help regarding enforcement notice for raised decking

[gemste]

HI, HOPE SOMEONE CAN HELP AND GIVE US SOME ADVICE REGARDING RAISED DECKING WE HAVE JUST HAD DONE IN OUR GARDEN. WE WERE UNAWARE YOU NEEDED PLANNING PERMISSION AND OUR NEIGHBOUR HAS COMPLAINED TO COUNCIL SAYING IT OVERLOOKS HER GARDEN. OUR DECKING IS 1.4 METRES TALL,AND THIS IS LEVEL WITH OUR GROUND FLOOR AS THE HOUSE WAS BUILT RAISED FROM THE GROUND. HOWEVER WE HAVE BEEN SERVED AN ENFORCEMENT NOTICE AND REALLY DO NOT WANT TO REMOVE DECKING AS IT WAS EXPENSIVE AND VERY USEFUL TO US.
WE HAVE BEEN TO SEE THE NEIGHBOUR AND OFFERED TO PUT IN HIGHER FENCE, OR HEDGE OR TRELLIS, EVEN MOVE OUR DECKING FURTHER FROM ADJOINING FENCE BUT SHE IS NOT AGREEABLE TO ANYTHING. CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP.
MANY THANKS

 

[nickjb]

You'll need planning permission if the decking is 30cm above the ground:

http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/england/public/buildingwork/projects/workcommondecking

Looks like you might need to try a bit harder to sweet-talk your neighbour if you want to get retrospective planning permission.

ps: ALL CAPS is considered shouting on the internet

 

[Richard C]

Since 2008, raised decking requires Planning Permission unless it meets certain criteria;
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/england/public/buildingwork/projects/workcommondecking
& if it needs PP it may need also Building Regs approval; 1.4m high decking is very high.

If you have failed to gain the necessary approval & have been found out then you will have to apply for it retrospectively but if your neighbour is objecting, then you have little or no chance of getting it even if he does withdraw; you may get lucky if you can convince them to withdraw their objection but in all probability not.

If you employed a bona fide company to install the decking then you may have some redress as it’s within reason that they should know the Regs. but you may find them extremely uncooperative as the onus to comply with current regulations rests with the property owner. If you did a DIY job then you will almost certainly have to take the pain.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

WE HAVE JUST HAD DONE IN OUR GARDEN.

This implies that you had the decking installed by a contractor, legally it is the owner who is obliged to get permission not the contractor, this won't help you but you may wish to point out the error of his ways though, he really should have informed you that you needed permission.
All you can do is put in for planning permission and try and get it through.

 

[gemste]

Thanks for your replies.
We did have acompany do it for us, somay have to see where we stand with that.
Ideally want to see if we canput hedge inbetween boundary of decking and neighbours fence.
Any ideas?
Or can anyone recommend independant planning adviser we could contact?

 

[Richard C]

We did have acompany do it for us, somay have to see where we stand with that.
Ideally want to see if we canput hedge inbetween boundary of decking and neighbours fence.

From my personal but admittedly limited experience in this particular area, planning will not accept any sort of trees or hedging as a screen as far as overlooking from balconies, windows &, presumably, decking is concerned; the reason being that such a screen could be removed just as easily as it was planted.

Any ideas?

Your only avenue as far as I can see is to peruse a claim with the company who installed it & get the decking rebuilt so it complies with Planning regs. or submit a retrospective planning application which will probably be refused.

Or can anyone recommend independant planning adviser we could contact?

Consulting an independent “advisor/specialist” will only leave you with a hefty bill & **** off you local planning dept. They will only give you the same advice youve been given on here for free, rarely have any influence (not at this level anyway) & they don’t have a magic wand either. It’s an open & shut case; even though you were presumably oblivious to it, you’ve failed to follow simple planning procedure & your local planning office is the only authority able to give consent. You will either have to rebuild so it complies or go through the process of submitting a planning application which in all probability will be refused & then go to appeal which, again, you will probably loose as well.

Though it may be through no fault of your own, you got it wrong & my advice is to cut your potential losses & put it right, either via the company that installed it or at your own personal expense. Unfortunately, “caveat emptor” still rules.

