1st floor extension over garage

Jonah01

Hi,

Have posted before about my plans to extend over my garage to create a bedroom.ensuite.

Well have got prices back from a couple of architects which seem fair enough.

The difficulty is want to build to the boundary and I am worried that the council will just say no at the pre plan app stage.

Our neighbour across the road has been approved planning for the same extension when the policy clearly states 1st floor extensions must be 1m inside the boundary.

I'm all for speculating to accumulate and all that but my gut says we haven't got a hope of getting planning.

One architect wants to do a rough plan and then a meeting with the council . Approx £700 including pre app.

The other architect want to do full survey , feasibility and drawings for pre app which will cost around £1700. This architect got my neighbour planning.

Really can't decide on the best course of action here. Anyone any experience with planning policies? Are they strict or just guidelines?

Thanks

Doozergirl

There's no negotiation on that kind of thing with my council. Policy is policy and I have seen a few rejected near me where they want to take the first floor to the boundary. Ground floor is more acceptable.

teneighty

Local planning policies can be quite vague and ambiguous and therefore open to interpretation.

If a neighbour has got approval contrary to the policy, assuming the policy was in place at the time and it is not an old extension, then that would suggest there is scope for interpretation. If all else fails you would have some excellent evidence for a planning appeal.

By the way, those architects fees look a bit steep for a pre-app on a simple first floor extension over a garage. The pre-app process is very simple and only requires very basic sketches, it is designed for the homeowner to get advice so you could easily do it yourself. Otherwise shop around, you'll certainly get it for a lot less than £700. £1700 for a pre-app is just daylight robbery.

Jonah01

Right. Thanks for your replies.

Yes permission was granted within the last few months for my neighbour.

That is good to know about the pre app. I certainly don't want to spending 2k for them to simply say no. £700 sounds possible but like you say I could put something together myself or shop around a bit more.

Are you disadvantaged if your pre application isn't of a high specification and is a bit rough? surely that is what it is there for.

All i want to know is if the boundary is going to be an issue as we can't come in from the boundary as the space wouldn't be big enough.

Thanks again.