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New Planning Policies Announced
Can't find what your looking for? Our 'Ask the Expert' Q&A archive has hundreds of questions, all answered by our in-house experts, so click here to see if your question has already been answered.
The new Government are introducing a variety of changes to the planning system that will have an impact on the process for those hoping to build an individual home. Have your say on what you think about the new policies introduced...
I am very concerned about this Third Party Right of Appeal business. We have submitted our plans for planning for a traditional new build in a village. Whilst it will be in keeping with the style of it's surroundings - we have faced opposition from future neighbors already - Hopefully we have got in there just in time but with this new change to the planning law - what chance do other self-builders like us have when we are up against people without any vision!
i hope you get it through
i have had my house development refused point blank rejected and no excuse.only that all planning has been severed due to new government laws were gardens are concerned.i am....really...off...to say the least and i dont think i can even get my money back.
i wouldnt mind but the build wouldnt have been squashed it it would have been a nice development
good luck let me know how you get on
I totaly agree with Mr. Brown. I struggled to get PP for 6 yrs despite glowing report from the planning officers just because of the local politics, councillors and some busybodies. Appeal inspector upholding the appeal commented that the planning committe acted in unreasonable manner and awarded the cost. If I was to apply now, I don't think I would have had a chance in hell.
I wonder what will happen to those 'straight' people who refuse to apporach the politicians and hope to get PP on it's merit- forget it. Self indulgent Local politicians, big fish in small pond will always try to use their 'power'.
Does anyone know when the proposed new rules for designation of garden land start? I have a current planning application already 3 weeks over the 8 week target and still waiting for a decision.
I applaude the new legislation as far as many villages are concerned.
Villages were never meant to have houses 'cheek by jowl'- this type of development leads to once lovely villages now looking like housing estates.
My village has no mains sewerage. Each house has its own sewage treatment plant or septic tank and because we have no surface water drains either - the sewage effluent is drained away by large soakaway drainfields (about 120M2 each house) in the houses' gardens. Often, the new houses are built before the percolation tests are done and the poor self-builder finds that he hasn't got enough land left to put one in, as they cannot go under drives or paths and have to be at least 15 metres from a building. He is then left with no option but to install a sealed cesspool which he then can't afford to empty every 40 days or so - and there is NO CHANCE of ever selling a house with a cesspool as they cost about £7000 in emptying charges for a family of 4 per year.
A developer who was building houses in our village (clay soil) has simply abandoned them half built. We have 5 houses built to eaves height and 3 with roofs on. They have been like this for 6 years now as he didn't do the percolation tests before he started the developments.
Another builder bought a very small 'garden plot' which has also been abandoned without even starting, after he saw what happened with the other developer and did the tests. The land is a mess of weeds and nettles, wheras before it was a lovely garden with apple trees.
Our village is ruined because of the lax laws on 'garden' plots. Planning was granted with 'Foul water disposal details' as a reserved matter, but no-one thinks to sort this out before building starts. The locals here knew the problems and objected as we knew that building on such small plots was not feasible in our village, but because of the Brownfield Site status, nothing we said mattered and the builders - as usual with any opposition - thought that we were simply being 'bloody minded' NIMBY's.
Don't get me wrong, I am not against new development in the countryside. The village pub needs it (though none of the newcomers ever go in), the shop needs it and the local school, but I would rather that our village was extended beyond its boundaries with traditional mixed development than with 'shoe-box' infill plots.
I think that where mains sewerage is available and the development does not crowd the existing houses, then it is fine, but please let it be a mix of small, med. and large houses; as villages were meant to be. The problem with most 'garden plot' developments is that they only build large houses with tiny gardens. Large houses in villages always had large gardens - tiny gardens look so wrong - and the lack of diversity ruins the essential mix of housing that makes a village a 'village'.
hi Tommy i work for a drainage company and the charge for emptying a cesspool is 120 per 2000 gallons. 7k is a rip off.
Thank you Tommy. What a lot of wisdom in your comments.