 

[spongobongo]

Totally agree with Richard C. A 1.4m high deck is taking the mickey. You might get away with .4 or .5 on a steep slope but not 1.4m.

These sort of retrospective planning applications land on my desk with alarming regularity. And there's a very simple way of dealing with them: I ask myself what my reaction would be if I was the next door neighbour. If my gut feeling is that I'd feel overlooked and my privacy eroded, and that I would lodge an objection, it is plainly clear that the application ought to be refused.

The suggestion of putting up a higher fence is also unlikely to solve the problem, since the fence would need to be approximately 1.8m higher than the highest part of the decking to prevent overlooking. So that'd be a 3.2m high fence. It's not going to happen.

Hedges and shrubs (in most circumstances) are beyond planning control, as Richard C points out.

 

[ginley]

HI, HOPE SOMEONE CAN HELP AND GIVE US SOME ADVICE REGARDING RAISED DECKING WE HAVE JUST HAD DONE IN OUR GARDEN. WE WERE UNAWARE YOU NEEDED PLANNING PERMISSION AND OUR NEIGHBOUR HAS COMPLAINED TO COUNCIL SAYING IT OVERLOOKS HER GARDEN. OUR DECKING IS 1.4 METRES TALL,AND THIS IS LEVEL WITH OUR GROUND FLOOR AS THE HOUSE WAS BUILT RAISED FROM THE GROUND. HOWEVER WE HAVE BEEN SERVED AN ENFORCEMENT NOTICE AND REALLY DO NOT WANT TO REMOVE DECKING AS IT WAS EXPENSIVE AND VERY USEFUL TO US.
WE HAVE BEEN TO SEE THE NEIGHBOUR AND OFFERED TO PUT IN HIGHER FENCE, OR HEDGE OR TRELLIS, EVEN MOVE OUR DECKING FURTHER FROM ADJOINING FENCE BUT SHE IS NOT AGREEABLE TO ANYTHING. CAN ANYONE PLEASE HELP.
MANY THANKS

can you please let me know how long it took for you to apply for planning permission and how long it took the planning authorities to make a decision and what was the outcome

 

[drol]

Hi
Coming from a different angle - my neighbour decided to build a raised decking in his back garden - our back gardens slope from 8 ft from the back and at around 40 degrees. Without mentioning it to me - he's just gone ahead and built a decking around 16ft high and same again from the back of the houses! and up to my boundary he now has the perfect place to look directly into my house and patio!
Well when he started i tried to converse with him - but as he's ignorant as they come - all i got was 'its going to £15k to the value of his' LOL (whilst i'll lose value on mine?)
i said he needs to scale it down - 'i'll just carry on untill its finished' 'just put a fence up' all 22ft high! and i have now noticed he'd put a land drain emptying into MY garden oh and he nicked some bricks of mine to put into the postholes - i ignored that but that is now starting to fester

So the upshot of this little story - i've tried 3x to talk to the guy

So
1. now i'm going to talk to the council and seek advise -

If they don't tell him to take it down or tell him he's going to need *planning permission

Then
2. i'll speak to Building Control (as its a unsafe construction)
they will tell him to take it down

3. Following on from 1 inform the leaseholders that building work requiring planning has been done and he'll get a nasty bill from them

- i feel hacked off but not half as bad as my ignorant neighbour is going to be -

I feel my initiated 3 attempts to converse and his total ignorant attitude to a, tell me in the first place of his intentions to build, nicking my property and then discharging drainage onto my property - this guy shows total contempt and is about to learn a valuable lesson - SO to others - as someone said yaw yaw is better than war war ignorance and neighbours don't mix

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Err OK. Let us know how it pans out.

