Objecting to neighbours planning permission

[mummy2015a]

Hi,

We live in a newly built estate and our neighbours have a piece of garden at the side of their house which is next to our driveway. Next door's house is actually round the corner from our house and their garden is on the bend.

Our neighbours built a wall (with planning permission), but they were supposed to build a small wall with railings on, but have actually erected a solid brick wall that is over 1m high when original planning permission was for 1 90cm high wall including the railings.

The council have now said our neighbours need to re-submit planning permission, but we want to object because our driveway is on a slope and it will restrict our view for entering and exiting the driveway. As the wall is solid brick, it means that we can't see any pedestrians coming round the corner when using our driveway.

Does anybody know if this is reason enough for planning permission to be turned down? We had no issues with the railings as we could see if there was anybody there, but a lot of children play on our street and we are very concerned that one could run out at the moment we pull out of the driveway and it could end in tragedy.

Can anybody help?

That sounds fair enough to me - if you explain clearly and include photographs that explain what you mean, the planning officer should be able to take it into account. You could even ask for a site visit, if they are not too busy. There are no guarantees they would do anything though.

Could you not reach a compromise with the neighbour, let them have a go on the drive to see the effect? They may be able to alter the end of the wall to make it safer.

Another way is to go through all the council planning policies and see in what way it does not meet their policies/guidelines, but this is probably unnecessary and undesirable for a small domestic application.

Lots of planning policies do concern road safety these days. Traffic management and safety of pedestrians is important and, in any case, the wall was not built to the specification originally agreeed. You should strongly object and ask for the wall to be reduced and the railings inserted as per the planning permission. Have you read the permission documents from before? Does it mention road safety as a reason for agreeing to a lower wall with railings? Definitely take photographs. It is desirable, in this situation, to object and it might be that the Council is not aware of the vision reduction from your drive. I would also contact the Highways Department of the local Council and see what they have to say about it. Aska Highway Engineer to come out to take a look.

Most people who ignore planning permission, in my opinion, tend not to take it kindly when it is pointed out to them. They obviously wanted a higher wall, so they will not want to spend more money taking the walls down and inserting railings. I doubt if speaking to them will end in a compromise because it will cost them.

Absolutely! This is a H&S issue. You may find it awkward going forward with your neighbours but console yourself with the fact they didn't give a shit about you when they built their illegal wall!

We've spoken to our neighbours and they said they aren't interested - they just want privacy and they won't get that with railings.

They were originally planning the have the railings, but, upon starting to build the wall, they realised that it would mean people could see from the street into their back garden as they currently have a wall blocking view to their back garden, but they plan to take that down and use the whole of the garden.

Thanks for all your suggestions, I'm determined to fight this as it seems like an accident waiting to happen unless we don't use our driveway and park on the road which will be even more dangerous as we are on a bend.

In that case, you have covered first base - go for it. State your case as clearly as you can with photos and diagrams. List other objections. Ask the neighbours whose children play on the street - the numbers of objectors is not supposed to make a difference, but it helps!

Can't you ask for the wall to be part railings? I can see you pov but I can also understand that they want privacy.

1m isn't that high is it? They should have gotten permission but I can understand their wish for privacy. The could put in the railings then grow a high hedge way taller than a meter & you still wouldn't be able to see. Could you reverse into your drive and drive out to improve your vision of the road?

I always reverse into my driveway so I can pull forward anyway, so this wouldn't help.

I understand they want their privacy, but they should've surely considered that when submitting their original planninh application.

1m probably doesn't sound high, but they are having ornamental things on top measuring 50cm (according to the original plan) and they haven't actually finished building the wall yet as the council have told them to stop until they have planning permission.

The height doesn't bother me, my issue is with the fact I can't see

I can see that it's as irritating as hell but there's nothing to stop them from planting a great big hedge/leylandii behind new railings instead for privacy. Could they pay for a mirror to be mounted on the wall instead or opposite so you could see oncoming traffic/children

Yes I agree with Tread - even if they have to have the railings, they'll just grow a climber up them to fill in the gaps, so you still won't be able to see.

I would check covenants etc. if it is a recent estate. It may be necessary to seek pp for hedges, although I think they are pretty difficult to enforce. There might be something in the planning conditions of their last permission, or it might be added to the new one.

Mummy, google "visibility splay" plus planning plus the name of your local authority. That should give you the relevant policy.

Here you are not allowed a front wall or fence over 1 metre tall and the council make people take down tall trees if they obstruct the view of the road.

I live on a 1960s/70s estate where there are lots of random patches of grass at the sides of peoples houses. Often these are owned by the houses rather than the council, but there are restrictive covenants to say that you cannot 'enclose' amenity land such as this.

Over the decades lots of homeowners have applied for PP to 'enclose' such amentiy land into their back gardens. For such PP applications, the council ALWAYS instructs the highways department to do an assessment of any effects on highway safety. Loads of applications have been turned down on this basis.

I can't see how the council could approve an application that made the hghway unsafe for pedestrians/other road users.

Hi, to be honest your comments against the planning application might not get the application refused however the planner will take these into consideration when s/he makes their determination.
I would strongly recommend that you talk to your neighbour and voice your concerns and then lodge your comments on the local authority website. By going through these steps you can make positive suggestions to how the design can be altered to suit. i.e stepping the entrance back further.