Barn conversion!Planning question!

Debt_Free_Chick

lauren1983 wrote: »

Thanks everyone

seems like a non starter then! as im sure its green belt there(eastmoor,derbyshire)

Shame, i was looking forward to life in the country

Just to clarify, green belt is an area around an urban area -generally it's there to prevent urban sprawl.

Eastmoor is almost certainly rural/countryside rather than green belt. Worse than that, I think it's in the Peak District National Park which, like Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty are subject to even stricter planning laws. Eastmoor is right on the boundary so do you know if the property is in the NP?

If it is, then you'll need to plough through the Local Plan which sets out the policies that apply to planning.

In addition, the land is likely to be agricultural which might be why it has permission for use as a holiday home.

Debt_Free_Chick

david29dpo wrote: »

I think i have uncovered a little scam going on round my way with old barns etc. The local estate who sold mine 13 years ago got PP for residential use no problem but now its difficult. The council prefer helping the local area has said above. I have now noticed twice they got PP for a barn for office use only, tried to rent it with no luck and now its been quickly became a house! Same with a old water mill which i saw for office rent in the local paper recently, now for sale as 3 flats. Whats going on there?

Depends on the Local Plan or Local Development Framework - these set out the policies that apply to development in the area.

littlelily

Another thing that I've remembered from our long and tortuous application - in our plans we have no sitting rooms, just two 'home offices'! Whilst planners are not supposed to judge plans on the situation of the applicant (because you could put the house on the market the day after you've received planning and those 'home offices' would never be exist) stating that both my husband and I planned to work from home (stretching the truth but not too massively) went down very well at the meeting! For some reason, so did the proposal for us to keep bees to sell local honey - I KID YOU NOT!!!!:rotfl:

Do have a chat with your planning officer - you can even do this over the phone. It costs nothing and you'll usually get a pretty clear idea whether you have a hope in hell or not!

Debt_Free_Chick

littlelily wrote: »

Another thing that I've remembered from our long and tortuous application - in our plans we have no sitting rooms, just two 'home offices'! Whilst planners are not supposed to judge plans on the situation of the applicant (because you could put the house on the market the day after you've received planning and those 'home offices' would never be exist) stating that both my husband and I planned to work from home (stretching the truth but not too massively) went down very well at the meeting! For some reason, so did the proposal for us to keep bees to sell local honey - I KID YOU NOT!!!!:rotfl:

And the letter stating the reasons why PP was granted actually referred to these two crucial points, did it? :rolleyes:

littlelily

No, it simply stated that permission had been granted. However, at the planning meeting, both the parish council spokesman and our local councillor who appeared to lobby for approval on our behalf made specific mention of the fact that we planned to work from home (thus reducing commuter traffic into and out of the village) and that we would be supporting the local tourist industry (by retailing authentic local produce). These facts were also included in the report on possible light industrial/commercial use which I spoke of earlier.

Not sure if your tone was intended to be sarcastic - I was only trying to help the OP by suggesting angles that we had used to overcome an initial recommendation for rejection by our planning department (Newark and Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, if it's of interest).

Debt_Free_Chick

littlelily wrote: »

No, it simply stated that permission had been granted.

Unusual - they are required to state which of the local policies apply to the permission. The same applies to refusals - the reasons why it's refused must be stated.

However, at the planning meeting, both the parish council spokesman and our local councillor who appeared to lobby for approval on our behalf made specific mention of the fact that we planned to work from home (thus reducing commuter traffic into and out of the village) and that we would be supporting the local tourist industry (by retailing authentic local produce). These facts were also included in the report on possible light industrial/commercial use which I spoke of earlier.

Although they aren't relevant planning policies for a residential development. Had you been developing a commercial property or converting to commercial, they would have counted in your favour - but not for residential.

I assume you're aware that the Planning Officer had already recommended that planning permission be granted before the meeting and that the verbal comments almost certainly had no bearing on the outcome?

Not sure if your tone was intended to be sarcastic - I was only trying to help the OP by suggesting angles that we had used to overcome an initial recommendation for rejection by our planning department (Newark and Sherwood in Nottinghamshire, if it's of interest).

Tongue in cheek, certainly I'm a Parish Council Clerk and have just a little experience of planning

Applications either meet the national & local planning conditions - in which case they get permission - or they don't meet them and get refused.

Are you saying that you didn't change anything in your application except for creating home offices and keeping bees?

p.s. I'm also a beekeeper

littlelily

The planning officer had most definately NOT recommended approval before the meeting! The plans were before the meeting because he had recommended refusal. The planning committee voted to reject his recommendation and approve the plans.

For info, the reasons given for his recommendation for refusal centred around: "Unsustainable development incompatible with the aims of Policy 1/1 of the Nottinghamshire Joint Structure Plan and PPS1 Delivering Sustainable Development".

lauren1983

Thanks everyone for all your advice i have been intouch with the Peak District National Park Authority and should be hearing from them tommorow.

Yep it was as you thought Debt_Free_Chick, the barn is in the boundary of the NPA. Proberly not a good thing from the sounds of things

Thanks again everyone :beer:

Debt_Free_Chick

lauren1983 wrote: »

Yep it was as you thought Debt_Free_Chick, the barn is in the boundary of the NPA. Proberly not a good thing from the sounds of things

Just that development is more strictly controlled in the NPA.

Do read through the Local Plan or at least the parts that relate to residential development especially anything about conversion of agricultural buildings.