Planning permission advice

highgreen_2

Hi

Our proposed kitchen extension is supposed to start a week on Monday - we have building regs approved but we have hit a snag with planning.

Every builder I spoke to when obtaining quotes said that planning permission wouldn't be required, so we just made an enquiry with the planning department to see if it was needed and now they are telling us that indeed it is.

I believe this is due to a change in permitted development rights, all we are doing is knocking down a 'lean to' and putting the extension in the space that this will free up. Previously from permitted dev rights this would have fallen under the 'less than 15% increase in to your property' so no planning would have been needed. Now we fall into the 'more than 3m' bracket - even though we aren't building anything which extends beyond the back of the house, we are extending from the back of the garage (which stops at the middle of the house) to bring the wall in line with the back of the property.

Anyway, the long and short of it is I am going to put the planning application in today but don't want to stop the build, potentially for 8 weeks while planning permission comes through. But obviously I also don't want the extension built only for planning to refuse the application and have to take it down again.

The application on the face of it seems like a 'no brainer' to me - just wondering what anyone else's thoughts or experiences may be around this subject.

Thanks in advance.

ormus

you are taking a gamble proceeding with the work without the correct PP.
after saying that, i dont really see a problem with retrospective PP, in your case.
i assume all the neighbours are ok with your project?

highgreen_2

Yeah, neighbors are fine with the plans, only thing that concerns me with retrospective PP is when they come out for an inspection only to find the extension is already complete, not sure how impressed they would be or if there is anything they need to see before or during build, though I guess that side of things falls under the remit of building control who we already have on board.

jimmy230

As the other poster says, you do run the risk that the council might take enforcement action if you begin the extension before a decision is made on your planning application.

The government website www.planningportal.gov.uk contains a useful section titled 'Do I need planning permission?', which might be helpful to you.

System

can you not just wait until the planning is granted?
you should have made an enquiry about pp at the outset no matter what any builder says, the only ones that can tell you 100% is the planning department, pd rights have many ins and outs, you should ask the planners to confirm why it doesn't meet the criteria for pd.
Are you in that much of a rush for the extension that i can't wait until the permission is granted, would be a lot more expensive to have to do it and alter something or get the permission refused and have to appeal etc - if the builder is unhappy with that you could always ask them why they said there was no planning required in the first place!

highgreen_2

I had a look at the planning portal just now (the site was down earlier for maintenance) - the interactive section suggest that "Single storey extension must not extend beyond the rear of the original house by more than 3 metres..." - our extension will not in fact extend past the rear of the original house at all. Am starting to think this should indeed be permitted development but will have to have another discussion with the planning department to see if they are willing to budge on their interpretation of the permitted development guidelines.

System

as i said before there are many things to consider in pd rights, are you sure that your property is entitled to pd?
have you read the guidance here http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/extensions - if you have asked if it needs permission and they have replied saying it does you are going to have a difficult time convincing a planning officer that deals with the regulations on a daily basis and has the final say - that their interprietation is incorrect, but good luck!

Bigmoney2

highgreen wrote: »

Hi

Our proposed kitchen extension is supposed to start a week on Monday - we have building regs approved but we have hit a snag with planning.

Every builder I spoke to when obtaining quotes said that planning permission wouldn't be required, so we just made an enquiry with the planning department to see if it was needed and now they are telling us that indeed it is.

I believe this is due to a change in permitted development rights, all we are doing is knocking down a 'lean to' and putting the extension in the space that this will free up. Previously from permitted dev rights this would have fallen under the 'less than 15% increase in to your property' so no planning would have been needed. Now we fall into the 'more than 3m' bracket - even though we aren't building anything which extends beyond the back of the house, we are extending from the back of the garage (which stops at the middle of the house) to bring the wall in line with the back of the property.

Anyway, the long and short of it is I am going to put the planning application in today but don't want to stop the build, potentially for 8 weeks while planning permission comes through. But obviously I also don't want the extension built only for planning to refuse the application and have to take it down again.

The application on the face of it seems like a 'no brainer' to me - just wondering what anyone else's thoughts or experiences may be around this subject.

Thanks in advance.

Surely you are just rebuiding and existing part of you property, so not actually increasing the size.
Jules

highgreen_2

Problem is I don't think they class the 'lean-to' as part of the existing property, i.e. it is makeshift and not an approved structure - although it was in place when we purchase the property.

The frustrating thing about this is it's all down to one person's interpretation of government guidelines. I think the reason we've been told we need permission is they are considering the property to be 'stepped', but in reality the garage is not part of the house so we wouldn't be adding an extension to a stepped part of a house, in actual fact we'd been adding a side extension so all should be fine.

But that's my interpretation and not much I can do if someone in the planning department has a different interpretation of the guidelines...

System

unless the lean-to is a habitable space and a kitchen currently it is different in planning terms, it's like saying i have a wooden shed from b&q in my garden but i'm going to knock it down and build a house that's about the same size!
please listen to this advice: contact the planning department and ask why this is not falling under permitted development, follow the advice of the planning department and just get on with it! If you keep questioning them it will soon add up to the 8 weeks you could have just bitten the bullet and submitted the permission! trying to get retrospective planning for something they have already told you requires permission can be awkward and time consuming, i don't understand why you are taking the advice of a builder about planning issues instead of the planning officers?!
if you got a planning officer out to build your extension i'm sure they would refer you to a builder and not just get on with it

Doozergirl

It sounds like the PP would be a case of ticking the right box; when they come out for their initial assessment they can't give you a categorical yes but the officer will tell you if they will support it. This sort of thing would never go to committee and would be, in reality, decided by that one person, so I'd personally wait for the outcome of that initial visit before you started work. Then it would be a calculated risk rather than an outright one.

You're not the first on this board with this issue. Why they can't look at it as a side extension, I don't know. They must judge everything on whether it's a rear extension first before considering it a side extension, hence the garage. If the garage is attached, it will be considered part of the original house.