Neighbours planning restriction is on my land!

[WhyCantPeopleBeNice]

Hopefully you can all help, my neighbours have applied for planning permission for a menage, this will be VERY close to my property.
Despite objections our planning committee gave them permission. There was a planting scheme clause and they had to submit plans. Work has started so I checked the portal and hey presto plans were submitted (but not shared with neighbours)

Their planting scheme includes a hedge on my land and states it must not be cut below 2 metres.
I'm not being funny, but WTF?

This has apparently been approved as building works have started.

We objected because the original plan had a road less than 6 metres from our kitchen window for machinery and the menage will be 10 metres away. It was pushed back 1 metre so now only 11 metres away because they were made to put in a planting scheme but this planting scheme is my existing hedge, a 1.8 metre fence and then them planting some laurel (50cm high!)

Can the planning department really allow them to include my hedge in their planting scheme?
Can they place a restriction on it, without our knowledge?

According to their plans I am now responsible for a maintenance course as set out by them and approved of the council to reduce the impact they are causing me.

Please someone tell me if this is allowed? We had plans to remove part of our hedge to fit a summer house in and now it looks like we cant

And it was only a question. I complained and got a call at 4pm then had the answer the following morning.

Well I know that. We've one in the family. He's had a quiet word with planning on many an occasion tactfully pointing out their errors. To escalate it to a planning consultant at this stage is overkill. Unless the architect deems it advisable.

You catch more flies with vinegar than honey

Small update: called planning based on all the responses, in essence the person couldn't see my problem because I'd complained about the impact so why would I remove my hedge. I explained we already don't have a hedge at one part and intend to remove more to have a summer house on the boundary and this essentially stops that. Regardless if what she thinks, if they want to build, they need to manage the impact not through restricting me.

So....she then moved onto 'its not our fault, the owners told us it was their hedge' so I pointed her to my objections throughout the planning process, 2 of which covered the fact the hedge is ours. One even included photos of how thin the hedge was in winter, you can clearly see our chain link fence behind!!

At which point with more huffing she said she'd talk to enforcement about a new planting scheme.
I made a point of following up in writing and her reply was worded in such a way that makes me think the new plan will simply remove my hedge and not actually include anything additional... I'll let you judge if I'm reading too much into it:
"I have contacted the agent who submitted the Discharge of Condition application and have requested a revised Landscape plan be submitted which omits the reference to your hedgerow. Once this revised plan is submitted I will check to see that the subsequent level of landscaping is considered to satisfy visually screening the scheme and ensure that this is the landscape document that the applicant adheres to."

Haha they cocked up. Good for you

Hmm sounds like the revised landscape plan will be assessed on whether they need to do something more now they don't have your hedge.

Yep - I agree with Muggle .

As they've cocked up I think they will be paying extra attention to the details.

Phew!
I do hope you're both right, the worst part of a constant battle of incompetency is reading too much into things and second guessing yourself continually.

I am convinced this is a brown paper envelope job, EVERY ménage (including 2 in our village) have been accepted based on a suitable distance from residential properties...then there's this, 11 metres from my kitchen window!

Not to derail the thread - but the word is manège not ménage!!! The latter means something very different …

In that case, it's definitely a manege you're getting, not a ménage.

New plan is in and been approved - exactly the same minus restriction on my hedge
so, a fence of 1.8 metres and a 30cm high laurel hedge is all that separates us from this, usually i'm quite keen to maintain privacy on this site but bollocks to it, this is the view from my kitchen so you can see just how close the development is.
Camera not zoomed in any way, this is the kitchen window, stood near sink. (excuse the basil plant!) We're in a bungalow and 2 bedrooms also back onto this, so yep, nice clear view into bedrooms...

Are we talking horses ménage??