Well, this New Localism sounds like a nimbys' charter. The supposed rationale for this change is that "too many" small units were being crammed onto garden plots, when the Government wants to encourage the building of 3/4 bedroom properties if that is the style local to the site. However the proposals are so loosely worded, it seems to me local councils will use this as an excuse to block all garden development: just one objection - and there is always one, no matter how brilliant and unobtrusive the design - and the council will stop the development.
This, frankly, seems like a disaster for the self-build movement. If you block all backfill development, not "garden grabbing" but more efficient use of existing space and infrastructure, then where are the houses meant to go? The large developers must be rubbing their hands in delight, because the only other option is large new estates on greenfield sites, as is happening in my council (Wokingham), where the planners are handing 11,500 of all permitted houses over the next 15 year to four large sites, leaving just 1000 to be built by self-builders, small developers, housing associations and Local Housing Trusts, if these ever get off the ground. That's just 80 a year across an entire borough. The Nimbys and the green zealots will say that the housing should go on brownfield sites, but they never say where these are in the areas of high demand, and the cost of renovating the sites plus paying S106 plus "affordable homes" plus any other infrastructure the council wishes to lay on developers means these sites are frequently nonviable from an economic point of view.
The big builders are being hit. They cannot get the crazily dense green field, standard design though that they use to.
Well, this New Localism sounds like a ‘Nimbys' charter.... Like Andrew Brown I am too very concerned about this Third Party Right of Appeal business. Ordinary ‘Joe’ the self builder will suffer.
I fear for honest down to earth with no clout self builders.
I suffered from 2004 to Dec 2009 until the appeal inspectorate ruled that the Council acted in unreasonable manner and awarded me £4080.00 appeal cost which went from our pockets, you me and all tax payers. My architect and I with worked hard with the Planning Officer and Urban Development Architect to get the design right to rebuild on neglected building site. Every body praised the design, planning officer wrote glowing report but some busybody and the Councillors, one in particular put boot in to PP. There was not garden grabbing just derelict building, blot on the landscape needing real uplift to the area but BUSYBODIES had to meddle in.
I count my blessing as although it needed 6 years to get required PP; at least I was not 6 months too late to fall in for these new laws.
I have an existing planning application passed by appeal to demolish my house and build 2 houses side by side. Each plot will be 11 meters wide by 60 meters long. However, we wanted to change some of the details and the council planners said we had to submit another application. If the latest application is refused due to the new laws I assume we can continue with our existing approved application that will expire in Feb 2011. Can anyone confirm this?
If we do begin to build using our approved application and we build one house. Is the build deemed to have started so the build of the second house could be carried out later?
On that note, what is considered as the start of a build? I hear different stories, some saying all you have to do is dig out footings??
We have planning approved for the same. We are currently reapplying as wish to keep the existing bungalow and move it over by demolishing a large section and rebuilding it on the other side which will free up the plot to build on.
I contacted the planning department as if the new application is refused we will build the old planning permission. We were advised that if the new application is aproved both would be valid.
To secure the existing planning should the new applaication be refused we only need to get out of the ground with one of the houses.
It would be worth calling your local planning dept to clarify as this may vary from one council to another.
These new policies are proving to be the final nail in the coffin for our business (architectural design). We have hung on through the credit crunch and recession which saw all of our clients put a freeze on their projects and some unfortunately go bust. We are owed a lot of money with little chance of recovering it. We saw light at the end of the tunnel at the start of the year, with our clients picking up the pieces and looking to build again.......but then along came David Camera-man and his ill-thought and naive policies which were introduced overnight without any consultation or trial period. Our clients knew what to do during the recession, act quick, downsize, sit and wait......but this new saga is a head scratcher. I hear clients that have been building luxury homes for more than 30 years saying that they are finished. Therefore, by default, we are finished too. Our home goes on the market next week. I think I might just become a benefit scrounger like the rest of the country as working your ass off doesnt seem to get you anywhere!!
