Self build on former agricultural barn site

[FurbleSocks]

Just looking for advice on this please. It's currently going for planning permission because there's an extension to the footprint. It's not a Class Q application it's full planning permission. It's a site we're looking at buying once permission is granted. There have been 6 or 8 class Q conversions within the parish in the last year or so.

We would want to turn it from a bungalow into a 2 storey with the same footprint as the planning permission. How likely would that be realistically? It's on a small ex farm site (approx 2 acres in total). Only other building is the farmhouse. Neither is visible from the road. They are across the road from 2 ex farm cottages so rural but not completely isolated (approximately 1/4 to 1/2 mile from the village) and another 300m from another crop of 3 houses.

A bungalow there wouldn't give us enough space but a 2 storey would be perfect. The garden would be about 1/2 acre which is just what we're looking for.

Does anyone have any planning experience who could advise us please? I know planning rules are hard to set in stone.

Does anyone have a perspective on this please?

Is it a demolish and rebuild or a conversion plus extension?

And would you be proposing rebuilding completely or adding a fllor to an existing building?

Much will depend on location and land designations

Is it within a village boundary or in open countryside?
Is it Green Belt and/or AONB and/or National Park etc

There is a general presumption against new builds in the countryside unless they are required for agricultural workers etc. Conversions can be OK. If the site is considered to be isolated, where the occupiers would be reliant on a car for carrying out their daily lives a new build would be unlikely to gain permission.

Thank you for responding.

Is it a demolish and rebuild or a conversion plus extension?

Currently it's a conversion plus extension but we would want demolish and extension on the same footprint

And would you be proposing rebuilding completely or adding a fllor to an existing building?

Completely rebuilding because the foundations aren't going to be strong enough otherwise. If the foundations were strong enough we would be happy to just add a floor

Much will depend on location and land designations

Is it within a village boundary or in open countryside?

Of the two I would say open countryside because it's outside the village sign boundary. But it's on a road of other along the road one off houses e.g. farm cottages or other farm houses who outbuildings have been converted in the distant past

Is it Green Belt and/or AONB and/or National Park etc
None of those

There is a general presumption against new builds in the countryside unless they are required for agricultural workers etc. Conversions can be OK. If the site is considered to be isolated, where the occupiers would be reliant on a car for carrying out their daily lives a new build would be unlikely to gain permission.

It's on a main road within walking distance (5 mins) to both the village and the edge of the town. Although surrounded by fields. There are buses from the village and town within 5 minutes walk. There have been 0 self build plots put forward in the local plan for this area and the housing needs survey showed a demand/need. Does that carry any weight?

It sounds as though it would be on land designated as countryside, where conversions are usually OK, but new build not - particularly if it is to be a much larger building.

If the Council cannot demonstrate a 5 year housing land supply you may have more of a chance (usually only occurs if the local plan is not up to date).

You need to find out whether it is within settlement boundaries or not. Rules are different for each. Then go to your councils planning webpages and read the supplementary planning guidelines for buildings in the country side. That will detail your councils rules.

Our family built 3 houses on a bit of disused waste ground on our farm. We found that the way to do it was to get lots of comments on the planning permission proposal,that way it went to committee rather than decided by an individual planner. Ours passed unanimously at committee,as I argued that the council had a duty to provide affordable homes for local families,and that they hadn't done that. We went for outline first,and had a council planner out for advice who told us that there was no way we'd get pp as it was green belt, conservation area,outside the village envelope ect. What he didn't realize was that we'd done our research and knew that village envelopes had been abolished in the 1990's,the conservation area ended at our gate and that it was a brownfield site. We pointed these issues out in our planning statements,went in front of the committee and got approval.
Good luck,and don't believe what the planning officers tell you,they just want to put you off and hope that you'll go away.

If the application hasn't already ben submitted, you might want to consider pre-app advice (if you have the time). If it has work on building a good relationship with your case officer and be flexible in how you respond to any concerns raised. We got permission for a replacement dwelling in the greenbelt with a 300% increase in footprint compared with the existing dwelling with no major concerns. PM me if I can help in any way.