Planning refused for double garage at front of house

Hi guys,

This is my first post so please go easy, I paid my local council for planning advice to erect a double garage at the front of my house. We have plenty of land for it to go and with the bushing and fencing around it wouldn't actually be seen from the road (none of the neighbours have any issue).
The dimensions of the garage would mean if it was in the back garden I wouldn't even need planning permission (under 30sqm, 2.5m high).

The planning advice people came back with very unhelpful information and their objections to it seemed very irrelevant to what was being presented.

I will upload pictures of the street and plans tomorrow so everyone can see what I'm trying to do.

Nevertheless something sprang to mind after doing some reading and I can only think the reason they are saying no to supporting it is because I may one day try to turn it into a dwelling. The current proposal is for a prefab concrete style garage that matches the surrounding buildings so it dose add up even though they haven't said that directly. One alternative they have said they may support is something open ended (i.e. car port) which to the space used and street scene view would be no different.

Now I don't actually care what the garage is made out of, as long as its something I can lock the cars away of a night.

Anyone know of something alternative that means it couldn't ever be converted to a dwelling in the future which I could put forward to null that objection?

Thanks for taking the time to read.

MT

 

Were the objections only that it could be converted into an dwelling in future?

 

Why can't you have it open ended but with garage doors front and back?

You could always put the doors on afterwards?

Andy

 

They were saying its a large and imposing structure on the street scene and not in-keeping with the other buildings in the road.
As I said you won't even be able to see it from the road, only if you walk on to my driveway.
I also specified the garage to be of a brick finish with red terracotta roof and white UPVC facia and guttering, white garage doors which is the same look as all the houses in the street.

A neighbour over the back of me has a 12 x 20ft garage facing right onto the road!! its also 3m in height

MT

 

No they didn't actually state that (not sure if they're allowed to?).

MT

 

That did cross my mind

MT

 

Why don't you post the rejection notice up here so we can see, instead of relying on the secondhand guesswork you're currently describing

 

It sounds like you paid for pre-application advice and are yet to apply for planning permission, is that right? If so, unfortunately thats where you've gone wrong as they say things that is normally all caveated and tend to be cautious with advice. The best thing you can do is take this advice and build a robust argument to give them nowhere to go.

A streetscene drawing showing the actual view from the road with the hedging and fencing perhaps with the outline of the building shown dotted behind. Submit a design & access statement with photos of the garage down the road and also make a point of the access explaining that being able to set down and unload the car in a dry place comforms to Building Regs Part M/DDA/Lifetime Homes (its not necessarily in there but it sounds good) and the garage provides secure storage (quote any local thefts that any of your neighbours have had), really try and tick every box.

Submit a planning application for what you want and see how it fares, and only reluctantly compromise (like your carport suggestion) if it will result in a permission then, as cjard is asking, if refused let us know what the wording is for the reason(s) for refusal. Hopefully you will have permission for something you are happy to accept.

N.B. A pre-app will only normally ensure that you start the planning application already compromising.

 

@Architexeter

You are correct, I had only paid for planning advice so far although I had an architect draw up the correct format plans and they were submitted yesterday for a formal application.
So everyone gets a better idea of my situation, I've uploaded some pics;

This is a plan view of the proposal (Yes I do own the land)

These two images of what the area looked like 1 month ago, although the image with the lamp post to the left is from Google approx. 18 months ago.

This is how the area looks today - I am having the bushing replanted as per the plan view next week and you should just be able to make out the string line marking the area of the garage.

These two are the front and side elevations of the garage (side view without the bushing) - As you can see I'm keeping the design in-keeping with the surrounding houses.

Finally this is an overlay of my neighbours garage if it were going in the same place as my proposal - I will get a photo of his, the Google SV version is too far away and makes it look much smaller than it is!

One of the key requirements of this garage is simply to protect some new cars we're buying this year, to the left of where the garage would be is a public walk way so we get numerous objects thrown over as people walk by including a large branch which dented the roof of one of the cars, this cannot be pulled out (needs filling and painting).

Our house is at the end of a cul de sac and is far closer to this walk way than any other. Our total area of land is approx. 270 Sqm and the garage is approx. 28sqm so only around 10% of the land would be used by this.

Thanks again for taking the time for reading and I welcome all comments (devils advocates too!)

MT

 

Brilliant that you have now submitted an application.

Devil's advocate bit:

First impressions are that its not a pretty building.

I'm guessing these are not the Architect's planning drawings? I suspect these are your sketches and I hope your architect has added an artistic side in terms of selling/beautifying the scheme to the planners - the planners are human and first impressions count.

I would also hope to see a streetscene to show the view from the road.

Let us know how you get on.

 

Thanks for the feedback. The garage is actually based on a Sutcliffe garage (Balmoral range)

Its a low pitched roof version so it doesn't raise above the surrounding bushes (one of the neighbours concerns - but otherwise the road is happy)

Yes I agree the front and side elevations don't look too pretty, its the best I could do with Visio! In any case the aesthetics are easy to compromise on, there's many options available and as I said previously I don't care what it is made out of or what it looks like to a certain degree, as long as I have somewhere to lock the cars away.

I'll post up a street scene pic next week after the bushing is replanted.

Cheers,

MT

 

You mentioned the garage would be shielded by existing bushes/fencing. This may not be a valid reason warranting it's approval as one could remove those bushes and fences, therefore exposing it & not maintaining the street scene... assuming nobody else has done it and a precedent has not been set.

If the Council were worried about it being converted to a separate residential unit in the future, they would approve it with a condition meaning a formal application would have to be applied for so the conversion couldn't be carried out under PD.

If the Council favoured a lighter (timber frame) carport structure, they may request arboricultural information if any trees that may be affected by the proposals.

 

I was looking back through some previous approved applications for the area and one of them was for a double garage which had a condition stating its approved as long as there's adequate screening from the road side. I guess the same could be applied here so the bushes cannot be removed in the future?

The affect on the surrounding trees was mentioned in the advice I received back from planning however when the new fence was installed the perimeter edge was dug down to the level of how far the concrete base would start and no tree roots were found so hopefully no issues there either.

This is great feedback guys, thank you.

MT

 

Hi Guys,
Bit of an update. I've had the hedging put back in although I'm a little disappointed at the gaps (see pics) although I'm told by the gardener they will grow into each other, I just hope the planning people see the vision too!
The planning officer is visiting on Thursday so fingers crossed

I'm also thinking as an alternative to forgo the prefab garage and have one built out of real brick if needed.

Below are some pics with the street scene too. Comments welcome;

MT

 

It sounds strange but looking at your pictures I think the council would have prefered to have the garage door facing the road. They don't like blank walls on street scences and whilst you have planting to cover it they may see this as a downside. I think the issue being that there is a lampost probably stopping this.

Pre fab buildings never look great and they may be happier with something built properly in brick. By the way I hope it is worth it. We have had a 3.5m x 6m garage built recently, double skin and insulated and it cost almost £25k finished and that was our cheapest quote! That is a lot of car repairs!