Definition of Loss of outlook for planning objection.

Mike+Kim

Hi all,

I live in a rural community and, with all my 5 neighbours, our rear gardens back onto a privately owned, undeveloped but maintained field of 8 acres. The field is owned by a well known park homes company with one of their parks located on the far side of the field. They have distributed a Planning Statement outlining their intention to turn the field into a holiday park. The proposal states there will be 15m 'buffer' all around the 4 sides of landscaping to hide the park from view. Other potential objections aside, for my neighbours and I, that means that the will be looking over my rear garden fence immediately onto 15m depth of trees/bushes/shrubs whereas we currently look over a large open maintained field. There are no sunlight issues but could planting right up to our boundaries to a height able to hide a 9ft holiday home constitute a loss of outlook?

Cheers,

M&K.

phil24_7

There is no such right and therefore no right to object for a loss of view. There is a possibility to sue for any loss of value to the house etc but this is costly and difficult to do. You may be able to object due to loss of amenity, not in keeping with the area or density but you will need to look at the entire proposal and then look at your local authority planning guidelines as well as government policies to see if the plans contravene any of them.

My initial hunch is that you won't/don't have any cause to object.

Doozergirl

As above, loss of outlook is not a valid planning objection.

Even if it were - we're talking about 9ft!

Apodemus

Any objection you make needs to be based on actual planning considerations and in most places there is no right to a view or "outlook", so loss of this would carry very little weight.

Davesnave

I think the question should always be, "Is the outlook in your deeds?"

Some of mine is, along with the cost and effort of maintaining it all. So, at least that's safe.

As for the rest, well, Phillip across the road can put up 100' barn if he wants, right in the middle of it, and as barns are exempt from normal planning rules, all he needs to do is show a need.

In the countryside, just as in town, things change. A land owner can put down thousands of square metres of spun-woven fabric, build a solar farm, or erect a wind turbine. Of course, people may object to more permanent changes, but only on planning grounds, so unless yours is an AONB or similar, your view is probably not a consideration.

But look on the bright side. Fields are relatively barren, whereas a woodland belt will be a great resource for wildlife. If it's agricultural land, you could have had a wood planted there at any time and without any formal process, so this was always a possibility