Contradiction of pre-application advice

[hayleyandtom]

Hello,

Looking for someone's unbiased opinion on the following please. We submitted pre-planning advice on your plans from our local council and they came back saying the following......

The current scheme reflects the character of the main dwelling and appears subservient to it. Therefore the proposal may be considered acceptable when assessed against policies EN1 of the Sevenoaks District local Plan and EN1 of the Sevenoaks Allocations and Development Plan. As the proposal reflects the style of the main dwelling it is my view that the proposal would not result in unacceptable harm to the Conservation Area.

You have only included the front elevation of the proposal, however provided that the side and rear elevation are similar to the schemes that have already been submitted it is unlikely that there will be an unacceptable impact on the amenities of the neighbouring properties.

Any views or opinions expressed are given without prejudice to the consideration of any planning application, which will be subject to public consultation and statutory / non-statutory consultations, and the formal decision of the Council.

I would recommend that you research all relevant policies and guidance and consider how they apply to your proposal, before submitting any planning application.

You should therefore be aware that officers cannot give guarantees about the final formal decision that will be made on your planning or related applications. However, the pre-application advice will be taken into account in the determination of the future planning related applications, subject to the proviso that circumstances and information may change or come to light that could alter the position.

In addition, it should be noted that if the planning application is delayed for a significant period then any pre-application advice may be overtaken by changes in national, regional or local policy and guidance.

So we put in our plans and they refused them stating the below:
By virtue of its size, scale and prominence the proposal will not be subservient to
the main dwelling and will unbalance the pair of semi-detached properties of
which it forms a part. The proposal will fail to preserve the Conservation Area or
conserve the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Therefore the proposal will not
comply with policies EN1 and EN4 of the Allocation and Development
Management Plan and the National Planning policy Framework.

To me this seems a complete contradiction of the pre-application advice from the SAME officer who has refused the application?! To note this is a 1st floor extension to cover the existing ground floor (covering the garage and kitchen).

Thank so much in advance for your thoughts,


Hayley

 

[JohnD]

The planning committee (councillors) make the decision.

Sometimes they do not agree with the planning officer's advice, especially if one or more of them lives near you.

Observe the paragraph beginning "You should be aware..."

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

There’s this bit

Any views or opinions expressed are given without prejudice to the consideration of any planning application, which will be subject to public consultation and statutory / non-statutory consultations, and the formal decision of the Council.

And this bit

You should therefore be aware that officers cannot give guarantees about the final formal decision that will be made on your planning or related applications. However, the pre-application advice will be taken into account in the determination of the future planning related applications, subject to the proviso that circumstances and information may change or come to light that could alter the position.

Pre-App is generally a waste to time and money for a domestic extension unfortunately, some more proactive designers would not say to waste your time and money with it.

You are much better off just putting in a really good application and then negotiating with the planners along the way to see if a compromise can be made. If you employed someone to do your application did they contact the planners along the way to see how things were going? If not they should have done.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Further more:

Untitled

• freddiemercurystwin
• 20 Mar 2015
• 1

 

[Nakajo]

I cannot pretend to a lack of bias. That said...

The pre-app has its place, but generally, for projects for this size and scope, it's a complete waste of time. This kind of volte-face by Local Authorities - even by the same officers - is not uncommon. The primary purpose of the Pre-app seems to be to give local authorities more time to think about why they might like to refuse a scheme. For this reason, I usually advise my clients against this process.

However, don't take the refusal at face value. Even where it seems hopeless, often a calm and measured conversation with the officer can result in a path to an acceptable scheme emerging - sometimes with what seem to be very modest amendments to the original proposal.

If this is the case, then make the amendments and resubmit under the 'one-free'go' policy.