Responding to parish council objection on planning?

[PointyMcguire]

Help! We’re currently in the process of seeking planning permission, highways agency have confirmed they have no objections, environmental agency have no objections as long as we abide by certain stipulations (none of which are an issue) and immediate neighbours have all said they have no concerns with our proposal.

However we’ve now received an objection from the parish council which includes several inaccuracies; there’s a covenant on the property/land that strictly prohibits the running of a commercial enterprise yet they’re stating this is the reason for the proposed changes to the property and are objecting on those grounds and they’ve also outrightly lied about current usage of the land. Annoyingly we hadn’t realised the parish council meeting was taking place when it did, else we’d have attended and tried to quell any concerns directly.

We’ll be speaking to our architect on Monday but in the meantime can any advise what the best approach is for responding to their concerns? Is this something we need to worry about? Is it likely to impact on the approval of our planning? The last time we applied for planning (previous house) it was super straightforward so we’ve not encountered this before, and if I’m honest the outright lying in their objection feels strangely personally.

Thanks @LIZS you’re right, they’re objecting on the grounds that they fear the planned changes are with a view of running as a commercial enterprise so perhaps reassuring them that’s not the case will be enough to allay their fears.

Yep this was my fear! The impact of our personal usage is minimal, whereas business usage would be significantly more so we want to set the record straight so we don’t find our planning application rejected for something that is never going to happen.

That explains it a bit - I wonder if they’ve had a previous application for something for personal use, then a few years later there’s an application to move to business use, which is approved at Planning Committee because the impact isn’t significant, then a few years later there’s an application to expand, which is approved because it’s already a business use and will provide more jobs, that kind of thing (I don’t working in planning, but part of my job involves looking at planning applications and I’ve seen this happen a couple of times).

So while you think the mention of the covenant is irrelevant, because it’s personal use only, they’re more cautious.

You don't say which area you're in (and I appropriate that planning authorities vary) but wouldn't the best approach be for the architect to discuss directly with the case officer before deciding to respond? We always handle planning applications ourselves without using an agent because we've found it valuable to build that relationship directly early on.

@EllieQ quite possibly, it’s hard to explain fully without being totally outing but essentially there are several covenants at play that would prevent it ever becoming a business, combined with existing planning that outrightly states certain facilities are for non-commercial use indefinitely and as such it’d be impossible to insure for anything but personal use, and that’s before you get to the point that there would be no way of making the site commercially viable even if we wanted to, which we absolutely don’t so not sure if even mentioning that would just muddy the waters further?

Parish councils are notorious for objecting to planning applications, it's kind of a standing item on their agendas. As PP have said though, their objections are usually toothless and not material ones that would carry much weight. My brother bought a derelict pub and the parish council objected to his change of use application to make it a private home, on the basis that "it's nice to have a pub in the area", despite the fact that this one had been derelict for five years and multiple breweries had failed to make it profitable in the decade before that!

Only material planning considerations hold any weight in the planning process. I'm on our Town Council (same level of influence as a parish) planning committee.

We can object to an application based upon material considerations, see below, but we can also comment, based upon local knowledge which the district planners , may or may not take into consideration.

An example from our last meeting, we had no objection to the application, but noted that drainage had not been dealt with adequately, something that we are sure that the district would pick up on, but we wanted to highlight.

We also had a proposed workshop in quite a rural area, which was most definitely the first step in placing a house on the grounds, the workshop was 600m2, had a bathroom and a kitchen made from brick, and very much looking like a bungalow with 3 rooms. So stealth planning. As a committee we couldn't object as there were no material grounds, but the district may take a different view and place restrictions.

Material considerations can include (but are not limited to):
• Overlooking/loss of privacy
• Loss of light or overshadowing
• Parking
• Highway safety
• Traffic
• Noise
• Effect on listed building and conservation area
• Layout and density of building
• Design, appearance and materials
• Government policy
• Disabled persons' access
• Proposals in the Development Plan
• Previous planning decisions (including appeal decisions)
• Nature conservation

We are currently waiting for planning permission on a house we are buying and we found out a couple of weeks ago that there is a covenant. This stipulates that we must seek covenant permission to make any changes ie/we have zero permitted building rights. This covenant dates back to 1982 and was created when the council sold the house for the first time to a buyer (ie/ex council house that has changed hands multiple times since).

No one seemed to know who had to provide covenant approval so I rang the planning dept who are currently dealing with our planning application. They said they will automatically check covenants and I don’t need to get permission elsewhere. If planning permission is received, this also covers the issue of covenant permission.

@SpidersAreShitheads this is very unusual, and I assume it is because the Council are involved in both parts.
The existence of covenants is nothing to do with the planning process. Planners will not check for covenants. The existence of a covenant will not prevent PP being granted. The granting of PP does not override the restrictions of any covenants.

@Seeline Yes, I totally agree. My previous message was a bit rushed as I had to stop to sort DC but that's where I was going with it. I just read back my comment and didn't mean to imply that everyone who needs covenant permission would be covered by planning permission. What I MEANT to say was in our LA and with this specific type of covenant, planning permission ticks both boxes.

I've never had to deal with a covenant before. There was loads of stuff online about even if the LA provide planning permission, that doesn't mean that they have also granted covenant permission so I thought it was separate, and it might be in some LA areas even with ex-council properties.

I spent absolutely ages ringing around and trying to find out who had responsibility for covenant permission in our area. In desperation I rang the planning department as I thought they'd be able to point me in the right direction and I was delighted when they said they automatically check for covenants and no further permission elsewhere is required. Our architect (who is very familiar with planning and this LA) confirmed the same.

I was worried as I expect PP to be granted but I had no idea whether covenant permission would be given as it was a new concept for me. I cannot tell you the relief when the planning dept said they automatically check for these covenants and take them into account when reaching a decision. I'm assuming though that they are only able to check for covenants originally issued by the council and wouldn't do the same for covenants issued by other parties (ie/if the property was a newer build).

Sorry for any confusion!

In case anyone is interested I just wanted to pop back to say we found out this week our full planning has been approved. We didn’t even need to comment on the PC comments. Thanks for all the reassurance and general thoughts on this, it really helped at the time.