Planning problem with neighbours

sunnyone

zcrat41 wrote: »

Hi,
I don't know if it helps but I know for putting up agricultural buildings (and this inculdes a residential house we built) neighbours within 400m have to be notified.
Might be a bit different though.
good luc
zc

Thats not always true, I am like the OP and I read all planning aps. online and read all planning notices on lamposts etc. but a year ago a neighbour got permission and I questioned the planning officer and they dont even have to inform next door by post but they do have to publish planning aps, they now know Im interested and send me everything in my vacinity after it was verified that I regularly comment on planning aps. in my area.

I found it very hard to believe that home owners dont have a right to know whats going on within a few meters from there homes but its true.

beckseven

We were sent a letter the first time and not for the second one(applications made within a month of each other)-therefore when the work started we were fine about it thinking it was for the single storey extension but instead it was for a double storey with overlooking balcon!. The council have already admitted there was an administrative error and that a letter should have gone out to us and our three other neighbours and have offered to send a letter of apology! Great! Letters fired off to council, mp and councillor. Imagine if I built a house in my garden and by an 'administrative error' forgot to tell the council-if I apologised would they let me keep it!!!

hardpressed

People who know how to flout the system put in an planing application just so that it misses the Parish council's meeting, then they don't have an opportunity to raise an objection with the district council before the deadline. Planning in some areas is a joke. In our area a person was refused an extension, the planning officer told them 'if you house is too small for you move', the house opposite also has their application refused but they just went ahead anyway then applied for retrospective planning permission and got it! Retrospective planning permission is seldom refused, in this area anyway.

fawd1

I thought that when someone put in a planning application they were obliged to post a copy of that application in a vsible place i.e front garden. I know my neighbours have just applied for permission for a double storey extension and they had to have the application pinned to a board outside their home for 1 month. Did this not happen either?

dickydonkin

Hopefully, the neighbours have complied with the party walls act!
http://www.partywalls.org.uk/docs/BookletEnglish.pdf

meritaten

I get where you are coming from - they are manipulating the system and probably with some help from inside the council. so go to the top - the ombudsman. if the balcony overlooks bedrooms it shouldnt have been granted planning permission. also for some strange reason you werent informed of changes to the planning application - that sounds familiar to me - a local person put in a planning app for twenty homes and magically it turned into 40 overnight!! with planning permission - the residents complained to ombudsman and now - its still a site with no homes - and we think the builders have lost interest.
so complain - straight to the top.

planning_officer

Sunshine12 wrote: »

Im pretty sure that a neighbour notification has to be sent to any neighbours within a certain distance of where the works are being undertaken.

fawd1 wrote: »

I thought that when someone put in a planning application they were obliged to post a copy of that application in a vsible place i.e front garden.

No to both the above - like RLH33 says earlier, the legislation governing publicity for planning applications is very non-specific, and no specific method of publicity is required (for most householder applications (except those in conservation areas, listed buildings etc)). Different Councils have their own rules, and if they forget them, or don't keep to them, then all they can do is apologise - provided they have publicised it in some way (advert, site notice or neighbour letters), then they will not have fallen foul of the legislation.

meritaten wrote: »

I get where you are coming from - they are manipulating the system and probably with some help from inside the council. so go to the top - the ombudsman. if the balcony overlooks bedrooms it shouldnt have been granted planning permission.

Like RLH33 says, you cannot complain to the ombudsman without first complaining to the Council and waiting for their written response. If you don't do that, the ombudsman will return your complaint and tell you to do that first. You also have no evidence to suggest that the Council have suddenly helped them get permission, so that is an unjustified slur.

I agree that if the balcony overlooks, it should not have been granted planning permission - so I assume that it does not cause any severe overlooking. It may be that the Council have granted it permission subject to some conditions, for example requiring a balcony screen to be erected along the sides, to prevent overlooking. Have a look at the decision notice, which should be online on your Council's website.

meritaten

you are correct planning officer that one shouldnt go straight to the ombudsman without first going through procedure with the council. our association was able to show we had followed procedure but the council magically 'lost' all our correspondence - luckily the ombudsman believed us.
and its amazing isnt it how senior planning officers get invited to all the 'best' parties and count some right dodgy people among their 'friends' - not saying that ALL councils are like this - just that I damn well know the players and payers from my local council.

beckseven

Thanks for all your replies. My complaint letters have gone to the council, mp and councillor recorded delivery. We rang up today and spoke to a very 'helpful' duty planner who said that the person who dealt with it was on holiday-this woman was the one who said petulantly to me 'It's not OUR fault either' when I said that through no fault of our own we haven't been able to object. The said extension is going up at the speed of light with builders working all week on it including Good Friday and easter Sunday. I want to go to the ombudsman but can't because the council won't deal with our complaint until this woman is back from holiday. I feel so powerless

'Different Councils have their own rules, and if they forget them, or don't keep to them, then all they can do is apologise - provided they have publicised it in some way (advert, site notice or neighbour letters), then they will not have fallen foul of the legislation.'

What's the flamin point of having rules then-they can break their own rules with no comeback! I am thinking of hiring a solicitor as I am so angry with the council and their uselessness and apathy. I bet if we put planning permisison in my neighbours would be notified every step of the way! When they objected to their neighbour storing a caravan in the field next to them the caravan mysteriously got broken into! Feel really fed up.