Help regarding abandoned development near home

crazyhaggid

I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with this, a company purchased the hotel directly behind my house, and despite not doing any individual neighbour notifications and yet saying so on the planning application that they had, they got permission to convert the hotel into flats.

Although it's sad for our village to loose a source of income, what I'm worried about at the moment is so far all they have done in three years of 'development' is to knock door the old dance floor and leave the site looking like a bomb site, complete with piles of rubbish and rubble.

My house is elevated compared to the site (being on a hill) and I look directly into it. I'm about to put my house on the market and I'm worried it will put buyers off, is there any law requiring developers to keep sites tidy? I stay in a conservation area and have contacted my local planning department to ask if they could ask them to tidy the site and they told me no, but I don't really trust them to be honest, especially after the way the planning was granted despite not following the proper steps.

Anyone got any law/regulation I can use to get them to tidy the site?

flexrider

you could check if the land is green belt area only i know. sorry i could not be of any help

whitewing

May come under Nuisance Abatement laws, but that's froma quick google so i don't really know what I'm talking about!

PasturesNew

My local Council's been nagging loads of similar developers: from holes in the ground, to dangerous derelict buildings and everything in between. The best they've managed to get any of them to do is put up 'nice hoarding', but then that gets tatty.... you're probably stuck with it.

crazyhaggid

Thanks for the replies, 'nice hoarding' would do all I really want is for them to tidy it up! What about the money side of things I know if I was looking to buy a house a bomb site opposite would certainly put me off.

tealady

Hi I don't know if section 216 of the Town and Country planning act might help? A quick search on the internet may suggest so.

Cash-Cow_3

crazyhaggid wrote: »

I'm hoping someone might be able to help me with this, a company purchased the hotel directly behind my house, and despite not doing any individual neighbour notifications and yet saying so on the planning application that they had, they got permission to convert the hotel into flats.

Although it's sad for our village to loose a source of income, what I'm worried about at the moment is so far all they have done in three years of 'development' is to knock door the old dance floor and leave the site looking like a bomb site, complete with piles of rubbish and rubble.

My house is elevated compared to the site (being on a hill) and I look directly into it. I'm about to put my house on the market and I'm worried it will put buyers off, is there any law requiring developers to keep sites tidy? I stay in a conservation area and have contacted my local planning department to ask if they could ask them to tidy the site and they told me no, but I don't really trust them to be honest, especially after the way the planning was granted despite not following the proper steps.

Anyone got any law/regulation I can use to get them to tidy the site?

It would appear that the developers might have done some work on the property to keep their planning application alive. If it had gone over three years since permission with no work being carried out they would lose their permission and have to reapply to the local planning authority.

The local planning authority can issue a section 215 notice under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 if the site is having a detrimental impact on the area. You are in a conservation area so this helps. Its worth reporting the site to the planning authority as just the appearance of a planning enforcement officer making enquiries at the site may be enough for the developer to tidy things up. It would be rare for a developer to abandon a site long term particularly as you state you are in a conservation area so I take it that the site is quite a valuable one.

SallyG

Same kind of situation near me - tiny site jammed up against a cliff face - highly visible in the centre of the village conservation area and with an owner/builder who has no idea how to build the house he's got planning permission for.
This is year 4 of the mess - collapsed breeze block walls under tons of collapsed concrete poured in an attempt to construct the massive retaining wall required in the approved plan - soil now collapsing off the top of the cliff onto the site. Word is the builder is now bankrupt - where does that leave us neighbours?
Do planners have any responsibility for stopping developments that are clearly unbuildable?

milliebear00001

I have just made a complaint to the Environment department of my LA about a very similar derelict site, close to my house. I cited the 'statutory nuisance' regs. Their own website states a site can be considered a statutory nuisance if it affects the 'amentiy' of the airea (e.g. by attracting rubbish/fly tipping/falling into disrepair) or causes a danger to health (there are other criteria too).

The owners have a duty to make sure the site is secure (mine is not currently safe due to a broken wire fence). I too, would be happy with proper fencing that screens off the accumulations of rubbish etc and will be pushing for that.

Cash-Cow_3

SallyG wrote: »

Do planners have any responsibility for stopping developments that are clearly unbuildable?

You can get planning permission for something that is unbuildable but being able to build it legally will of course need building regs. Numerous permissions have to go back to planning because they fall foul of building regs.

It is worth informing the local planning authority anyway of concerns so that they can keep an eye on it to make sure that it is at least being built in accordance with the approved plans and the builder has discharged planning conditions.

crazyhaggid

This is the reply I got from my local planning department:

"I visited the site and although the site is not tidy, there is no remit within planning enforcement to pursue the developer as it is not considered to be that serious that we could take any notice against them.

The heras fencing is adequate when this type of work is ongoing.

Although the developers as you say have not been on site for some considerable time they are not in breach of any conditions. They have started within the time limit and there is no completion date."

From what I've read here is this wrong?