 

[ginley]

Hi
Coming from a different angle - my neighbour decided to build a raised decking in his back garden - our back gardens slope from 8 ft from the back and at around 40 degrees. Without mentioning it to me - he's just gone ahead and built a decking around 16ft high and same again from the back of the houses! and up to my boundary he now has the perfect place to look directly into my house and patio!
Well when he started i tried to converse with him - but as he's ignorant as they come - all i got was 'its going to £15k to the value of his' LOL (whilst i'll lose value on mine?)
i said he needs to scale it down - 'i'll just carry on untill its finished' 'just put a fence up' all 22ft high! and i have now noticed he'd put a land drain emptying into MY garden oh and he nicked some bricks of mine to put into the postholes - i ignored that but that is now starting to fester



So the upshot of this little story - i've tried 3x to talk to the guy

So
1. now i'm going to talk to the council and seek advise -

If they don't tell him to take it down or tell him he's going to need *planning permission

Then
2. i'll speak to Building Control (as its a unsafe construction)
they will tell him to take it down

3. Following on from 1 inform the leaseholders that building work requiring planning has been done and he'll get a nasty bill from them

- i feel hacked off but not half as bad as my ignorant neighbour is going to be -

I feel my initiated 3 attempts to converse and his total ignorant attitude to a, tell me in the first place of his intentions to build, nicking my property and then discharging drainage onto my property - this guy shows total contempt and is about to learn a valuable lesson - SO to others - as someone said yaw yaw is better than war war ignorance and neighbours don't mix

I had a similar experience with Rochdale planning dept, neighbour builds deck 16'W x 9'D X 4'H lacking floor supports and correct width spindle also wrong type of flooring without planning permission, it will have to come down I though and called in the planning Dept who said the structure nothing to do with then it was up to the building and construction and allowed this with a proviso that he installed a 6' privacy screen making a height of 10ft which he did, the local planning sub committee turned it down and it went to the planning inspectorate and they approved it.

I was deeply concerned about a privacy screen 9'x6' being bolted to this unsafe construction as it would blow down in high winds. I contacted the Building dept and they said it had nothing to do with them but they did visit him and told him to bolt the screen to his outside wall as well as the floor and he had to install more under supports which he has done.

During this time I contacted my local MP who advised the planning sub-committee to reject it which they did but warned me not to be surprised if it was approved by the planning inspectorate because they approve far more than they reject which they did.

I contacted Newspapers but it was not juicy enough for them but your case is more serious than mine and it may ruffle some feathers. I have since been told that the planners want an easy life and approve more than they reject.

I got a lot of information from the timber decking association on line which gives the planning and building regulation regarding raised decking and that was how I fought my case but it got me nowhere but you may be successfull.

Everything depends on your council and see if you know anyone on it who will help you fight the case. my case is not yet over, the neighbour has started to cut down his trees which will give him a 24/7 view of every inch of my garden and that will then come under the intrusion of privacy and I have pointed this out to the planning and that this privacy screen should extend a further 60' down the garden and they should get this sorted now before it happens and put the ball in their court but so far nothing has been done. but I have a plan B, if he can have a fence 10'high when the maximum in a rear garden is 8' then I see no reason why I can,t have one and I will also do it also retrospectively.

People are doing whatever they want in gardens and houses now with no regard to regulations which are so complex.

It's no use talking to the man and follow every alleyway you can find and make it unpleasant for him and don't think the council will back you they won't I have friends all over the UK and they were telling me the same story of experiences they knew of and it seems to come down to councils money and council staff.

I did contact the Planning Director and he was most helpfull but I left it too late, I should have contacted him sooner.

I hope this gives you some ideas where you can go but don't give up on it.

 

[^woody^]

Basically, you need to apply for retrospective planning permission, with enough detail to try and convince the planners that the deck is acceptable. It may well be, even if the neighbour does not like it.

And appeal if necessary.

But first get some professional advice to see what the policy is and if the deck can conform with it

At the same time pursue your costs against the installer

 

[jeds]

If you mean the OP woody, check the date. 2009. I expect the contractor has gone in and out of business three times since then.

 

[robduncanplanning]

Given that you have been served an enforcement notice, the main option you need to explore is appealling the notice before it takes effect. Submitting a retrospective application will be of little use as the enforcement notice will still take effect in the intervening period. When lodging an appeal you can opt to challenge it on a number of grounds, one of which being that planning permission should be granted (ground a).

 

[^woody^]

Oh FFS, why do people drag up these old threads?