Planning permission - rear conservatory - falls outside PD

[sbrewster2]

All,

We are currently purchasing a house that has been subject to unauthorised development.

It has undergone 2 extensions in the last 10 years. The first was a 2-storey side/rear
extension in 2000 for which planning permission was granted.

The 2nd was a rear conservatory - for which planning permission was not granted (or
sought). The vendor believed he was erecting this extension under Permitted Development
guidelines.

I have roughly sketched the original house boundaries and both extensions:

Extensions

• sbrewster2
• 21 Nov 2009
• 1

Vendor has recently applied for a legal development certificate for the rear extension,
which has been denied as the conservatory extends more than 3m from the original rear wall.
(It actually extends approx 4.5m). Vendor was under the mistaken impression that it would be
permitted as it extends less than 3m from the extended rear wall (blue line).

Local Planning has suggested he applies for restrospective planning. During the application
for the LDC the neighbours were canvassed and nobody objected to the extension so it is
assumed that nobody will raise any objections to the planning application.

My questions are:

1. As this development is now subject to full planning permission, presumably the limits for
permitted development are no longer relevant? i.e. the rule about extnding no more than 3m from
rear wall?

2. Assuming no objections from neighbours, what other common reasons may lead the local planning office
to deny the planning permission?

3. Assuming the planning is denied what options do the planning office have in terms of enforcement?

Sorry for the long post. If you made it this far thanks for reading and any advice would be much appreciated.
(My partner has fallen in love with the house and wants to proceed regardless, I'm a bit more cautious!)

Thanks again,

Simon

 

[VinnysMate3]

I assume the house isn't listed? If it is, then that changes a lot of the advice to follow!

The limits for permitted development would still be relevant for any future work. But as far as the conservatory is concerned, if a specific permission is required, the proposal will be assessed in relation to that specific development.

If the authority has suggested that an application is made, that is normally a fairly good indication that they think that it is worth the effort in doing so - but not always. It will depend on the practice in your area. It may be worth trying to speak to the enforcement officer or planning officer to see what they think the likelihood is of permission being granted, although they wont be able to offer any cast iron guarantees.

Even if no-one objects to the application, the planning authority could still refuse it if they had good grounds for doing so. You will need to look at their local plan or local development control policies that refer to extensions/ design/ impact on neighbours etc. Is the house in a Conservation Area? Start with their website. Again, the planning officer should be able to advise you on this.

In terms of enforcement, worse case scenario is removal of the conservatory. Or they could ask for modifications to be made to it e.g. amending the glazing to deal with issues such as loss of privacy for the neighbours. I assume that issues like preserved trees don't come into it too??

In terms of the purchase, I would certainly want to talk all this through with my solicitor before making any firm decisions.

 

[sbrewster2]

Many thanks for the response.

No house is not listed or in a conservation area.

I have found the Local Development Plan on the local council website.

It does give some (rather ambiguous) guidelines - all of which seem to be honoured by the extension, bar 1 - which reads "generally, the maximum depth should be 3.6m". The plan does not specify how this depth should be measured.

The extension has a depth of 4.5m from the original rear wall, but only 3m from the new (i.e. post previous extension) rear wall.

I will make sure my solicitor dots the i's and crosses the t's on this matter.

We were hoping to complete in time for Christmas - but I fear this will be impossible now.

Thanks again,

Simon