep the family next door happy - moving pipes to satisfy their pettiness and now this.

Just a rant really unless someone knows a lot about planning permissions and why i should need some for this work.

I can't help, but I thought a bump might help catch the attention of someone who can.

You need to contact the council and find out what their problem is.

May not be those neighbours, btw, unless they are your only neighbours and no-one else would know.

Well it's a choice of two neighbours and I'm not feeling too charitable to either of them.

Have left a message for the guy at the council. I just hate that the letters you want to do something about always sem to come at the weekend when all you can do is sit and stew about it.

I also realise looking at my post that it sounds like i've built up a huge wall to intimidate my neighbours with and it really isn't.

I'm a bit confused - have you built a wall where you levelled the garden off?
If your plot is now 1m higher than your neighbours then then a retaining wall needs to be built.

The wall surrounds the bit that was levelled off - we put a wall round it, inside our boundary walls so that the infill wouldn't damage our neighbours fences. The garden slopes/sloped from the bottom up to the base of the house but is now flatter. I don't think it's a 1m higher at the bottom but i haven't measured it, though i obviously will need to.

But the road is also on a slight slope so the house on my left hand side is slightly lower than my house and the one on the right is slightly higher.

Oh I need to watch this thread, my dad did this to his garden about 20 years ago.

It won't be the neighbours. There is so little building work going on they are looking for stuff to check. My neighbour (a builder) told me that.

But the thing is they wouldn't know about the garden unless someone had commented and the rest of the work was approved so there must be a grass somewhere. It would just have been a lot easier and of course cheaper if one of the neighbours had said something while thebuilders were here. I mean it's not as though 3 months passed without them noticing.

Raising the level of the garden is classed as an engineering operation that needs planning permission. It won't be the wall unless it's over 1m high and adjacent to the highway. It doesn't sound from your description that that's the case.

Your certificate of lawfulness will only cover the extension. You did the right thing by getting one of those, btw, saves tons of hassle when selling up in the future.

I'm a planning officer, btw.

Thanks Miss Marjoribanks - but where does that leave me now then? Obviously i didn't intend to do the work in the garden but it's done now - the letter specifically mentioned the wall but as you say the height issue seems to be a red herring.

Yep its classed as engineering works (we run a groundworks company), however we do alot of cut and fill and only if someone reports us is there any applications needed. Many people do it and never has anyone mentioned planning in the past. I imagine most groundworks company dont know about this and at the end of the day its the clients responsibilty.

Shouldnt be a problem, get some forms, may have to pay a fee. Dont worry its not going to be refused.
Really its pathetic that the council waste so much time on this. ANd very sad that neighbours have the energy to report. Worse planning matters going on around the country. I see walls being built on front gardens where they are not allowed on many estates.

I would take the advice of your planning department, Beas. If they are telling you to put in a retrospective planning application, that's probably because they'd grant it. It'll be £170, plus any fees required for drawings. Again, will save you tons of hassle when selling up if you have the correct permissions.

Having thought about it, the retaining wall is probably mentioned not because it in itself needs permission, but the fact you have had to put a retaining wall up means the earthworks are more than what would be considered 'de minimis' i.e. so small as not to be worthy of further consideration.

Bacon - the Council are obliged to follow up enforcement complaints. Can you imagine the furore if they responded with, sorry, waste of our time?

Thanks bacon and MissM for your helpful comments. Sadly the guy who is dealing with it only works the first part of the week and he failed to get in touch with me till about half an hour beofre he finished work for the week and i missed his call.

It seems really daft i must say and i think i shall resort to killing my neighbours with kindness so they feel immensely guilty. Actually the more i think about it, it;s probably their son aged 26 going on 76 who complained - he's just a geek and should get a life and....