Prior approval for permitted development refused. Can anyone explain?

rosie383

We submitted our application for prior approval within permitted development for a single storey rear extension.
As the title suggests, it was refused but we don't really understand why. The reason the council have given is that 'it will result in extensions to the dwelling projecting past a side elevation of the existing building and being more than half the width of the original dwelling'.
What they are basing this decision on is a picture showing the original house which looks as if it had an outside toilet or similar at one stage at the rear of the house. This is no longer there, nor indeed do they survive on any of the neighbouring homes, and all of our neighbours have single storey extensions.
I am filling in the appeal form on the government portal now, but can anyone help me with wording?
And is it worth trying to speak to the local guy who made the decision? The architect who drew up and submitted the plans for us is surprised to say the least, as he has never come across a decision like this in our town and has dealt with many similar applications.
If anyone can help I would appreciate it.

phil24_7

Look on Google and go back through the years to find out when that toilet was still there and what they are basing their decision on.

You will also need to mention that a president has been set on your street as many other properties have exactly the same extension as you are proposing.

regards
Phil

rosie383

Thanks Phil. Apparently the decision is based on the original property or what existed in 1948, so according to the LPA, they don't really care that these outbuildings haven't been there for years.
Word on the grapevine is that there is a new head of planning (or whatever the title would be) and that he is now refusing prior approval where it would not have been refused before.
Going through the appeals form, I have now got to the bit where I have to state my case. I am aware that I can take pictures of neighbouring properties if relevant (being aware of people's privacy of course) and I will try to see if I can get any pictures showing that the old outbuildings no longer exist on the houses.
Help with wording would be greatly appreciated as I only have one shot at this.
'Precedent' is good, any more relevant jargon would be welcome.

phil24_7

Google Earth or Google Maps will show you the satellite pictures going back to the 2000's. Putting these in will show that the outbuilding(s) were knocked down a long time ago (I presume). The more recent ones will also show the extensions to the other houses on your street.

Was the out building(s) attached to the original house?
How old is the house?

You my also want to include in you appeal that the thermal performance of the property will be improved by having a modern extension put on it.

phil24_7

It may also be worth getting your architect or a surveyor or someone else who is a specialist in that field to help you word it or write it on your behalf.

Regards
Phil

rosie383

Thanks Phil. I get your idea about Google earth images. Could be very helpful. We can ask our architect about wording of the appeal. Not sure how much help he would be though.

phil24_7

They will have a better idea about what grounds you can appeal on.

Any appeal will go to a committee so the guy in charge wont necessarily have a bit say unless it is a council policy change that he is implementing.

It my also be worth speaking with your local MP (they can be quite helpful sometimes) or contacting the government department in charge of planning regulations as they may have something to say on the matter if it goes against national policy.

Regards
Phil

chrisw

Although refusing prior approval doesn't mean you can't have an extension, just that you will have to apply for planning permission for it. Of course, permission might ultimately be refused, but possibly not if the neighbouring properties all have similar extensions already.

System

I would just apply for planning permission in an instance like this, do you know that all the other extensions were done under pd?
They are not saying you can't have an extension, just that planning permission is required.

Appealing this decision is effectively appealing against the technicalities of the legislation and precedent etc doesn't come into it (unless you can prove others extensions exactly the same as yours have been allowed under the current revision of the PD legislation)

Really not worth the time appealing it, just do some drawings and submit a planning app

rosie383

It seems ludicrous that we should have to put in an application for planning permission costing many hundreds of pounds, when permitted development seemingly allows us to do a simple rear extension. I trawled through many, many government pages last night looking to see if there was a reasonable explanation as to why we couldn't build our extension, but I couldn't find anything.
If this was a monster extension, or something which may impact on our neighbours or the environment, and was something a bit out of the ordinary, then I could understand the refusal and the need to apply for PP. But it isn't. It is a normal, run-of-the-mill single storey extension, not overlooking any neighbours, and similar to what half of the houses in the street already have.
Surely the whole idea of permitted development is to remove red tape and make a reasonable alteration to a home a bit easier and less expensive.
I am going to try to speak to the planning officer this week. According to the appeals process on gov.uk we should try this approach first. Mind you, when I already tried that, I was able to speak to someone in admin who sadly shook her head, said there are a lot of angry agents and home owners in our town at the moment due to these decisions, and we need to appeal or change our plans quite radically and then seek prior approval again.

System

In any local authority I've applied for prior approval, it cost the same as a detailed planning application and had the same timescale for a decision. PD has very strict rules deliberately, if your proposal doesn't meet the requirements, then it requires planning permission. For a successful appeal you will have to prepare detailed drawings which clearly show the proposals meets all the criteria set out, shows the existing house at the specific date and then make your argument about how someone who uses the legislation on a daily basis has applied it incorrectly - convincing a number of people that your reading of the rules are better than your local head of planning. and then wait for an undetermined amount of time until it comes up at committee... This approach is not as simple or cheap as putting in a planning application and has a huge amount of red tape!
Good luck with it