Developer wants to survey my property

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A developer bought a plot behind my house and applied to build 3 houses.
The case officer approved it so I went to the planning committee meeting and after my 3 minutes they decided to refuse application because it was overbearing. My main point was that the developer had not accurately shown my property on the Block and location plan as they used an old OS map ( I had raised this objection twice on the online planning portal ).
Now the developer has written to me (note this is the very first time they have contacted me throughout the entire process) asking for permission to survey my property (the planning committee in their report said he would need to show my property correctly if reapplying )
Question is do I agree to survey or not bearing in mind I don't want anything built behind my house.
 
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Was the overbearing determination arrived at (by committee) from the developers original (inaccurate) plans or did it only become an issue when you highlighted the true position/size of your property?

It is very tempting to tell the developer to drop dead. Developer will then do what he should have done in the first place & gone to one of the approved plan suppliers listed on the planning portal (I don't know why he hasn't already done this). If all their data is wrong then he can commission a drone survey (which will give him plus or minus 300mm drawings which would probably be good enough for the job.)

So you might want to try and extract a facility fee for permitting the survey given that you do not have exclusive control of the missing data.

The only way you can definitely prevent something being built behind your house is by owning the land behind your house. If the owner wants to construct something that complies with planning law, zoning, local plans etc. then you'll have to live with it.

Hopefully others with different experiences will comment but that's my view on it.
 
A couple of the committee members didn't care and wanted it passed. A couple of our local councillors had been lobbied and were against and the others which were undecided even looked it up on Google earth and concluded overbearing especially as it's on my south elevation with a flank wall 4.5m from the boundary line.
Case officer was a joke.
 
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Cool. Sounds as if an accurate survey won't make any difference to the outcome of another application so I'd be looking for a facility fee (try for 1% of the value of the proposed development) for a survey that is not going to improve developers' chances of approval one little bit. Presumably you already have windows to habitable rooms in your south elevation? (Oh yes mr committeeman, they've been there forever he says standing in front of the 2015 timestamp on the pvc extrusions :) )

Next time the application goes in, you'll need to focus on valid grounds for refusal rather than technical errors in the application (planning committees aren't like criminal courts, if the only issue with the first application had been the inaccurate location plan then it would have passed). You need to have a read of your councils' local plan and their guidelines for development. Easy targets are whether the road system is adequate for the additional traffic, whether the development comes with sufficient parking provision, whether the development is suitable for the location (sounds as if it is- residential in a residential area)- all fairly solid and turgid reading and stuff that the planning officers should do but (by the sounds of it) yours can't be bothered.

Don't think there's much else you can do apart from drum up support from your neighbours. Also have a little think about what level of development behind your house would not cause your blood to boil- always useful to have a realistic-sounding alternative rather than a flat NO. Not your problem if it isn't commercially viable.
 
Sadly been down the legitimate objection route with the neighbours and the case officer basically took little notice. They accepted there was 2 parking spaces shy of local minimum but as there is local parking they can bend this rule. Seems a bit corrupt as the developer had paid for pre-planning meetings with the case officer anyway.
I am looking at the right to light as once they drew accurate plans it would clearly show my lounge window would be in shadow 45 degree angle from the midpoint etc.
 
You are under no obligation to let the developer on to your land to survey it.

They may well be able to see what they need to see without entering your land though.

But if you don't cooperate, then it may be that they submit another inaccurate plan to get subsequently rejected.
 
The 45 degree rule is a good solid objective criterion- it can be easily measured and is not open to interpretation. Right to light is a bit nebulous and the qualification period is 20 years (IIRC)- how long has your house been up? I'm sure you already know there is no right to a view :)

Don't get involved in 'pre planning meetings are corruption'- anyone can pay the fee and have a chat and see which way the wind is blowing.

Get very noisy about the underprovision of parking- that one can go straight to planning inspectorate- it is another objective (easily measured) criterion. If your council have written a plan then they have to work within it. If the app is approved then for fun, have a look at the streets which lead to the development (width, turning circles etc)- see how easy it would be to prevent access by large vehicles to the site if a car or 2 were strategically and legally parked at key locations. Then buy yourself a pair of pre 1960 sheds, insure them (£50), tax them (£0), no MOT required and park them at those key choke points. With dashcams to record any impacts or interference.
 
I do like the idea of a facility fee as I had not thought of that .
Don't be shy about asking for a realistic chunk of cash. 1% of the value of the scheme sounds very reasonable to me, if you want to sound even more reasonable then you can do something like cash up front before survey of 0.5% of scheme value, balance payable on exchange of contracts of each element of the development. Get a solicitor to draw up the contract to avoid issue with Phoenix companies and other little ruses.
 

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