Objecting to planning

[PetCheetah]

I've just found out that a neighbour has applied for planning to build a house on the waste ground at the side of our house (which I always thought was too small to build on). I have two

What are your grounds for objecting?

(sorry posted in error too soon) ... Children with ASD which is probably not a valid reason to object but living next door to a building site would be hell. I have some other reasons too but that's the one that makes me want to cry! Can anyone steer me to some idiot's guide to objecting please?

I am pretty sure that the planning won't be declined on that basis.

Look at the advice on your local council's planning pages.

For outline planning permission you can object on grounds like safety of access, ecology etc.

I can’t see that it would be rejected on those grounds, sorry. Won’t your children be in your house and on your garden? Are they of school age? The majority of the work will be carried out during the weekday?

It would block light and spoil our view (not sure those would count), parking on this road is already difficult (plans include built in garage but it would still limit parking spaces on the street) and the road is already so narrow that residents have to park on the pavement and if people park badly the bin lorry can't get up the street so adding a building site and associated traffic would cause problems.

Thanks for the replies, was posting while they came in.

Check the application, they said have a considerations section of the planning which will outline plans for access etc.
Garage prevents any parking problems and will the new property have a drive?
I get it’s inconvenient but I don’t think it would be rejected because of 1 objection, sorry.

You can object on the grounds of loss of light/overshadowing to your property, loss of privacy/direct overlooking of your property/garden and creating an oppressive/overbearing environment next to your house. Your objection will have more weight if you can demonstrate that the proposal will affect light in habitable rooms (usually considered to be living room, dining room, bedrooms) rather than non-habitable rooms (bathrooms, hall, landing) or parts of your garden (although this will depend on the size of your garden and which bits are affected).

Planning won’t be rejected because the build process would upset your DC or because people might park badly and inconvenience the bin lorry - though if you think e.g. driveway access to the property will potentially result in obstruction of the road you can voice that as a concern and they may be asked to submit alternative design proposals.

You would be surprised where they can squeeze a house nowadays.

You can't object due to any problems during the actual build, or loss of a view. On certain grounds you can object to loss of light but there are several valid reasons you can object. Lack of parking may be one but if they have planned a garage then that may negate this. Even if you know it won't be used for parking in. Things like been massively overlooked where you were not before can be valid reasons as well.

Have a look on your local councils website and decide which valid reasons apply to you then set them out in a polite, factual objection letter.

It still might not get you anywhere though.

The application will have a case officer. It's worth contacting them to talk through your concerns. If it is recommended for
Permission you could ask them to put in a condition around hours of work.

Thanks, some helpful points to think about.

With what you have said about the bin lorry, you may be able to include an objection based on emergency service access ie. A fire engine would not be able to access the site. I am not sure the details on this but worth looking in to.

Valid objections all have to be based on breaches of planning policy. As pp have said, loss of light, overlooking, and creating an overbearing environment are all valid reasons.

If the proposed development harms the residential amenity of any neighbour it should be rejected. You might want to get a Daylight & Sunlight Assessment carried out to get some concrete figures to base your objection on.

Parking might be a valid objection if (as you say) it is already a problem on your street, on the grounds of residential amenity and highway safety. The Highways Officer should comment on this (you should be able to read the comments from him/her and other consultees on the planning portal for your council). Ask your neighbours to object on these grounds too and get photos of the existing parking problems to submit with your objection.

Contact your councillor for advice/support too—he/she should have a lot of experience of objecting to planning applications.

Good luck! (Oh, and don't miss the deadline!)

Thanks biddybird, I'll get in touch with my councillor.