anyone have experience with Planning Permission?

that's funny... i love overhearing snipits of conversations. 

my partner's a painter, his brother is a chippy.  consequently, we'll probably be using his friends.  which has ups & downs.

i haven't even begun to think about quotes etc... it's a bit chicken & egg.  i don't want to buy house if we can't refurb/demolish.  won't know 100% if we can do this until we buy & put in planning permission. 

Especially in London?

Ours was just submitted on Monday and I'm already anxious!  I know I've gotta to calm myself down because it could be a loooooong wait!  But I'm just wondering how long?

Experiences appreciated.

hi usuk2004...my husband has lots of experience with the planning system as an architect. he says:

- there is a statutory time period for determining planning applications which is 8 weeks.
however, local authorities will often use every trick in the book to wait until 7 weeks and 6 days, then ask for "more information". while it would be possible to dig your heels in and insist on an application being determined within the statutory period, in practice this would not usually be a good idea as you want to stay in the good books of the people determining your application and human nature always comes into play.

- in many of the cases that people have been discussing planning permission may not even be required, but if you make a submission the local authority won't necessarily tell you that you didn't need to. there is a process known as "permitted development", which allows for additions to residential property, as long as you own the whole house (ie. it isn't a flat within a building). for instance, you are allowed to extend a terraced house by 50 cu m, which can equate to a rear loft extension and a "side return" for a typical london 2-storey house. there are a few other criteria that need to be met, but there are many such things without any planning permission at all. it is a good idea to apply for a "certificate of lawfulness" just in case a future dispute arises about whether planning permission was needed.

- even though planning permission may not be necessary, as described above, building regulations consent usually will be, because you will be making structural alterations and so on.

hope that is helpful!

You might be surprised just how much refurbishment work you can do to an existing house without planning permission being necessary.   If you don't need to extend outward or upward (or only need to extend outward within certain limits), you may well be able to completely strip the place and rebuild it internally, and replace external doors and windows, with no planning consent needed.    You just need to avoid buying a listing building, or one which lies within a conservation area, both of which bring much tighter restrictions.

Have a browse through this site for some good information:

http://www.planning-applications.co.uk/

In particular, start on this page to read what is covered by permitted development:

http://www.planning-applications.co.uk/pdrights.htm


Remember too that there is building control, which is separate from planning permission.  Many things which do not require planning consent still require notification and inspection by the local building control department to ensure compliance with the building regulations.  In other words, the planning permission covers what you are allowed to build, building control regulates how you actually construct it (i.e. structurally sound, proper ventilation, fire precautions, etc.).

we just received planning permission for a part single storey part double storey extension (basically means we're extending on the ground floor further than the first floor) and we got planning approval on the first go.  The guy we used was excellent in advising up what would pass and what was likely not to pass.  It's a bit smaller than we wanted but we live in a conservation area so it was better to be safe than sorry.  It's going to give me the brand spanking new kitchen I want, a new bathroom and a bigger bedroom for Squidge so I can't complain.  We're planning on doing it up and selling it on or we might stay here until we die- you never can tell.

when you say "the guy" was it your architect or ?

hi usuk2004...my husband has lots of experience with the planning system as an architect. he says:

- there is a statutory time period for determining planning applications which is 8 weeks.
however, local authorities will often use every trick in the book to wait until 7 weeks and 6 days, then ask for "more information". while it would be possible to dig your heels in and insist on an application being determined within the statutory period, in practice this would not usually be a good idea as you want to stay in the good books of the people determining your application and human nature always comes into play.

- in many of the cases that people have been discussing planning permission may not even be required, but if you make a submission the local authority won't necessarily tell you that you didn't need to. there is a process known as "permitted development", which allows for additions to residential property, as long as you own the whole house (ie. it isn't a flat within a building). for instance, you are allowed to extend a terraced house by 50 cu m, which can equate to a rear loft extension and a "side return" for a typical london 2-storey house. there are a few other criteria that need to be met, but there are many such things without any planning permission at all. it is a good idea to apply for a "certificate of lawfulness" just in case a future dispute arises about whether planning permission was needed.

- even though planning permission may not be necessary, as described above, building regulations consent usually will be, because you will be making structural alterations and so on.

hope that is helpful!

Hi Kerry - thanks for this.  The original post was ancient!!!  Sadly our planning permission was refused and we're currently mid appeal.  The neighboring windows weren't an issue and there were no objections from neighbors, the planning officer didn't like our proposal, as she said it undermined the original silhouette of the house.  it's absolute crap!  anyway, we did know about the 50cu meter thing, but unfortunately, we are in a flat and were required to apply for planning.

For meggles - Your local council should have a web-based portal where you can search previous applications.  You might want to check to see if there's any precedent.  Precedent is always a good thing! 

Lastly, and this is where it get's 'slightly' interesting, if you know councillors, or know the planning officers etc, you 'may' get your application bumped up the queue slightly

I've known people who have known the right people to get their planning though quicker, and next step up from that, also known people who've 'influenced' the planning dept in order to get permissions where they're usually not given!

if your lucky enough to know these kinda people in your area, it might be worthwhile 'influencing' them to look favourably on your application when they're next in the office !

Probably not a good idea to encourage people in what is probably a criminal activity, and certainly an antisocial one.

Hi HME,

I wasn't implying any form of illegal activity - I agree, anything like that shouldn't be encouraged.

However, it's a known fact that 'putting in a good word' by someone you may know in the planning dept. may help your application 'within' acceptable boundaries. I'm not saying you 'pay someone off' or 'forcefully coerce' them etc.

It's still thin ice though, as if 'over enthusiasm' is used to get permission it can look negative.

When I say 'influence' them, I mean it within acceptable and legal boundaries.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

If you want an example of "antisocial" activity, I think the planning departments are often the guilty parties. 

Perfectly reasonable applications on the estate where I live have been turned down flat, despite the fact that nobody here seemed to have any objections whatsoever.  But when a developer wanted to build a half dozen "executive style" homes in a village a mile away, objections by existing residents were overriden and zap, pow, up they went.

A lot of people here certainly do suspect that pieces of paper bearing pictures of H.M. The Queen did indeed exchange hands in plain brown envelopes..... 

haha Paul!  no ?  really?!!   

It's amazing what those pieces of paper showin the Queens picture and also those other funny green pieces of paper showin Benjamins picture can make people do!




DtM! West London & Slough UK!

update- went to look at the house/property last night.  the land is okay.  the house is fine.  the area is not my cup of tea.  if the boy wants to buy it and do it up to sell fine, but i don't want to move there.