Planning permission complaint letter help
Discussion
I've got writers block on this.
My parents live in a house off a small drive, a nearby house (property developer) has applied for planning permission for a 3 story house to be built on the side of this current (developers) house's land. The front door however is at the back and the house is to be numbered one on from my parents on their drive not given a number to match the street on the other side (as the current house does). Hope you are still with me here. The permmision request states (at least my mum said) that provision for 4 cars is to be asked, more cars already an the area which is currently narrow and tight as it is. Other owners are angered at this, their neighbours and the neighbours of the the house next door to the proposed house (this being a 3 story house the houses either side are 2 story along a quiet residential street).
The house to be built will be opposite my parents, on the other side of the drive, they currently face gardens of houses which do not have car access to the rear, this one will if it's planned reverse build goes ahead.
My parents have asked me to draft a letter of complaint but I am stuck for correct terminology to be used and wondered if anyone has done a similar thing to advise or point me in the direction of some web help.
These bloody DIY/Home improvement/Property Ladder programs have got a lot to answer for.
Thanks
My parents live in a house off a small drive, a nearby house (property developer) has applied for planning permission for a 3 story house to be built on the side of this current (developers) house's land. The front door however is at the back and the house is to be numbered one on from my parents on their drive not given a number to match the street on the other side (as the current house does). Hope you are still with me here. The permmision request states (at least my mum said) that provision for 4 cars is to be asked, more cars already an the area which is currently narrow and tight as it is. Other owners are angered at this, their neighbours and the neighbours of the the house next door to the proposed house (this being a 3 story house the houses either side are 2 story along a quiet residential street).
The house to be built will be opposite my parents, on the other side of the drive, they currently face gardens of houses which do not have car access to the rear, this one will if it's planned reverse build goes ahead.
My parents have asked me to draft a letter of complaint but I am stuck for correct terminology to be used and wondered if anyone has done a similar thing to advise or point me in the direction of some web help.
These bloody DIY/Home improvement/Property Ladder programs have got a lot to answer for.
Thanks
Check the local building regs and what you can legitimatly complain about. The council should be able to help you via their website.
EG you can't complain about loss of property value, but you can complain about potential noise nuiscence etc.
If you can fund things in the UDP (Unitary development plan IIRC) that this development conflicts with, then you're on a stronger footing.
A decent amount of (different!!) letters from the surrounding neighbours also helps
Keep emotion out of the letter - it won't help.
EG you can't complain about loss of property value, but you can complain about potential noise nuiscence etc.
If you can fund things in the UDP (Unitary development plan IIRC) that this development conflicts with, then you're on a stronger footing.
A decent amount of (different!!) letters from the surrounding neighbours also helps
Keep emotion out of the letter - it won't help.
Sorry to be negative, but I can't see the problem as long as the four cars can (and WILL) be accommodated ON the new property. What causes problems is when people don't use their bloody drives, like where I live. Every house has a drive yet most mornings I have a Rover 75-shaped obstacle course to run just getting the van out of the street. The neighbours park on the pavement and leave the drives empty. WTF?!
Not only that, but I live at the dead-end, where there's a turning area. So what do the numpties do? Instead of reversing into their own ba5tard EMPTY driveways and going out the other way, they come down to the end of the road and do a 16-point turn, usually grazing my garden wall or fence in the process.
Neighbours. 2@'s, all of them...
Sorry for the hijack, rant over... 
Not only that, but I live at the dead-end, where there's a turning area. So what do the numpties do? Instead of reversing into their own ba5tard EMPTY driveways and going out the other way, they come down to the end of the road and do a 16-point turn, usually grazing my garden wall or fence in the process.
Neighbours. 2@'s, all of them...
Sorry for the hijack, rant over... Difficult to describe the area Wedgie but no they can't accomodate the extra cars, the house being built is only being built the opposite way around to have the access and cache of the area instead of the street it's neighbours all face on to.
They and their neighbours are not going to let themselves be walked over and probably have the value of their properties decreased just so some property developer can build a new house with a better address associated with it. He's clearly seen too many TV programs and will mess the area up
Thanks for the advice dnb & B&C one of my parent's neighbours is in the building industry (archtect or engineer something) and he's checking the legal side of things.
They and their neighbours are not going to let themselves be walked over and probably have the value of their properties decreased just so some property developer can build a new house with a better address associated with it. He's clearly seen too many TV programs and will mess the area up
Thanks for the advice dnb & B&C one of my parent's neighbours is in the building industry (archtect or engineer something) and he's checking the legal side of things.
Your parents are of course entitled to object to the granting of this planning permission, but you need to be clear about the grounds upon which you are objecting.
Thing like noise, access, infringement of privacy are perhaps considerations.
With respect, your letter needs to make things clearer than this post does.
for instance
If the front door is at the back, then isn't it the back door?
Perhaps you mean that the main entrance to the property is at the rear. If that's the case then say so, - but neither that fact, nor the property's proposed nomenclature about which you seem concerned, would be any valid reason for refusing planning permission.
Thing like noise, access, infringement of privacy are perhaps considerations.
With respect, your letter needs to make things clearer than this post does.
for instance
FourWheelDrift said:
The front door however is at the back and the house is to be numbered one on from my parents on their drive not given a number to match the street on the other side (as the current house does).
If the front door is at the back, then isn't it the back door?
Perhaps you mean that the main entrance to the property is at the rear. If that's the case then say so, - but neither that fact, nor the property's proposed nomenclature about which you seem concerned, would be any valid reason for refusing planning permission.
sparkythecat said:
If the front door is at the back, then isn't it the back door?
I am obviously not going to be using the same wording as I have on here,
Instead of being number 28 X Street like all the other houses it is in line with, it will be called 4 Y Close because it will be facing the wrong way. it's rear will be on the street side, the front will be on the close.
The planning committee must determine the application based solely upon material planning considerations (this is the theory anyway). As has been said before, comments relating to impact on property values does not wash, and can only serve to reduce the credence of any objection letter.
From your post it is difficult (for me at least) to visualise how the scheme will work in practice, however I would use terms such as 'detrimental impact upon the residential amenity of the surrounding properties'.
The local plan will set out requirements in respect of distances between dwellings (habitable rooms) and car parking ratios, however any developer/architect worth their salt will have designed their scheme in accordance with such stipulations.
Lay people can quiet easily interpret the local plan and should do so when drafting objection letters. Objectors should consider the proposed scheme (objectively!) against the policies laid down in the local plan, and draft an - emotionless - letter highlighting areas that conflict. If there aren't any contentious points then there is probably no reason why the scheme shouldn't be approved. If there are, then this type of considered objection is far more effective than one based around emotive and ill-informed reasoning. Good luck!
From your post it is difficult (for me at least) to visualise how the scheme will work in practice, however I would use terms such as 'detrimental impact upon the residential amenity of the surrounding properties'.
The local plan will set out requirements in respect of distances between dwellings (habitable rooms) and car parking ratios, however any developer/architect worth their salt will have designed their scheme in accordance with such stipulations.
Lay people can quiet easily interpret the local plan and should do so when drafting objection letters. Objectors should consider the proposed scheme (objectively!) against the policies laid down in the local plan, and draft an - emotionless - letter highlighting areas that conflict. If there aren't any contentious points then there is probably no reason why the scheme shouldn't be approved. If there are, then this type of considered objection is far more effective than one based around emotive and ill-informed reasoning. Good luck!
Gassing Station | The Pie & Piston Archive | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff