Planning Permission and Neighbours - opinions wanted.

[nrwilliams]

Hello,

I will try and keep this short but basically I would like to extend my house, its an old detached bungalow with a loft conversion.

I spoke with my only neighbour briefly and they said they did not have a problem with my plans. So I get the architect to draw them up and submit. Basically coming out 3.5m from the back of my house and changing from a sloped roof to a gable end. This will give me a fourth bedroom downstairs, extended lounge and a huge area upstairs.

Anyway neighbours come round after recieving letter and say they oppose the planning on the grounds that it will block light from their office room and partly from their bedroom.

Being a nice neighbour I listen to their concerns and discuss what they would find acceptable, which they tell me, basically no problem with ground floor but not liking the roof extension.

They would accept the roof being sloped rather than a gable.

So I talk to planning, who say they cannot see any problems with my plans and will pass them, it will not effect next door at all with regards to light etc.

I am now torn between altering the plans dramatically to keep the neighbours happy or trying to talk them round.

what have other people done in this situation? Any advice appreciated.

Thanks

Neil

 

[Richard C]

Neighbour objections are mostly based on emotion not planning or building regulation & you may be forced to go to full committee hearing, which is usually the case if you get any objections. If, as you say, it's in accordance with planning regs & local guidance & planning doesn’t have any problem with it, you should get approval. Even if you have to attend a planning committee hearing & committee members (who are not professionals) go against the planning officers recomendation & vote it down (not unusual), you will most likely win on appeal if you keep pushing through.

Really it’s a question of how much you like your neighbours & wish to maintain a good relationship; the compromise would be to go with the slope roof if it keeps them happy & it’s of no real hardship to you. In spite of what neighbours say when you initially approach them about extension works, it’s surprising how many will object once they see the plans in black & white. Weather ignoring their objection will ultimately sour relations between you is anyone’s guess.

 

[JoeMar]

if your neighbour has concerns about your proposed extension then they should speak to the council as per the letter they've received. that's the whole point of this exercise. if their concerns is deemed valid the council will investigate.

as you have already been given the verbal aproval then i wouldnt worry too much. keep your neighbour informed on the progress of the work and the occassional bottle of wine to keep them sweet. the last thing you want is a jealous angry neighbour.


good luck.

 

[^woody^]

Does your neighbour pay business rates for this use of an office room? It may help you to decide if you want to meet their concerns in their legitimate use of the home/office

As for bedrooms, well you tend to be in them at night (with curtains closed), so I can't see a big issue with light

And light tends to come down from the sky and not horizontally over the garden fence.

Put your self in their shoes/rooms. Will the extension really be blocking light or is it just a case of them not liking the proposed work?

Could you designer do a sun study to demonstrate that light will not be reduced?

 

[nrwilliams]

Thanks for the responses.

The planning people mentioned a sun study but they would not do one as the potentially effected rooms are not what the council call habitable rooms.

I will look into this further as the neighbours did say if they could be assured the extension would not effect their sun they would accept it.

Many thanks

Neil