Neighbour wants to build 10 houses next to us

[buckwheat]

Our neighbour submitted planning application for a 10 houses to be built in his garden. He is on the hill higher and further back than us, those houses would be all sitting above us looking in our back garden. I thought something like that could happen as his garden is huge but I thought maybe 2-3 houses that would be tucked away. Currently it’s only his house and it is far away from us hidden by the trees.
I can’t see an actual application on the portal yet.
his driveway goes along our house too, so it will be busy road with all those households. What can we do? We are devastated :(

This won't be a common response I suspect, but unless you have valid reasons as opposed to just not liking the idea, just let it be. You bought a house next to this land knowing it was a possibility - just because you didn't see the potential scope for the size of development doesn't change things. My husband and I built our home last year but our build was delayed by years due to neighbours 'playing the game' and making up all sorts of things about dangerous junctions, bats, badgers etc. They later admitted, after we were granted planning, that they just didn't want the house there and had to try. The landowner has every right to gain this permission (provided there's no legitimate reasons to refuse) and neighbours wading in with fictitious objections can end up costing the applicant thousands. Please only raise an objection if you have actual concerns about road safety etc and not just because you don't want the houses there. If everyone thought like that how would any houses ever get built.

Thanks for all responses, some good points to take away
It’s expensive road, all gardens are big. So I would have thought they would fit 2-3 houses.
we already have big trees and the stream along the border. I hope they won’t cut any trees but based on what we seen on another building site on another side of the hill nobody cares about nature anymore.

anybody knows how is that possible that application is in but we can’t find it online yet?

I would strongly suggest going through all the local objections linked to applications that were refused in your local area. You can then see how to word your objection and what is holding water. I did this and have successfully quashed several applications from my neighbours. It was stressful and exhausting but worth doing. Don't lose time on this though - the parish council can be slow and you need to get the person there who is looking at your case in your side. Ask them to come round to look at the view and your garden.

I second contacting your local parish council. They may have an adopted neighbourhood plan. They will certainly know the local situation in relation to 5 year housing supply, and the various local restrictions - SSSI, AONB, village boundaries etc.

They will be aware whether the sewers can support another 10 houses, whether there has been a recent traffic survey, and various other elements. They may also have a planning consultant, and should be experienced in dealing with opportunistic applications

Agree with the suggestion to appoint a planning consultant.

The bribery happens at a national level,.with huge housing developers paying vast donations to the Tory party. The result, and incredibly pro-developer national planning policy framework which means officers and councillors struggle to refuse even fairly disastrous development because they have to follow the framework when determining their decision

Agree also about asking solicitor to check the title to your house in case there are any restrictive covenants that might help you (they might not be immediately obvious which is why it is worth asking a solicitor to take a look)

They don’t need to be on mains sewer. Plenty of houses aren’t, and have septic/water treatment plants. Mains sewage really only comes in for a major development like an estate. If the homes can’t connect to mains sewage they will just put gheir own in, no biggie.

and I also chuckled at the person saying uou can bribe the planning officer, even a delegated decision isn’t made by that officer, they make a recommendation and then it goes up the line for multi party review. I for one have had an officer make a recommendation and for to be them told I needed to submit additional plans,causing a huge delay,past the decision time.

Brace yourself. The fact that houses will overlook your garden, there will be noise and light pollution (and that's after the building work) and that the building phase will not be nice to live with will count for diddly squat. As will the substantial negative effect on the value of your house. As pp have said, you can object, and in my experience your objections will be taken into account. But even if the local planning authority refuse permission, that decision can be overturned at appeal. Which is what happened to us.

anybody knows how is that possible that application is in but we can’t find it online yet?

@buckwheat How are you searching?

The systems can be a bit hit and miss using address searches. Have you got the application number - that should bring it up.

Sometimes you can search using a map, but not all Councils have that feature.

It might sound silly but are you looking at the correct Council - there isn't a change between where you live and your neighbour? If you are in a National Park, the application will be with the NP authority, not your Council etc.

If you want to PM me the details, I'd be happy to check for you.

It should be on line, if it’s been validated and letters out, have you put the right post code in the planning portal ?