Planning Question

louis87

Hi,

I own a semi-detached property and not long ago I submitted an application under Permitted Development Rights for a "Certificate of Lawfulness".

It was for the construction of a ground floor rear extension together with a roof alteration (to be more specific a dormer).

Everything was granted, with just one exception relating to the dormer.

In accordance with the:
"The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (No. 2) (England) Order 2008"

They planning department have requested the following:
"(b) other than in the case of a hip-to-gable enlargement, the edge of the enlargement closest to the eaves of the original roof shall, so far as practicable, be not less than 20 centimetres from the eaves of the original roof"

Honestly I have no idea why they request this setback, which will inevitably increase my costs as the wall of the dormer rather than continuing from my current ground floor wall upwards will need to be supported by a separate steel beam.

Now then, on my street there are a few other properties which have not built their dormers in accordance to the above rule.

As far as I can gather either they were built before the rule was enforced or the owners just simply ignored the rule.

Assuming I ignore the rule and I build my dormer as I would like to, what is the worst that could happen?

Thanks for your time & look forward to hearing your answers!




P.S. Great forum! Am scouring through its various money saving tips while I wait for your answers! :-)

beaker141

I think the 20cm rule came in about Oct 2008 - they were threatening much more stringent criteria which would have outlawed most dormers so I think we got off lightly.

Are you sure you cannot build off the wall - ie does your roof not have any overhang past the wall - 20cm isnt very much and is usually easy enough to keep - I think on mine there is at least 30cm whilst still allowing me to build off the inner brick leaf.

The worst that could happen - they force you to take it all down again at your cost so probably not a good idea.

louis87

Thanks for the quick reply!

The roof does have overhang and my personal interpretation of the law had been that 20 cm from the edge of the overhang, which would work perfectly for what I want.

However, as far as I have gathered from meeting with the council representative, they are asking for a 20 cm setback from the wall location rather than eaves edge.

A number of properties on the street do indeed have their dormers setback by approximately 20 cm from wall rather than eaves edge.

There was some confusion on their part & they did take their time in making a decision. Could it be that the planning officer is interpreting the law incorrectly?

Then again I am not going to exclude the fact that I may have mis-understood their requirement.

iamcornholio

If the work is permitted development then you need the 200mm set back.

If you don't want the set back then you apply for formal planning permission.

I can't understand how this will increase your costs and your house wall is most likely 200mm back from the eaves in any case. And you wont need a beam for the front of a dormer, just a piece of timber - about £10 worth

As for the worse that could happen ... well you could have to remove the unauthorised work

planning_officer

louis87 wrote: »

However, as far as I have gathered from meeting with the council representative, they are asking for a 20 cm setback from the wall location rather than eaves edge.
...
There was some confusion on their part & they did take their time in making a decision. Could it be that the planning officer is interpreting the law incorrectly?

Yes the planning officer is interpreting this incorrectly - tell him to look at the informal guidance on interpreting householder PD published by DCLG. That clearly states that the 20cm is measured along the plane of the roof, i.e. from the furthest point of the overhang (not from the point at which the wall meets the roof).