Planning permission for decking

[Benny111]

Bit of an update - we had a lady from the council round on Friday. She said we were the first case of decking they'd had to investigate in our area since the new legislation came in and wasn't sure of the exact rules regarding where to take measurements from herself. She said that for extensions you are entitled to take the highest ground measurement and she thinks it will work the same way but will get back to us next week.

We showed her our photos and she took measurements and basically said off the record that it should all be fine and she doesn't think it will come to applying for permission and even if it did they would never issue an enforcement notice as it's not worth the paperwork and not in public interest to do so as we can barely see the tops of our neighbours heads above the fence from any point on our decking. You could tell she thought it was a complete waste of her time being here too. Ace!

 

[Benny111]

Hi all,
We finally received a letter on Friday stating that we do not need planning permission for our decking!!!! YAY YAY YAY!!Lol.

The planners had their meeting and reached the decision in our favour.
I asked my neighbour if he had received his letter advising them of the out come too, he said that he had!
I asked him why didn't he just ask me to lower it if he felt it was too high and his reply was that "i am too unreasonable" lol, i have never had a conflict with him in my life.
He then asked me if he could put trellace on top of the fence because of his privacy!!!!!!!! He didn't mind the three foot panels with a gate that use to be there when i moved in and he dosen't mind the 3 froot wire fence the other side of his garden.
Does anyone know if i am entitled to say no to this request???
I don't wish to sound like a s**t stirrer but i don't see why i should now do him any favours.

 

[DevilDamo]

You don't "have to" do anything. However, it sounds like he's implying he's doing you a favour so you should help him out. Depends how your relationship will be if you do/don't go ahead with his requests?

You never know... if you did it, he then owes you in the future?

 

[susan792091]

Hi, hoping somebody may be able to offer some advice please...

We've recently had building work done, put in bifold doors and raised our patio to match internal floor level. Our garden slopes down away from house so where patio meets lawn, it is maybe 50cm higher than ground level at that point before we started, but it hasn't been raised by that much at the house end.

We were oblivious to 300mm class E permitted development rule. Architect never said a word, project manager was unaware. As it happens, new patio level is 360mm above majority of old patio level and side passage next to house, and if that is used as point of reference, we are therefore 360mm above original ground level and in breach of planning. However, we did have large semicircular step next to old patio doors, above general patio height, and we are less than 300mm above that level. I have ground survey and photos of back of house before we commenced work.

My neighbours have complained, and council have issued an enforcement notice inviting us to apply for retrospective planning permission. I've been all over internet learning about class E. I'm gutted we have messed up (inadvertently) by 6cm, and I know if worst comes to worst and we have to drop it by 6cm it will (A) cost a lot and (B) not make the neighbours any happier about it. 6cm is worth virtually nothing to them.

We are within 300mm of that large semicircular step we had... which I could at a push argue was an area of patio in its own right. Does anyone have knowledge of this?!

thanks in advance for any help.

 

[susan792091]

just to add, we thought we were on good terms with neighbours and whilst we live on a hill (they are below us) we do not want to invade their privacy. All done without bad intentions.

 

[tony1851]

I doubt the original step would count as natural ground level, so the council is probably correct in believing that it is not p.d.

Having said that, why has it got to the stage of the service of an Enforcement Notice by the council? Have you ignored letters from them? The reason I ask is that councils are bound by certain rules when dealing with enforcement matters.

The old rules were contained in PPG18 (google it) and one of the constraints is that councils should not consider enforcement "for a minor or technical breach (of the rules) where no harm has occurred". (These rules were recently withdrawn, but the principle remains, and councils should act reasonably).

Perhaps if you'd spoken with a planning consultant earlier, you might not have arrived at this position, but you are where you are. You need to appeal the Notice before it takes effect, and throw in everything you can, preferably with the help of a consultant. They can be expensive (£1k?) and it's a gamble.

Do you have a 2m high fence, or is it lower? If lower, you could argue that you could have made the position for the neighbours worse, by putting up a higher fence.

 

[susan792091]

thanks for your reply tony1851.