Planning permission : lack of publicity but approved anyways.

lemonizer

Hi all,

Bit of a weird question.

4 years ago planning permission was granted and work has done started on the project. The issue is that the local council were meant to advertise the application in a local paper.

Turned out they advertised it the week of the "beast from the east" so no-one in the locality obtained the notice as most were snowed in for 4+ days.

Does anyone know how that works? There was no way any of us could have seen the notice unless they helicopted/snow mobiled the papers to our houses! which I doubt.

Can anyone help?

macman

What is 'the project'?
We are not psychic: is it adjacent to your own property, opposite?
The application would have appeared on the LA's website also.

user1977

It doesn’t really matter how it was advertised at the time. If consent was granted four years ago it isn’t going to be undone now.

Martico

“But the plans were on display…”

“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”

“That’s the display department.”

“With a flashlight.”

“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”

“So had the stairs.”

“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”

“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”

Douglas Adams - HHGTTG

Section62

user1977 said:

It doesn’t really matter how it was advertised at the time. If consent was granted four years ago it isn’t going to be undone now.

^This

Immediately after the decision was made there was a slim - but expensive to obtain - chance of getting a court to overturn the decision.

Four years later something which is publicised in a publicly accessible database will be far beyond legal challenge.

The only outstanding question is whether the work commenced before the expiry of any deadline specified in the consent.  Three years is typical, but it can vary (or be extended) on a case-by-case basis.

lincroft1710

lemonizer said:

Can anyone help?

Possibly Dr Who, as I believe they have a time travelling machine, which you would need to travel back 4 years in order to object to the application.


Far, far too much water has flowed under the bridge for anything to be done. The fact that because of poor weather conditions, details of the application published in hard copy may have only been seen by a few people is immaterial, the details were published.


If the conditions of the application were not being adhered to, you could bring this to the planning authority's attention, but this would probably only result in the applicant being told to toe the line or apply for a Certificate of Lawful Development. It would not reverse the decision of granting approval of the application

lemonizer

I'm not trying to stop the permission as actions of the developer are currently doing that better job than I ever could. Including, hard to beleieve, digging up someone's flower bed as they assumed it was a public highway!

My question was quite simple. What on earth happens when the most basics of planning are not followed. As in, the core fundementals.

lincroft1710

lemonizer said:

I'm not trying to stop the permission as actions of the developer are currently doing that better job than I ever could. Including, hard to beleieve, digging up someone's flower bed as they assumed it was a public highway!

My question was quite simple. What on earth happens when the most basics of planning are not followed. As in, the core fundementals.

That was not your original question!

Hi all,

Bit of a weird question.

4 years ago planning permission was granted and work has done started on the project. The issue is that the local council were meant to advertise the application in a local paper.

Turned out they advertised it the week of the "beast from the east" so no-one in the locality obtained the notice as most were snowed in for 4+ days.

Does anyone know how that works? There was no way any of us could have seen the notice unless they helicopted/snow mobiled the papers to our houses! which I doubt.

Can anyone help?

See my previous post

If the conditions of the application were not being adhered to, you could bring this to the planning authority's attention, but this would probably only result in the applicant being told to toe the line or apply for a Certificate of Lawful Development. It would not reverse the decision of granting approval of the application

SprostonGreenHead

Surely the basics were followed in that it was placed as a public notice in a public newspaper. The fact that less people will have seen it due to weather that week is purely incidental.

sevenhills

I believe local authorities have a legal duty to advertise in the local newspaper. I don't believe that there is any legal duty to advertise effectively, otherwise they would advertise on social media.
I did read about changes to this, but it could make the local newspapers unprofitable.

lemonizer

Maybe better if I just quote the law on this:

“by publication of the notice in a newspaper circulating in the locality in which the land to which the application relates is situated.”


Yes, the notice exists. My question is what happens when this notice is published in a newspaper that wasn't circulating in the locality. It usually is, but on this one occasion it wasn't.

Also the local council (same as planning department) were, at the time, co-ordinating disaster relief including mountain rescue and the RAF flew in a chinook to help stranded families with food!