Advice on outbuilding & who can help?!

[H3]

We have an outbuilding that takes up about a quarter of our garden & was part of our property but sold on by the previous owner. A new development is going to knock it down & put up a fence (!!) to make way for a car park! It is a council development so planning will be approved by the council too. This will de-value our house, take away our privacy (as the outbuilding currently obscures the view of the rest of the development) & basically a fence will look shite! It is also a lovely old Victorian outbuilding that I think should be conserved & we would even buy & use if we could.

My question is 'any ideas who can help me stop this from happening' or should I just give up?! I will probably move house if it does happen! I feel sad but also realise this is not the end of the world! ??

What kind of car park and what will it serve? Presumably you knew the outbuilding was sold to someone else? Any chance of a link to the plans or a photo of the current building and the garden?

If the outbuilding is owned by someone else, how can it be 'your' outbuilding, and take up a quarter of your garden?

Er... sorry, but you were nuts to buy it and not have considered this would happen. I can't imagine what you can do to stop it - put a nicer fence in front of it, lots of climbers?

I doubt that you can stop it.
You could try speaking to your local Conservation Society to see if they have any ideas on how to protect the building.
You could speak to your local Councillor - ask them to visit and show them 'your' side of the development.
You could speak to the Council - presumably they are consulting on the matter- and see if you can get any improvements on the boundary treatment.
I assume your house/the outbuilding isn't Listed? I assume that your property is not in a Conservation Area? If they are, then speak to the Council Conservation Officer and English Heritage.

Thanks for your suggestions, I didn't say it was ours I just said 'we have' meaning 'there is' and the reason it takes up a quarter of the garden is just due to the shape. When we bought it the plans showed it would be used as storage & a car park would be behind it. Perhaps we were 'nuts' not to consider it being knocked down but I loved the house at the time! It will be a staff car park for a school, the outbuilding will create 2 spaces out of 11.

Thanks Seeline I will see if any of your suggestions lead me anywhere. It is not in a conservation area (near one though!). It is a lovely building!

I would probably be chasing the Council for a wall rather than a fence if cars are going to be parked right up against the boundary.

although its not ideal, a school staff car park is probably not soo bad. They wont arrive early, will be gone by 5pm, wont be there weekends or school hols and if there are any problems you'll know who to complain to it wont be randoms.

Yes true. The original planning application which hasn't been approved yet states that it will be a wall from the original bricks but then they have now said it will be a fence due to funds. The builders want the bricks & tiles!

Not knowing layout ( does outbuilding form a solid barrier at bottom of your garden ? ) but you may be able to argue loss of amenity on grounds that replacement with another brick wall as opposed to fence maintains privacy ,sound insulation ( ? ) more attractive ,more secure ,more in keeping with surroundings/your house /neighbours houses ? In a way that a fence wouldn't ?

Seeline offers good suggestions and Sunny is right that a school car park not soo bad . Though I think 100% of teachers will disagree with her on times of use - early and late finishes + parents' evenings ,school trips and ,if secondary school loads of other stuff -holiday exam catch up ,and endless parent's meetings .

Thank you, yes there is currently a solid brick wall and then the outbuilding. Imagine a rectangular garden with a square placed in the top right hand corner, that is the outbuilding (soon to be car park!). Will just have to try my best to do what I can and thank you for all your suggestions.