How would you politely oppose neighbour’s planning application

[gobbledoops]

Hi all,
Looking for some advice on how not to completely f*ck up the relationship with my next door neighbour in a semi. It's likely that both of us would be staying in our respective houses for the next 10+ years.

We have just received a letter from the council notifying us of our neighbour’s planning application. We are 90% okay with it other than them raising the height of the roof and building a massive ugly dormer loft conversion. I am a big fan of live and let live but this will be an eyesore to look at from our garden/will reduce our privacy and ultimately reduce the value of my home.

We plan to provide comments on the application but what’s the right way to go about it to reduce the damage to the relationship? They didn't tell us about their plans but should we tell them that we plan to object in advance of commenting? What's the etiquette?

Thanks in advance!

What you say is that if the planning application goes ahead in the way they intend you will suffer "loss of amenity" in that you will not be able to enjoy your garden as it will become overlooked. If they are able to look into your house the application is even more likely to be rejected. There is a 45 degree angle rule about light loss too and there can be a request made that any windows looking into your house have to have obscured glass so they cannot see in. If the new design is out of keeping with the local area, that can also be a reason for objection. Your local council's planning team should be able to give you a list of valid grounds to object.

I’m a parish councillor and there is no ‘right to light’. Ime successful objections are:
not in keeping with other houses in the area due to size or choice of building materials,
impact on a listed building,
destruction of natural habitats.
If you look on the council’s planning application page you will see who has been consulted re the application eg a conservation officer, parish council etc and look at their comments.

Formal Right to Light is covered under other legislation.

Planning certainly looks at a loss of light/daylight - new development should not be visually dominant over over powering. It should not result in unacceptable levels of enclosure.

https://www.planningportal.co.uk/services/help/faq/planning/about-the-planning-system/what-are-material-considerations

Have a look here

I would object but make sure it’s in line with permitted reasons, note though that really really doesn’t mean their plan will be objected. It’s very common for neighbours to object for the reasons permitted and the council to disagree or feel the issue isn’t sufficient and permit.

There certainly is a ‘loss of light or overshadowing’ criterion.

There is but there is also conversely no right to light as the poster says . Hence why a loss of light objection could very well be rejected and often is.

I would definitely object, but with some caution. Keep it extremely factual and take your feelings and gut reaction out of it.
I work in planning, I see neighbour comments every day. Many are absolute twaddle. Remember that the planning officer uses the submitted plans along with planning guidance and regulations to make their decision. Your comment will always be recorded and taken into account, but it will be most worthwhile if it suggests something that may not be obvious to them. For example, they will see that it is a semi-detached house, so a rear dormer would overlook their neighbour's garden. The officer will absolutely be looking at this, and will either deem this to be acceptable or not. I'm not suggesting that commenting is pointless, it is a record of your objection, so if you want to object, this is your space to do so. Just that unless it reveals something of interest to the officer, it will be unlikely to change the outcome.
As far as neighbour relations go, remember that your neighbours will be expecting objections. It's part of the planning process. They may not ever even read them unless they are interested in checking their application documents. I will say that when we did an extension of our own, our neighbours objected, as is their right of course, but we never looked at them in the same way again. It's just impossible not to take it a bit personally.

Thanks everyone, a lot to think about. I am also concerned that if we object they will make minor changes but the result would still be a monstrosity.

This.

Anything else is irrelevant and want being considered by the planners anyway.

However you approach it you are trying to stop them doing something they want to do with their own property. Not only that you are likely to cause them costs if you partially succeed as they will have to modify their plans.

Not surprisingly either of those things is highly likely to be negatively received by any neighbor no matter how "politely" you go about doing it, even though you have a perfect right to object - otherwise the process would not exist !

Other people have made suggestions on how best to respond.

If it is very important to you to either stop or modify the plans you may want to consider employing an expert to work on the objection on your behalf.

Exactly which is why ime it’s never successful.

If an objector confuses a planning criterion with something that isn’t, then they’re weakening their own case, so hardly likely it gets rejected. But making a careful, objective case for ‘loss of light and /overshadowing’ is a legitimate ground for objection.

I was one of the main objectors to a housing development being built in a field next door about eight years ago. The odds for the development actually being knocked on the head were always slim as our local authority could not demonstrate the appropriate five-year supply of housing, and government policy was strongly in favour of approving new schemes. However, over three rounds of planning application and objections, we succeeded in having the total number of houses reduced from 148 to 78, and, more relevantly to this point, all the houses along the boundary with existing houses being changed to bungalows which didn’t overlook the existing houses.

The planning committee (which sent representatives to walk the area and actually came inside my house to look at sight lines etc) and accepted that the original plans would have caused unacceptable loss of light and privacy.

They were not polite enough to speak to you first, so I think any cooling in relations is down to them.

Just object calmly and factually.

Try to keep it in perspective. It will not be 'like living in the shadow of a high rise'.

It also is unlikely to reduce the value of your house, and this is not a relevant concern anyway.

Given the information it seems likely that it would principally be granted they seek.

I came onto this because my very close (London terrace) neighbour who has whole house is proposing a 3 room loft extension (permitted development) and I am in ground floor garden flat. It will make some difference to sun coming into my side return and kitchen bay window. Do I have any grounds to object?

@mustgetoffmn if it's permitted development, you have no opportunity to object.
To be honest I doubt that a loft conversion (presumably a dormer window?) will have any impact on the light levels in your flat.

It’s a whole floor on top of the existing level at the back. Upstairs did a modest one about 3 years ago. And it cut out some of the early morning sun. This one will take out more sky and sunlight.

As I said, if it is permitted development, there is nothing you can do about it - the planning system does not give any chance to object in pd cases such as these.

I can’t really see what objections will be valid with the exception of the size of the dormer windows possibly. But planning will have their own views on this and permitted sizes.

Look at the actual plans. It is entirely usual for a dormer on one side and usually to the rear of a property to allow head height and floor space.

Maybe take advice as to whether your objection would succeed (the planning department will talk to you) before rocking the boat with your neighbours unnecessarily.

I suspect it will be approved as they can already see your garden from their upstairs windows anyway (unless you are a bungalow).

"this will be an eyesore to look at from our garden/will reduce our privacy and ultimately reduce the value of my home."
Just explain

This has absolutely no bearing on planning whatsoever.

Yes I understand this. My question is what significance is there in being given an agreement to sign when my property is not physically involved? Should I sign it? Or will it give the neighbours a get out if anything affects me? I don’t want to sign an agreement to something I dont agree with but will it give me protection?