the daydream fund challenge thread

Lotus-eater

lostinrates wrote: »

Where we plan to put a staircase the listed buildings officer was a bit perturbed as the ceiling there is so well preserved. I pointed out it was 1960s or seventies plaster board....put in when half the house fell down and presumably took the original ceiling too. The staircase is also listed as original,but it most certainly is not,but it can stay!

My planning bloke from the council wasn't happy at all when I wanted to put in a new window at the front of the house.
It wasn't till I pointed out that it's the one that had been bricked up before, was taken out in the 90's with no planning permission and the two houses next door still had the same window in them.:p

He shifted his gaze and without even a blush, said that will be fine then :rotfl:

Itismehonest

Lotus-eater wrote: »

My planning bloke from the council wasn't happy at all when I wanted to put in a new window at the front of the house.
It wasn't till I pointed out that the one that had been bricked up before, was taken out in the 90's with no planning permission and the two houses next door still had the same window in them.:p

He shifted his gaze and without even a blush, said that will be fine then :rotfl:

The phrase "Little Tin Gods" springs to mind, eh?

A friend was going through the planning thing on another old farm near here. There was an almighty great threshing machine in the middle of what he hoped would become his kitchen. The archaeological dept, wanted it left in. It was the only time I felt slightly sorry for a Planning Officer because he was trying hard to reach some sort of agreeable middle ground.
A couple of years later I heard the poor guy had ended up having a breakdown & leaving his post.

lostinrates

Itismehonest wrote: »

The phrase "Little Tin Gods" springs to mind, eh?

A friend was going through the planning thing on another old farm near here. There was an almighty great threshing machine in the middle of what he hoped would become his kitchen. The archaeological dept, wanted it left in. It was the only time I felt slightly sorry for a Planning Officer because he was trying hard to reach some sort of agreeable middle ground.
A couple of years later I heard the poor guy had ended up having a breakdown & leaving his post.

Gosh, ours had a break down too, leaving us in protracted limbo. Having gone so far down preplanning route with him we were reluctant to change. Councils land and farm estates manager keeps having stress realted leave too. Poor thing. I have every sympathy for mental health and stress issues, and his i am told go back the eight years or so he has worked in his role, and are exacerbated by the busiest farming times when the pressure is on those he deals with most. I am bemused as to why someone who was struggling in his role has recently been promoted into a role where unplanned absense could cost the cou cil and the farmers and awful lot of money.


Incidentally, while the planning officer was worrying about the ceiling he neglected to worry about the wall we are removing, which we felt was slightly too big an ask: its the original curtilidge of the building so fully expected a no on that...its the only really potentially controversial thing we are doing though.

Itismehonest

I've often wondered if some Planning Officers haven't already "lost it" when consulted & definitely long before they resign or take leave of absence.
It's undoubtedly a stressful job with lots of people wanting to overstep the mark but they do often seem to want to make life as hard as possible for everyone involved.
That particular guy was the most reasonable (in terms of saying that his job was to work out how people could live in, the then, 20th century in historic buildings in protected areas. I think he got as much hassle from the other departments in his authority as he ever did from the public. As he said about my friend's house "You really can't be expected to keep walking around that while you're cooking!" but it was getting the archaeological lot to see that which was a killer.

Some academics just want everything kept as a museum, unfortunately, which goes a long way to killing the countryside off as a living, working place.

alfie_1

real quicky! my internet has crrashed and im "nicking" a wireless connection till mines fixed.:D
plenty of chat and i cant join in....:(

nocked up a few odd looks as im driving around for a signal....:rotfl:
keep well all should be sorted friday....

lostinrates

Itismehonest wrote: »

I've often wondered if some Planning Officers haven't already "lost it" when consulted & definitely long before they resign or take leave of absence.
It's undoubtedly a stressful job with lots of people wanting to overstep the mark but they do often seem to want to make life as hard as possible for everyone involved.
That particular guy was the most reasonable (in terms of saying that his job was to work out how people could live in, the then, 20th century in historic buildings in protected areas. I think he got as much hassle from the other departments in his authority as he ever did from the public. As he said about my friend's house "You really can't be expected to keep walking around that while you're cooking!" but it was getting the archaeological lot to see that which was a killer.

Some academics just want everything kept as a museum, unfortunately, which goes a long way to killing the countryside off as a living, working place.

But also....the houses never have been museums. Our house looks georgian with victorian add ons, the chances are its a few hundred years older, and started as two rooms at the back of the house. The georgian but certainly shows evidence of older windows in the brick work (details not on the listing fwiw). The changes to this house over the years have been tremendous, which shows more architectural and social history than if it had been preserved in aspic over the years!

By all means, make sure these times remain visable, but not unusable!

Itismehonest

alfie_1 wrote: »

real quicky! my internet has crrashed and im "nicking" a wireless connection till mines fixed.:D
plenty of chat and i cant join in....:(

nocked up a few odd looks as im driving around for a signal....:rotfl:
keep well all should be sorted friday....

Oh hello, bye bye alfie. That's a b*gger :mad:
Hope it's sorted soon

Itismehonest

lostinrates wrote: »

But also....the houses never have been museums. Our house looks georgian with victorian add ons, the chances are its a few hundred years older, and started as two rooms at the back of the house. The georgian but certainly shows evidence of older windows in the brick work (details not on the listing fwiw). The changes to this house over the years have been tremendous, which shows more architectural and social history than if it had been preserved in aspic over the years!

By all means, make sure these times remain visable, but not unusable!

Precisely.
All old houses alter & have bits from different periods.

It's one of the (very many :rotfl:) reasons I dislike most NT houses. The "This is how it was in Mr ?'s day" just isn't true. There would have been a mish-mash of different styles, different furnishings & different items unless, of course, it was a brand new place with all brand new contects - & that wasn't often the case.

choille

We deal with Planners on an almost daily basis & often they take their orders from above - not God but head of Planning & they have their hands tied. It is a very stressful job & they are now well under staffed & here are expected to cover a massive area.

Lotus-eater

Someone I know built a new stone house, but made it look like it was built in different stages, so all different "ages" of building. Different windows the lot.
It didn't exactly work tbh, but it certainly looks interesting.