Obtaining Planning Permission for New Builds

River_Girl

Initially, I will only put brief details here but will start another thread with more detail if that is needed...
My mother owns a plot of land between her house and a neighbour which is currently "agricultural". It has always been her wish to build a retirement bungalow with the proceeds from selling the family home.
More recently I have become disabled and we have both agreed to the "plan" of building two bungalows on the land so we can support each other going forward.
An Application for Advice has been made and we have been told permission is unlikely to be granted as the land is not in the envelope...
We have been told that we can apply to another council or authority for permission (which seems mad to me) - a large development was passed recently without the local authorities even having a say...

Any clues to our way of appealing and so obtaining our retirement homes would be gratefully received - many thanks in advance :A

davidmcn

You don't appeal against pre-planning advice, you'd need to make the planning application - and if that's refused, then appeal.

But if what you're proposing is clearly against their current policy, it doesn't seem worthwhile.

Davesnave

River_Girl wrote: »

My mother owns a plot of land between her house and a neighbour which is currently "agricultural".

Do you mean it has an agricultural occupancy condition? (Agricultural tie.)

That might explain a relatively modern (1970 onwards) property being outside the development boundary, but it would not indicate a general ability to build there, or any potential for infill development of the type you have in mind.

angelin77

We have just obtained planning permission to build a new bungalow next to our existing one which now has pp to turn into a dormer. It has cost us about £5000 to obtain both pp's. Yours will probably cost more with the architect fees and application fees for two new builds for which is doesn't look likely permission will be granted. It's quite a lot of money to gamble on a non certainty.....and that's just the beginning. You need permission to drop kerbs, arrange new services etc. A lot to consider.

Doozergirl

Your best bet would be to speak to a planning consultant and ask them to assess the situation for you and advise whether it is worth making a full application. However, I wouldn't hold your hopes up.

Building outside of a village envelope in virtually open countryside isn't something that is easy to obtain and if the pre-app was a very flat no, you may find that the planning consultant advises you not to go for it. But at least you will have taken a your own professional paid for advice.

As a one-off (or two-off development), it's almost harder to get planning than it is for a larger developer.

It might be that you are allowed to build an annexe to the main dwelling instead of entirely separately registered dwellings, but an annexe may well not be worth a huge amount of money and may not be worth what you spend.

AdrianC

Davesnave wrote: »

River_Girl wrote:

My mother owns a plot of land between her house and a neighbour which is currently "agricultural".

Do you mean it has an agricultural occupancy condition? (Agricultural tie.)

I read it as the land itself is agricultural use. Rural LAs are often very reluctant to give change of use from agricultural, even for gardens, let alone for development.

davidmcn

AdrianC wrote: »

I read it as the land itself is agricultural use.

That's also how I interpreted it.

Also if it's "always been her wish to build a retirement bungalow" (presumably on this site) has she really always thought it was easy to get planning to build houses on agricultural land? Wouldn't altering the existing house be more feasible?

Davesnave

davidmcn wrote: »

....has she really always thought it was easy to get planning to build houses on agricultural land?

The naivety required to think that is why I thought the 'neighbour' might be an agricultural bungalow erected in the OP's mother's lifetime.

OTOH, it's common for those on the edge of villages to note the expansion of development boundaries and assume 'their time will come.'

In this case, perhaps it just hasn't come fast enough!

elverson

River_Girl wrote: »

We have been told that we can apply to another council or authority for permission (which seems mad to me) - a large development was passed recently without the local authorities even having a say...

Any clues to our way of appealing and so obtaining our retirement homes would be gratefully received - many thanks in advance :A

Is the advice from your local council or someone else?

Which "other council" do they refer to?

teneighty

Doozergirl wrote: »

Your best bet would be to speak to a planning consultant and ask them to assess the situation for you and advise whether it is worth making a full application. However, I wouldn't hold your hopes up.

Building outside of a village envelope in virtually open countryside isn't something that is easy to obtain and if the pre-app was a very flat no, you may find that the planning consultant advises you not to go for it. But at least you will have taken a your own professional paid for advice.

As a one-off (or two-off development), it's almost harder to get planning than it is for a larger developer.

It might be that you are allowed to build an annexe to the main dwelling instead of entirely separately registered dwellings, but an annexe may well not be worth a huge amount of money and may not be worth what you spend.

^^^^^^^^^ This is excellent advice and all you need to know.

A private Planning consultant will sometimes give an initial quick informal opinion for free over the phone, £500 for something in writing and around £1500 (plus architectural designer for plans) if it goes to a Planning application.

ProDave

You could always be a bit cheeky and apply for change of use to incorporate this bit of land into the existing garden thus making your garden bigger. At this stage without a building on it.

Then once (if ) the change of use is agreed, apply to build the new property which might be easier if it's a garden.