PRE PLANNING ADVICE

[Sharon Smith]

Hi, we are proposing a 2 storey extension to the rear of our dormer house. The Extension will replace a conservatory that has to be demolished. We have put pre planning application in and the planning officer has raised 2 points.. 1. the length of the extension and the neighbouring side just being a brick wall and 2. building on the boundary line (one side of our home is built on the boundary). We maintain all boundaries in the deeds.
However the neighbour is a developer and has demolished the bungalow what was there and replaced it with something like "the white house" all we are looking at is a huge brick wall and roof so we have decided to extend our home to block this out, my argument is if they are looking at a brick wall then so are we, cannot understand why the planning offer would raise this as a possible refusal decision if and when it does go into planning, anybody else been through a similar situation or have any advice...

 

[^woody^]

The is no context for your post in terms of what you are proposing or the planners comments. Post the plans (hide any personal stuff) or a sketch to illustrate your question.

There are no planning issues for building on the boundary or sides being brick walls. The planning issue is the consequences of these - ie blocking light, visual impact and such like. So what are the planner's actual concerns?

And what does your local planning policy guidelines say about what you propose?

Saying "Well, what about what he has done?" is not a valid argument in planning law. Forget it. Concentrate on the impact of your extension on the neighbours

 

[Sharon Smith]

Thanks for the reply, my post stated that we are proposing a 2 storey extension, a conservatory is in place at the moment but the extension would exceed the end of the conservatory by about 3 metres. The planning application has not yet been submitted has we wanted to gauge the opinions of the planning officer, he came out and was quite contradictory in his comments. We are on a corner plot with one neighbour and we do not overlook anyone, so our proposal would only effect 1 person. The planners actual concerns was the length of the extension and the side of that faces the new neighbour being mainly brick wall. Appreciate the comment "well what about what he has done" not being a valid argument, but to cut a long story short, the property at the side of us was a bungalow, the other side of the development is a bungalow, the developer has been allowed to build a 2 storey "white house" type property against the planning officer and all the neighbours objections, although the developer had to make 2 adjustments he was still granted planning permission, this new property has overshadowed our home and the conservatory so in effect when in the conservatory or on the rear garden all we see is this huge side of the new property, ie brick wall. All we are wanting to do is remove the conservatory and replace with a 2 storey extension to regain privacy. The planning officer stated no one has the right to a view, and all the neighbour would see is a brick wall, but then he stated that is all we are seeing.... "confused" ... Thank you for your response, I posted to see if anyone else had any thoughts or been through a similar situation... we are discussing this with the architect and planning dept at present.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

Pre-planning 'advice' for domestic extensions is seldom of any use in the real world - you may as well just submit an application and go from there - ensuring that it complies with the Local Plan guidance and if not you need to have some robust arguments as to why it should be approved.

 

[Sharon Smith]

thank you, I am thinking your right the planning guy that came out wasn't much use to be fair, one minute he said the extension we are proposing would look lovely then the next the length of the brickwork... so slightly confused... lol... have a meeting with the architect this week so I think we might just go ahead and put full application in and see what comes of it... don't really know what where up against until we do... thank you freddiemercurystwin