Are there restrictions on floodlights for night time use? Is it going to be used for group lessons? Is there going to be music played there for dressage? I've got a manège at my house for my horses, but it's only used about 3 times a week, for half an hour.

don't call it a menage @justasking111 i've been told a few times its a manage!! But yes, that's exactly whats going in, horses manage and dutch barn along with an access road.
space is tiny but its a 3.6 metre road, manage then barn - no gaps or space in between anything because the plot is so tiny. The so called 'heavy landscaping' is the mine and my neighbours gardens and additional landscaping is this 30cm high laurel and a total of 5 trees along the entire length which at point of planting will have a girth of 8-10cm, google suggests they will be 2.5 metres tall
It will take many many years for them to provide any sort of screening by which point I imagine will be heavily encroaching on my garden
So there's 3 homes on the left which this backs onto, dont let the position of those houses fool you, the distance of the 'planting' and access road is the same width as the back of my house and the hedge!!
Then the far side where you see the barn and trailer storage is another house - the trailer is where they will be keeping all the muck, so thats going to smell delightful for the person who lives next to that

An architect is unlikely to be able to help. A Planning Consultant would be the correct professional to advise,

Don't waste time or money on a Planning Consultant. Communicate directly with the Case Officer.

That seems like a fairly reasonable distance, it could be worse they could be building a house on it. You can replace your hedge with a summer house now the condition is removed.

The smell for you op!!
Grim.
Any point speaking to environmental health?

@PolarPolly27 case officer has said the case is closed - she thinks 30cm high laurel is sufficient, my only recourse now is another complaint, then going to the ombudsman if nothing changes.

@Grumpybutfunny genuinely surprised you think thats a suitable distance everyone/thing in the field is elevated and will have a clear view into our home and garden. Then of course you have the smells, the noise. This isnt some peaceful horses grazing behind a house type set up

@Creepymanonagoatfarm until it's in use, and there are smells, we can't complain to environmental, they were consulted in the planning stages and even approved the keeping of the horse much next to someone elses home!

@WhyCantPeopleBeNice Try the Chief Planning Officer.

Whilst upsetting for you, some people would prefer to back onto a horse training yard rather than industrial or residential.
I''m not sure of the orientation, but if north is up then a row of pleached trees would block a lot of the view and some noise and smell only impacting your morning sun.

With a small garden does a garden room make sense? As a bungalow extending into the loft seems a better idea.

Probably not helpful, but I have a laurel hedge and it grows like a weed. If it's the same variety as mine it will be 2m next year.

But I can understand your frustration. I wouldn't want that at the end of my garden either.

@WhyCantPeopleBeNice we live semi rurally and one day want a house with space for horses so it honestly wouldn't bother me. It sounds like you don't want the land to be used for horses is the issue rather than the fact they included your hedge in the planning which has now been resolved.

I imagine as this is now approved and it's agricultural smells, unless they start keeping larger amounts of muck and not disposing of it properly you are unlikely to be able to do anything as they have planning permission.

We have had similar complaints locally to us from a new build estate backing onto a rising school that they lost as it is a natural smell and well maintained. I would focus on getting to know the owners and talking to them about anything that is bothering you that they can easily resolve such as music late at night or the number of horses out at anyone time. Have a look at restrictions on nighttime lighting. If they are running it as a riding school they might even give you free lessons

Chief Planning Officer has been CC'd into emails - no response!
I have filed a formal complaint which they will now get, plus notified a local councillor who'd objected to the application originally. I think thats all I can do for now

@Rollercoaster1920 Summerhouse is going to be a sauna, going into the loft requires the roof being lifted, plus as its got 5 bedrooms we really dont need to go up
As for those people who wish to live behind a horse yard, awesome, they can buy this it'll more than likely be on the market soon as a result of 2 bedrooms losing all privacy.
The pleached trees however are a fabulous idea and something I will push for if they ask what I deem may help alleviate the loss of privacy

@Grumpybutfunny I will politely decline any form of horse lessons - the neighbour calls me a poison dwarf because I objected, in the 5 years they have been there we have a history of antisocial behaviour, their dog even has a dog order control after it escaped and attacked someone, these are not people to befriend but to avoid at all costs.
To be clear, no issue with horses grazing, no issues with the fields grown for hay as they were before or even the grazing of cows as it was before that.
The is purely based on the noise and loss of privacy that this brings

If you don't get anywhere with the case officer you can put a complaint in to the council about how the process has been handled, stating your experience from start to finish, and how curious the proximity of the manege to your property when it was an issue taken notice of for the two other applications. If that doesn't get results you could go to the ombudsman.

I don't have 100% faith in planning departments to get things right. For the omission of one word - 'not' - in my permission letter I didn't have to comply with the intended restrictions when I converted my garage.