Planning Permission?

[bobsp]

Hi,

I have just received a letter from my local council (Swale) saying it has been brought to their attention that we have put up a conservatory and decking in our garden (I know who reported this, that will be for later). I enquired last year if we need planning permission or not, and I was told we would not. We had the decking done in April. Has anyone heard of decking permission required in the back of a garden before? It is raised approx 18 inches, so that when you walk out of the conservatory there is no step, then it drops to ground level where we had a patio. My wife is fuming and concerned about this as we now have to fill in an application and £135 later, someone will come and look at this. The people who have reported this are on the end of our garden, they have a 35+ foot conifer which over hanging into our garden by 6foot, and is killing all the grass around that area, aswell as knocking out a concrete fence post. I went round a week or so ago and asked them if they cound "trim it down" as it was killing the grass on our side of the fence. My reception was not welcomed too well. This all seems crazy to me. There are a number of conservatories in this area, so I can not see this as a problem, it does not intrude on anyones light etc....

So all we can do is fill out the forms and send in £135 (could do without that right now)

Does anyone have any further suggestions? I am in Swale.

Thanks

Bob

 

[Nige F]

Yes , when the council bod is @ yours ask about the LLeylandii law and its enforcement ...go through the proper channels ,then if no joy .Get a long auger, drill holes into the roots and drip feed with anything toxic from your house. Make out you are starting a compost heap for organic gardening..........and GOOD LUCK to you.

 

[Thermo]

as long as the conservatory complies with the definition of a conservatory (and councils interpret it differently) and you are under your permissable development allowance you shouldnt need permission. as for decking,, no reason why it needs permission at all. give the council a ring and they will be able to tell you over the phone if it needs it. make sure you know the internal area of the conservatory when you ring up. might save you the unnecessary form filling and fee

 

[Mr Winston]

as long as the conservatory complies with the definition of a conservatory (and councils interpret it differently) and you are under your permissable development allowance you shouldnt need permission. as for decking,, no reason why it needs permission at all. give the council a ring and they will be able to tell you over the phone if it needs it. make sure you know the internal area of the conservatory when you ring up. might save you the unnecessary form filling and fee

i have recenty heard that decking needs planning permission (might be relatively new law)

you will find out if you need pp from the conservatory from the officer who calls - often you do - based on cubic metres (you might need building regs aswell [which i think is what Thermo is getting at] as they work on floor plan area and often can be exempt from the regs

 

[bobsp]

Well after a drunken debate, I now know who it is, how do I piosin it???

 

[HandyJon]

Is your convservatory built in front of existing patio doors and are the patio doors still in place? If so (and the doors are still lockable) then it's not classified as part of the building and you don't need planning permission. Bulding Regs is a bit less strict in this case as well as it won't need the same amount of insulation/heating as the rest of the house. The conservatory should still fit within the Permitted Development Rights which is an area/volume that you can extend by without asking permission. That is so long as you (or the previous owners) haven't already used up the PDR by extending elsewhere.

Decking doesn't normally require planning unless it's more than 1.8 metre high. (This height is measured from the existing ground level immediately below the deck up to the highest point of the balustrade - not just to the deck finished level). This applies to anywhere in your rear garden. Also if there is usable space underneath (1.8m allows someone to walk under it) then you need planning as it's classified as an extension or garden building. See http://www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_planning/documents/page/odpm_plan_606151-04.hcsp for more info (Section E).

As for the confirs, you are entitled to remove any brances of any tree or shrub that is overhanging your property. You must then place the cut branches back on the property of the tree's owner as the branches are their property. But do it with lots of notification informing them of your legal rights maybe even repeated requests in writing to show that you tried mediation before just in case, because if you don't you might get something like this - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bradford/4181806.stm.

Only you know the situation on the ground so I am not condoning this action, but I gather that trees don't like copper nails stuck in them.

 

[bobsp]

Well I found out today (offices were open) that in this area you need planning permission for any and everything. This was introduced in 1987 (6 years before the house was built!!!)

The council confirmed this today saying that the right to go ahead in this area was removed unless planning permission was obtained. This seems strange and is not detailed on our deeds etc.... They are coming to look at the decking next week, and will explain all then (I am at work so the Mrs will have to deal with it)

Oh well there you go, how many more people have this in their area's?

 

[bobsp]

Well I have to submit the planning permission by the end of the week otherwise the council will enforce something. I have asked others on this estate and nobody (apart from one who had ro have drains, pipes etc moved) filled in planning pernission forms. The reason the council are not happy eoth the decking is because it is raised, 18" so when you walk out of the conservatory tou do not have to step down. One part of the raised part goes along a fenceline, and it backs onto the people behind us.

The landscaping company that did this did not mention anything about this.

I am goingto have the part that goes along the fenceline dropped to ground level, but I will not change anything else. The decking cost us £5,000.I cant believe I am having to go through all this...

 

[bobsp]

I have to submit drawings aswell. I have no idea how to even start.....

 

[Chris73]

Bob,

It's dead easy (trust me, I'm an architect..). All you need to do is give them drawings at a reasonable scale - say 1:100 of the house and garden before the extension and decking were installed, and of it with them.
A plan, front and side elevation before and after should do. Add in a site plan at 1:1250 - which you should get from an OS map website.

The drawings don't need to be particularly beautiful - to start, get a measuring tape and metre stick, roughly sketch the plan and elevation on some scrap paper and then note on the measurements. Then, just spend a bit of time drawing it up to scale, and fire them in to planning.

 

[bobsp]

Well well, got a letter from the council today, they made a mistake, "Permitted development righta were not removed by condition"

"No further action is necessary"

"Sorry for the inconvenience"

Oh well thats that. We were right after all.

 

[topbanana]

good for you.
did you manage to get council help with the tree, perhaps for free as some sort of compo for the hastle they put you through.

 

[bobsp]

good for you.
did you manage to get council help with the tree, perhaps for free as some sort of compo for the hastle they put you through.

No, they said they can do nothing about it as it is a single tree (HUGE conifer) rather than a hedge, row of trees etc. The grass is dead, they did get it lopped, but from the top, it still hangs over out fence by 8ft + and thats what seems to have killes the grass.

 

[topbanana]

thats interesting to know.
if the tree hangs over your land you have every right to cut it back to your fence line as long as you put the cuttings over their side of the fence.
something to do with any fruits that might be on the tree i guess!
its always best to give them some notice of this happening so you dont cause any problems, though i'm sure you might get them anyway.
it'll look a bit bare for a while but you might hopefully kill the thing or get some more light to your grass.