Neighbours planning permission

[sunnyday123]

Hi

Today i have received a letter from the local council saying they plan on building 2 houses on spare land next to my house (actually the garden of the neighbouring property which joins to ours). The plans show that our entire hedge boundary will be removed and replaced - thus our garden/drive is going to be totally unusable over the summer.

I have 3 weeks to voice concerns and issues. Today i rang the planning officer to discuss details and have been told he is off for 2 weeks! I was told to submit issues in a letter to him. However as i only have the basic plans I can't really add many comments as i don't really know how it will impact on us.

I didnt seem to get anywhere with anyone else in the office but we are not just neighbours in the vicinity - this has a huge impact on us and will do for many months.

At this stage can we delay the deadline given we he is away for 2 weeks? What stage does the information become clearer? Objections may become more obvious later down the line once planning has been approved as we don't know the finer details? How can we object without exact clarification of what they will do to our garden!

Any info would be great as we have no experience of this sort of thing! I have also posted in property as no idea were to post!

Thanks

I think it is really unlikely that you can delay the deadline but you don't need to speak to anyone about the issue, as the planning office told you, you can send in your objections by letter. I don't know what sort of area you live in but ripping out a hedgerow wouldn't go down well in most planning offices - they are often seen as a good way of encouraging biodiversity. It might be worth seeing your ward councillor for advice on how to object, s/he should know the ropes and your area and be able to help you with what is relevant.

Regarding making your drive unusable, if the plans are passed and the hedge forms the boundary, then the builders will need party wall consent so you can work out a way of making sure that the building work has as minimal impact as possible when they approach you for a party wall award.

thanks i hadn't realised there was a party wall award! I just thought that once they got planning permission then that was it which is why i couldnt understand the lack of info!

Thanks!

Does your council have a planning website where you can go to download the full details of the proposal? (Ours does - our neighbours got a one line description of what we planned to do, with the implication that if they wanted to find out more, they needed to go to the website and download all the documents).

Or do you need to go to the local planning office and get a copy of the plans from there? (I have also done this and it was actually super-easy, everyone was very helpful.)

Once you've got the proper plans, you'll know more about what's planned.

Check your deeds as to who owns the hedge - if it's yours then they shouldn't be able to just take it out. Possibly contact a local wildlife trust too - they might be able to make a noise about it. As Grendels said get round to the planners and ask for a copy of the full application, then sit down quietly and list your objections and ask for a response to each and everyone.

What a horrible thing to receive in the post, it would have been nice for the owners to come and discuss it with you first. When we wanted to put up some stables we spent ages marking out the area and consulting our neighbours so they knew what to expect before the planning application went in.

Agree with pp's. The plans will be online or available to view at the council offices, even if this person is not there, or could you ask next door to show you what they have submitted and talk you through it. Also check ownership of the land and boundary. It might be the neighbour plans to sell off this land with pp to a developer and it is the developer who has submitted the application. Even if passed they have up to 5 years to start the work so there could yet be delays and amendments. You can submit objections on specific grounds - access, parking , trees, you being directly overlooked, out of keeping with area etc. I'd suggest once you have done some research you compose a letter/email citing one or more grounds and ask him to call you on his return.

frostyfingers

I was very annoyed they never consulted us. A very old couple owned it who were lovely but they died 2 years ago. Since then we have told their adult children to give us first offer to buy the house. We intended to buy the house, take some of the land and then re-sell so we at least got a bigger garden but they have gone to the first builder and took his offer! Proper odd family anyway but i'm furious that they didn't even say they were selling as we've asked loads!!!
Not even sure where my deeds are but will find out!!

Are you sure they have already sold the land ? The builder can apply without ownership.

This is called Windfall development and some local councillors in some areas are very against it because it makes some areas over developed and ruins the character of roads. You might contact your local councillor for advice. If you are going to complain think in terms of whether you are overlooked, traffic issues, parking, utilities, the character of the other houses and whether these will fit in.

You can't criticise the owners for not selling to you, they will be making more money like this.

"we have told their adult children to give us first offer"

Told, you say?

Don't think hedges come under party wall. Also a very big distinction between hedge and hedgerow.

PigletJohn - i detect sarcasm! - i asked for advice so we don't need to look into things too deeply/ suspiciously! I would have thought most normal people would inform neighbours that they were selling their house and land to builders - not through necessity but because i consider it the polite thing to do, more so given we are the only house it affects - and does so massively. We offered to buy it and they have no idea of our financial position - for all they know we could have gone higher than the builder!

Herhonesty i thought it would be a party wall since both property boundaries are in the middle of the hedge which is several feet wide. I found the following quote on line which says it kind of is but i'm happy to be corrected!

"At Common Law a party wall is a wall which is a shared/joint/common boundary. The party wall could be a fence, hedge or wall and was classified in one of three ways namely:-

a wall which stands astride the boundary, and which therefore is vertically divided with each neighbouring party owning one half of the wall.
a wall which stands wholly on one neighbouring party's land, but is subject to the easements of the other neighbour to have it maintained by the owner
a wall which is divided equally, and there are cross easements of support and maintenance in favour of the each party

We have today contacted the proposed builder and he seems happy to visit us tomorrow to talk through any concerns so hopefully it can be sorted amicably. Another concern is the plans dont show much room for him to even put scafolding up on the new houses without using our garden!