Neighbours registering protest to our building plans

[WinkyWinkola]

despite the fact we can't even see their houses because of the trees between us and it's over 40m between us.

What happens now? Anyone know, please?

Does the council come over to our house to evaluate their concerns? And then the impact on our plans?

When you apply for planning permission the planning dept will take into account all objections and supporters comments, but for their objection to actually stop your building work it would have to be based on a valid planning point (eg blocking light). What is their objection exactly?

My neighbours objected to a nursing home being built a couple of streets away from us - some people just object to anything - I think the objection actually has to be valid for the council to take action. (Then nursing home is now built, it doesn't cause any problems for us, neighbours were just being miserable).

Impact on nearby residents will have to be taken into account by the council when they consider your application but they can only usually take into account whether the extension will result in significant loss of light/overshadowing, loss of privacy/overlooking and/or result in an oppressive/overbearing environment. Loss of views cannot normally be taken into account.

The sort of things that will be taken into account to assess whether there is an impact and whether it is significant is distance between your extension and the nearby houses, difference in land levels between your property and other nearby houses, whether trees/fence etc acts as a screen, the orientation of your property in relation to theirs, e.g. is you house to the north, south etc and what windows they have that face your property and what windows in your extension will face their property.

The Council will also consider the design of your extension and whether it is in keeping with the character of your existing house and the locality. They only usually take into account impact on neighbours and design when assessing extensions.

Normally the Council will do a site visit to your property and may also visit your neighbours as well, but they should visit your property regardless of whether or not they get any comments about your application. You could always ring the planning officer dealing with yr application (or get your agent/architect to ring if they submitted the application for you) to see what the planning officer thinks.

Hope this helps.

I had that problem too. Jealous sods eldery couple.

Because they objected the Planning Officer could not give permission without putting it in front of the Planning Committee - 3 month delay .

Top tip: Do what i did - find out the political composition of the councillors that sit on the planning committee and ring one of the councillors whose party is in the majority - in my case it was the Chairman himself. Explain the problem and get assurance that he will back your application. Sorted!

Best wishes

you should not have any problems in terms of overlooking. My council reqs a min 30m with opposing habitable( lounge bed etc) for 3 storey, 27m for 2. Check if you need planning, permitted development right changed last yr and let you do a lot more without planning

Their objection is loss of privacy.

I'm not sure how this can be when we can't even see their properties from ours - even from the attic where there is going to be a double dorma window - because of the trees.

Plus it's over 40 metres away.

If they have genuine concerns, I'd be keen to make amends so that they weren't put out but I really don't think they are.

Thank you very much for all your help on this. It's appreciated.