Front dormer permitted development??

Morning guys.

I spent a lot of last year fighting with the planning officer regarding our loft conversation application.

Basically, despite me asking the guy who drew it to leave the gable end and rear dormer off as it would be PD, he said might as well put it on as we’re putting in an application anyway.
Fine, I thought, as he knows what he’s doing/talking about.

The planning officer came to me and said they would like the rear dormer to be moved in 500mm from the gable end (it was drawn to be about a tiled worth in, so the gable wall and dormer cheek ends up flush with me step in.

I replied back asking for reasons and stated that if it wasn’t on the application then we could do it this way anyway.
She came back without any reasoning and said actually while we’re at it, the party wall side of the dormer needs to come in 500mm also!!

I never actually got any reasons behind their request and we just kept going round in circles! She said the front dormer wasn’t a problem it’s just the rear one they wanted changing.

So we decided to take a step back (or sideways) for a while and just forget it, as we were now expecting a baby, we decided to put a rear extension on instead and deal with the loft at a later date. This has now been done.


So in the past couple of weeks a bungalow a few doors down has had a gable end and rear dormer (full width)
Then, this week, a front dormer popped out of it.
I went online, and can’t find an application for any of it.

I phoned the council and asked if a front dormer comes under PD and she said yes. Although she didn’t sound very convincing!


So could I just bin off my application and build the whole lot under PD??

Thanks!

Front dormer wouldn't be pd as you can't change the plane of the roof at the front. You can get some complicated Velux Windows which create a pop up balcony thing, but that's about as far as it goes.

As John D, front dormers are definitely not permitted development if they face a highway.
It beggars belief that council workers are being paid to make such basic mistakes as that.

Would it be a problem to set the dormers in 500mm ? Planners will have requested this because the appearance is better than being built up close to the edge of the roof.

Thank for the responses guys. Completely forgot about this post until the planning officer emailed me today!!

So applying for the front dormer isn’t going to be a problem. It’s just the rear one.
I’m reponse to above question, we don’t want to be reducing its size just because the council want us to, it will completely mess with our internal plans.

So I have had an email from the planning officer today basically telling me to withdraw the application if I’m not willing to reduce the rear dormer size.
To this day I have had no answers as to why they want me to change it.

Question:
I feel I have 2 option...

1. Tell her I’m not withdrawing the application and want her to ‘determin’ it. Will this then give me reasons if they deny it?
Could I then appeal it based on the size of rear dormers that have recently gone up under PD?

Or:

2. Agree to withdraw my application, build a gable end, apply for planning permission for a front dormer, then build front and rear dormers....



Thanks!

Screech20 said:

I’m reponse to above question, we don’t want to be reducing its size just because the council want us to, it will completely mess with our internal plans.

Click to expand...

Sometimes you have to compromise in order to obtain planning permission

Screech20 said:

So I have had an email from the planning officer today basically telling me to withdraw the application if I’m not willing to reduce the rear dormer size.
To this day I have had no answers as to why they want me to change it.

Click to expand...

Isn't it because they requested :-

Screech20 said:

they would like the rear dormer to be moved in 500mm from the gable end

Click to expand...

and

Screech20 said:

the party wall side of the dormer needs to come in 500mm also

Click to expand...

Screech20 said:

Will this then give me reasons if they deny it?

Click to expand...

whatever reasons they give do you really want to have it refused

Screech20 said:

Could I then appeal it based on the size of rear dormers that have recently gone up under PD?

Click to expand...

Don't think so , I might be complicating things here but minor material amendments don't set a precedent , what is acceptable in one situation might not be accepted on another site.

Screech20 said:

Agree to withdraw my application, build a gable end, apply for planning permission for a front dormer, then build front and rear dormers

Click to expand...

is the existing roof a hipped end

You can't rely on what a planner (or the cleaner) says over the phone, but if you do, respect.

Screech20 said:

So in the past couple of weeks a bungalow a few doors down has had a gable end and rear dormer (full width)
Then, this week, a front dormer popped out of it.
I went online, and can’t find an application for any of it.

Click to expand...

Maybe they built it without planning permission

You’re right, I must be over complicating things.
I’ll withdraw the application, build what I can under PD and apply for the front dormer.

^woody^ said:

You can't rely on what a planner (or the cleaner) says over the phone, but if you do, respect.

Click to expand...

No, that’s why I felt I needed to question it.