Planning Permission - Single or Multiple applications required?

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Hi,

We own a Victorian terraced house and intend do make the following structural changes:
a) Side Infill Extension - Requires removal of existing conservatory and original outside wall
b) Loft Extension - L-shaped dormer

Both require planning permission.

We intend to complete a) within the next year, while b) would be completed when funds allow and family size necessitates, but likely in c. 5 years

We are currently at the design stage, and I am unsure whether to do Design and Planning permission application for both a) and b) at this time. My concern is two-fold:
1) 3 year limit - Would planning permission lapse on the loft extension if not started within 3 years? Or would the commencement of the side infill extension mean it counts as "started".
2) Speed of approval - The loft extension is likely to be more contentious, due to potential ridge line alterations. I wouldn't want to delay approval of a) for something we wouldn't be doing for 5 years.

If we submit two separate applications, then what would be the extra cost implications? Would it only be the cost of the applications themselves?

Are there any other considerations I haven't thought of?

Thanks
 
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We have been in broadly the same situation and put both through as one application. We did it that way because we didn't want to get permission for a large alteration to the roof volume and then have a kitchen extension refused on the grounds of over-development. We'd have preferred to compromise on the loft size. As it was, we got both no problems.

If you do as one, the three year rule applies to the whole permission, so doing the extension will allow you to do the loft whenever you like, we're doing loft then extension broadly whenever.

If you do it as two, you'll pay twice for the application, you'll pay twice for Building Regs (mine was £570), you'll pay more for the design work if you have to pick it up as new down the line. On top of that, if you get shafted by the need for a Bat Survey, it'll be out of date when you come to do the loft and you'll need to do it again. That's another £600 we saved and you could lose a lot of time to that too, we lost 6 months.

I reckon it's also sensible to get the design and permission process all sorted and then you can sit back and build at your leisure. It took us over a year to get through that process and I'd not want to have to do that again before making a start on phase 2.
 
Once you enact a permission, there is no time limit for completion.

Things/policies could change over the years, so what you want to do today may not be possible later.

An application takes the same time to decide whether its an extension or a loft or both.
 
There is some risk in the planning process in doing both together, the join application may trigger a threshold where it goes to Committee rather than being dealt with under delegated powers and the planners may delay a decision that would have been a refusal while they resolve things they don't like with the applicant. In both cases if it's the bit you don't want to build straight away that causes the issue then it may have been better to do two applications.

But, on balance, I would still do this as one application. Any delays are unlikely to be horrific and it's almost inevitable that you get delayed by one thing or another, so getting in the mindset that you can work with delays as they come will make the whole process less stressful.
 
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I reckon it's also sensible to get the design and permission process all sorted and then you can sit back and build at your leisure. It took us over a year to get through that process and I'd not want to have to do that again before making a start on phase 2.
I would tend to agree with your one application for the lot approach , and I realise I am not replying to the original poster's queries, but I can't help wondering why obtaining your permissions for house alterations/extension took over a year. It will obviously depend on rozza 11's proposed scheme whether it is approved but it shouldn't take over a year for the decision to be made.
 
I've just done a garage conversion and rear extension application all in one and it went through fine. Garage is separate to the house
 
I've just done a garage conversion and rear extension application all in one and it went through fine. Garage is separate to the house
You and hundreds of others will have had planning applications for house alterations/conversions/extensions approved recently without too much trouble.:)
 
I would tend to agree with your one application for the lot approach , and I realise I am not replying to the original poster's queries, but I can't help wondering why obtaining your permissions for house alterations/extension took over a year. It will obviously depend on rozza 11's proposed scheme whether it is approved but it shouldn't take over a year for the decision to be made.
I meant the whole process, not just the application and decision.

We started working with an Architect in July 2017 and we were almost ready to submit in the January, but had to wait for a bat survey until May, but by then the Architect had gone AWOL and getting the last few bits sorted and the application in took a while, so it was the end of July that it went in, decision was the normal 8 weeks. Then building regs application then took a bit longer than it should because the architect was still AWOL, so that wasn't approved until December last year. I had material on site by the end of January and have been working through everything since then.

So more than a year, but all sorted for the extension as well, so we can pick that up whenever, rather than having to deal with all of the above again.

I think our stuff was fairly straightforward, there must be loads of other stuff that can delay getting a design, structural calcs, permission, regs, etc sorted.
 
I meant the whole process, not just the application and decision.
The whole process - design , planning , structural calcs , bldg regs etc for domestic extensions/alterations shouldn't take over a year but obviously that assumes the architect doesn't disappear for long periods of time :!: Starting work on site on larger more complicated projects will take longer for various reasons but he architect going AWOL isn't the usual cause.
 
It was the bat issue that was the major spanner really though, if you need an emergent survey they can't be done between the bats going into hibernation and May and there's inevitably demand for them to be done immediately in May, so unless you're lucky the qualified people are already booked up and you're looking at June+. From memory, we had the initial survey in November, and the emergent survey in June, so a good 6 months lost. You can't apply for Planning Permission without the bat survey, the Council won't validate the application.

The architect agreed to have everything ready to go as soon as the bat survey was done, but then 'forgot' and didn't do any of the outstanding stuff until the June survey was complete. I imagine they were very busy as all the other ones I'd spoken to were too busy to take on the job, and mine was the easiest project to drop while waiting for the bat people to rip me off.
 
The Op asked about putting two apps into one hence my reply that I'd done it. I do understand that people apply for planning permission now and again
 
FWIW, where one aspect of the project is likely to be more contentious than the other (and where I could conceivably build one and not the other), then it's quite likely that I would submit these as two separate applications. It is a bit more expensive, but that's not usually the key consideration. Also, in the event of going to appeal, it's good to minimise the issues on the table.
 

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