Planning application approved and then refused

[Peters1]

Hi all, need some urgent advice, we had an approval of a earlier planning approval so work is comencing on that.

apart from that i decided to make an extra 3 meter room extension on the rear on top of the new living room, and had recieved a verbal approval by the case officer who was completing our planning application.

planning application was given to the department on 23rd nov 2012, public consultation end date was 3 january 2013, the planning case officer called my architecht on the 17th of january 2013 to tell them all clear and there has been no objections from any neighbours.

so builders had started work on the extra part of the extension, on the 29th of jan 2013 received a call from the architecht to tell me the application is going to be refused which it has now been refused as a neighbour has contacted and complained to them of a light issue, can this be done even after the public consultation date? As most of the work is already done now.

Yet i did not get an approval in writing, can anything be done? Ive tried talking to the neighbour who has been next door to us for over 20 years and he is not intrested in talking to us, the neighbour was told about the new extension before forwarding to planning yet this has happened, do i need to appeal the decision? can anyone help?

 

[OwainDIYer]

Do you actually have a decision of refusal yet, or is it all still verbal? Is it going to go to the planning committee and are the officers recommending refusal?

 

[Peters1]

The application has been to the sub commitee this thursday and has been refused, they are blaming us we had made it without planning even though the officer verbally passed it.

 

[OwainDIYer]

Nothing gets 'verbally passed' by Planning.

Until you have the plans in your hands with the Approved stamp on them, you don't have permission, and you build at your own risk.

 

[Peters1]

The neighbours are related to our areas 2 local councilors, so instead of the councilors coming and talking to us first, the asked the councilors to go directly to the head planning officer to get the planning rejected.

the case officer had the planning passed according to my architect, also one of the councilors also lives opposite us and we have been told he did also complain too as the extension is at the rear of both their proertys, again after the public end consultation date.

the sub commitee to agreed to have a look, yet these 2 councilors came down too with them on the site visit and we could see them brefing the councilor friends, but yet these 2 councilors were asked to leave the sub commitee at the time of our meeting, whats the point to that, as i know personally they did the damage before hand hence the commitee rejected our plans.

If they were taken out of the sub commitee meeting , shouldnt have they been not there in the first place?

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

You're not listening. And neither was your architect apparently.

 

[Peters1]

its only 3 meteres, at the meeting they did say normally they approve a 3m extension no matter what but its only due to this light issue where we have built the 3m 2 storey extension the neighbours have a living room next to it, and they have a 5 meter single extension built on the side of that hence there living room is boxed in, yes i am listening to you, what do you think i should do now?

 

[OwainDIYer]

You, your architect, your builder, and the planning dept, need to start communicating with each other, and someone needs to be in charge.

Otherwise your builders are going to want to be paid for building things which you're also going to have to pay them to pull down.

 

[luisdesign]

The application has been to the sub commitee this thursday and has been refused, they are blaming us we had made it without planning even though the officer verbally passed it.

I would question the advice your architect is providing you with. He or she should have been absolutely clear in letting you know the process of planning.

The deal is that a planning officer can make a recommendation. This recommendation is either agreed or not by the planners senior officers. The Planning officer informed your architect that they would be recommending the application for approval. He may even have informed the architect that the senior officers would be happy for this decision.

However, applications can sometimes be sent to the planning committee for the members to make the decision as opposed to the planning department. Sometimes a certain number of objections cause this, sometimes an applicant can request it, and sometimes a council member can do so.

The planning committee does not need to abide by the planning officers recommendation.

A decision is only finalised in writing. Any work started prior to this written confirmation is at your own risk. Your architect should have informed you of this.

HOWEVER;

With all this said there are some things you can discuss in order to move forward.

First of all, Your architect should be contacting the planner to work out their original stance. If the planning officer was happy to recommend approval, and their senior officers were in agreement then it is likely that they believed that it met with local policies.

You will also need to read the reasons for refusal very carefully. Often, committee members will refuse applications for tenuous or subjective planning reasons.

With that in mind it is likely that you will be in a good position to appeal the refusal decision with the planning inspectorate[/b]

 

[Peters1]

Due to the sub comittee meeting happening on thursday we are awaiting a written refusal from the planning department, we have completed the work on the new extension and even though the neighbour objected to the new planning we did not have a written letter to stop any work, also a freind of mine has said from april 2013 the goverment are relaxing the rules, so you make an extension up to 6-8 metres depending where you are without planning permission, does anyone know about this? Ive also had a look on the the huddersfield daily examiner website where i can see an approval of our extension in the planning application part can that help us when we have to appeal?

 

[rjm2k]

check your application here

http://www2.kirklees.gov.uk/business/planning/application_search/default.aspx

what does it actually say?

 

[luisdesign]

Due to the sub comittee meeting happening on thursday we are awaiting a written refusal from the planning department, we have completed the work on the new extension and even though the neighbour objected to the new planning we did not have a written letter to stop any work, also a freind of mine has said from april 2013 the goverment are relaxing the rules, so you make an extension up to 6-8 metres depending where you are without planning permission, does anyone know about this? Ive also had a look on the the huddersfield daily examiner website where i can see an approval of our extension in the planning application part can that help us when we have to appeal?

Can you give me the number of your builders please... they work fast if they managed to complete the work from the time when the planning officer gave a verbal recommendation (which usually only occurs with any accuracy about half way through an application) to now - before a decision has even been issued!

I'm questioning whether you met your other obligations under the building regulations too!?

Also, the proposed permitted development law changes are currently being looked at. You would do well to know that the vast majority of local authorities passed coment that the originally publicized changes (8m extensions) were excessive and should not constitute permitted development. It is highly likely that the details will then be scaled back. Similarly, there are a variety of other restrictions and conditions that extensions would need to meet in order to comply, the details of which we currently do not know.

As things currently stand it may not make a difference, it sounds as though you have constructed a two storey extension up to teh boundary, which does not meet the current (and I would assume future) permitted development laws. This is why you have had to make a planning application and thus why your neighbours and councillors have been able to call it in to refuse.

Once you get that refusal you may want to speak with your architect about the prospects of overturning this decision at appeal.

Ultimately, if you have already constructed it then you will sooner or later receive an enforcement order.

 

[JohnD]

OOI, when you say "Architect" is he really an Architect, or is he someone who draws up plans?

I'm bemused by the idea of an experienced and qualified man encouraging you to go ahead on the basis of hearsay and opinion.

 

[Peters1]

The walls for the new extension were already built before passing as we had asked the neighbours if we could go ahead with it which they obliged to.

hence it only took the builders 1-2 weeks to complete that by adding the seprate roof and the new floor boards, the ground floor planning plus the rest of the house has all been approved, so there is no issue with that, as the planning authority cannot do anything to a passed application from 2011 which has been completed. its only that one part of a room that is an issue now.

All the building regs are looked after a private company who work with the council and are all fine.

Yes its the guy who draws up the plans.

 

[Peters1]

Hi rjm2k. It says on the website : application undecided.