Thanks Richard. But more specifically if the council can request that we don't go with a flat roof under planning permission could they say the same thing if we did it under PD?
When you say similar finish, if the house is mainly pebble dashed can we not propose exposed brick or smooth render for the extension?
Also is a PD application the same thing as a certificate of lawful development or whatever it is called?
PD is planning permission given to you by central government. It's a set of parameters that, provided you build within them, you can turn round and say "parliament gave me permission to do this"
A CLD is a council's written confirmation that your works are compliant with the set of parameters, it is not a permission to do anything. It' is merely a statement from a government body that works youre doing comply with the permission you have already been granted as a home owning citizen of this country. What use is it then? Not much, other than as a way of shutting up any potential moaners (usually neighbours)
A planning permission is an authorised body's confirmation that you have permission to develop land in a particular way. It might be the council officer, committee, or planning inspectorate that grants such permission
Planning officers are not supposed to get emotionally involved in your project. Theyre supposed to be the arbiters of whather your proposals comply with council adopted development policy and national planning policy frameworks. They can throw in all sorts of stuff like "I like the round window, it adds character" but unless the adopted policy says "houses in this district must have a round window to add character" then it's personal and emotional involvement and would likely be defeated by appealing. Refusal reasons should give reference to which adopted policies the development contravenes - one of my schemes was cautioned for having too many parking spaces relative to the adopted policy recommendations
Don't try and mix PD and PP in the same development. Do them separately. Handing over a plan and saying "i want to put this massive extension on the back, can I have a CLD for it, and I want to put this porch on the front, can I have a PP for it" shows all your hand at once, shows the council things they don't need to know and gears them up to push you into the route of PP for the whole thing, or opportunities to find fault with the PP bit because they find the CLD bit objectionable (not that they have any right to refuse it - you already have that permission, but councils don't always agree with central govt's permissions for PD and will seize upon opportunities to sway your application)
Pre-app advice is nigh on worthless unless it contains a list of relevant local policies that you should read and consider. It will be chock full of personal feelings and as is clear ehre, the planner's attempt to design your scheme for you.. Which he'll then go back on because he can, and must because some of the input was completely irrelevant with respect to his job role. The best use I found for pre-app advice was in sounding out the foibles and vagaries of your particular officer (if you can guarantee it's that officer that will decide your scheme) - if you detect that he hates dormers, maybe leave the dormers to another time or put them in with a view to taking them out as a "meeting half way if he agrees to X" - again, getting emotionally involved and designing a scheme, not something they're supposed to do but if they're going to do it, and you're going to do it, you might as well seize any opportunities whereby doing it tit for tat will get you most of what you want, regardless of how correct it is with regard to local policy
Politics