My wife and I have been looking into building a house on our large garden, [completely in keeping with the other homes in the village] with a view to creating a home for our son, [who will otherwise be unable to get on the housing ladder]in the village he grew up in and wishes to live in; basically a rural farming community.
This legislation may or may not prevent this, but how can the government justify this when they have also recently announced that farmers are to be allowed to build another home, on their farmland, to help keep their family in the locality?
There is a huge anomaly here, which needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency !
The following legislation may be of interest:
"The rules surrounding building in the countryside are set out in Planning Policy Statement 7 (PPS7), which requires ‘special justification’ for isolated new rural homes. Agricultural Occupancy – which allows one-off homes for agricultural and forestry workers – is the main grounds for this. However, both the need for and size of a new home, as well as the existing business, will be closely assessed – under functional and financial tests – before permission is granted. Once granted, an Agricultural Restriction (or Tie) will be applied, meaning that the new home can only be occupied by workers — unless the Restriction is removed. If the property is sold, then this Tie still applies."
Planning forget it the only planning we want now is holiday planning.After trying to overcome every new obstacle the LPA threw at us, being on a hill this didn't include the new flood plain policy! We have had enough and purchased a modest terraced house in the locality. Our dreams of downsizing into the disused workshop at the bottom of our old garden have been put to bed by the latest planning appeal. Neighbours all on our side so no nimbys. Not enough sun on our patio courtyard gardens. How often does the sun shine in this country to start with! We had a sound report carried out and the LPA just ignored it and the inspector said our appeal didnt turn on that alone.When I look around our borough I see so many brownfield site refusals that could have been lovely homes I want to cry. We have buildings falling into disrepair and that seems to be just the way the LPA like it. Are these people just preserving their jobs I wonder? Things can only get worse. I am a great believer in never say never so when our old case officer sent a message to the LPA front desk guy telling me we would never never get housing I smiled. Never say never!!
Hi my husband and I live on farm in Essex, we are currently living on a Barge along the river, which is next to the farm, we have to do this because the local council have stated that it is unlikely we will be granted permission to build a house on our land, which is in greenbelt, living on a barge is not ideal and we really need to have a house on the land for us and our family, we need to be on site, for tending the livestock and very necessary security,there have been houses on the land in the past but these unfortunately got destroyed a while ago, however, there are records and maps showing that there had been houses there, even some old footings for one of them, we welcome the news of this new policy that may allow farmers to build a house on there land even withing the greenbelt. Please could you tell us more about this new planning policy, when is it coming in, what will be the criteria, who do you contact for all the information, who can keep us updated many thanks
I think the government are right to stop this garden grabbing policy. Houses with nice gardens are being trashed to build multiple buildings on one site destroying the garden altogether. New housing is already to densely built this is just making it worse. I used to live in a lovely 4 bedroom house with beautiful garden. I recently visted the area in Watford only to find this perfectly good house had been flattened to build THREE terraced houses with virtually no garden or parking spaces.
I pleased that there will be more control over "garden/backland developments. Since moving to this area of Beckenham, in Kent, 10 years ago it seems everytime a large house is sold it is knocked down and replaced by multiple 1/2 bedroom flats. This has changed the dynamics of the area, not to mention the increase in demand for street parking and other services. I am not against innovative and creative new builds, just the denisty - a single dwelling being replaced by 20 flats!
I am also pleased with the more considered and serious approach to using garden land for building new properties. For years i have watched local estates and villages become more cluttered and more built up, while derelict land on the outskirts of both are left empty. I know that there are arguments for not building on greenbelt land and i'm not disagreeing with these entirely, but there are too many people and not enough properties in this country, so surely it is a better option to allow sensitive, individual properties to be built on the edges of fields. To force us to build up areas even more is surely wrong. People that live in built up areas deserve to retain their views too, whether it is the beauty of a neighbour's garden or some patches of grassland between houses. We are lucky to overlook a beautiful copse which is protected, yet we would be happy to free up our house and put the work in to build our dream property, if we could only find some land. I just hope that the decline in building in gardens opens other options to private individuals to build elsewhere.
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