Bloody Planners !
Discussion
Mrs BC and I live in a listed building in a conservation area so the house has to be maintained in a certain way and the paint colours etc., have to comply with rules.
We applied for permission to change the french doors into the garden with new wooden double glazed doors, change another back door in the same way and solar panels to rear of the house - out of sight.
The planning officers visited this morning and said 'no, not in keeping'. I suspect that we will win through on appeal but I do wonder what planet some of these people live on.
We applied for permission to change the french doors into the garden with new wooden double glazed doors, change another back door in the same way and solar panels to rear of the house - out of sight.
The planning officers visited this morning and said 'no, not in keeping'. I suspect that we will win through on appeal but I do wonder what planet some of these people live on.
We live in an area where the primary objectives of the council's policy are employment generation and the promotion of tourism to bring money into a county that doesn't have a lot of industry. We are planning a development that will achieve both. Now on our third re-submission of an application trying to overcome their objections 
They have absolutely no concept of reality and the sooner these departments get cleared of useless deadweights the better.
They have absolutely no concept of reality and the sooner these departments get cleared of useless deadweights the better.bad company said:
I do wonder what planet some of these people live on.
The planet of strict rules and regulations known as England. As I understand it, they know the relevant laws so it's like a policeman stopping you for doing 40 in a 30 irrespective of whether you thought it was safe or not (and in either case, nobody died and it really didn't matter in your mind). But it stops people putting up stupid buildings without giving a toss about neighbours.A very good reason why buying listed buildings, especially if you are considering renovation/moderniation/development, should be very carefully thought about and the budgets for any work doubled.
Not that I believe they are always wrong, but these conservation officers do seem to have a real 'job's worth' attitude based on not really living in the real practical world.
Things like windows can very, very quickly become very, very expensive!
Not that I believe they are always wrong, but these conservation officers do seem to have a real 'job's worth' attitude based on not really living in the real practical world.
Things like windows can very, very quickly become very, very expensive!
RemainAllHoof said:
bad company said:
I do wonder what planet some of these people live on.
The planet of strict rules and regulations known as England. As I understand it, they know the relevant laws so it's like a policeman stopping you for doing 40 in a 30 irrespective of whether you thought it was safe or not (and in either case, nobody died and it really didn't matter in your mind). But it stops people putting up stupid buildings without giving a toss about neighbours.There are rules and regs but most of it is subjective.
I have found that if you want to get something changed on a listed building the first thing to do is get the Conservation Officer on side. They love an excuse to get out the office so ask them to meet up and talk through what you’d like to do and get an idea of how they would like to see you do it.
Dealt with this way they can be really helpful and can even point you in the direction of builders and materials suitable for your property. Sure if your ideas are obvious non-starters they will give you short shrift but if you are realistic and can show them some drawings of your ideas and how they will blend in with the property and area they can be very helpful.
Above all they tend to love old architecture and preserving it for the future. If you are adding to a house and enhancing its features, rather than just changing it to suit you, they will love you for it and will help you massively.
I am not surprised that they weren’t keen on the solar panels though to be fair.
bad company said:
Mrs BC and I live in a listed building in a conservation area so the house has to be maintained in a certain way and the paint colours etc., have to comply with rules.
We applied for permission to change the french doors into the garden with new wooden double glazed doors, change another back door in the same way and solar panels to rear of the house - out of sight.
The planning officers visited this morning and said 'no, not in keeping'. I suspect that we will win through on appeal but I do wonder what planet some of these people live on.
Do you have pics of what's there, and what you intend to put in?We applied for permission to change the french doors into the garden with new wooden double glazed doors, change another back door in the same way and solar panels to rear of the house - out of sight.
The planning officers visited this morning and said 'no, not in keeping'. I suspect that we will win through on appeal but I do wonder what planet some of these people live on.
Just curious as to what was so "wrong" about them.
Rude-boy said:
Above all they tend to love old architecture and preserving it for the future. If you are adding to a house and enhancing its features, rather than just changing it to suit you, they will love you for it and will help you massively.
I am not surprised that they weren’t keen on the solar panels though to be fair.
The doors need replacing and I simply prefer to replace them with similar wooden doors but for obviour reasons double glazed. The solar panels will be at the rear of the property out of sight to passers by.I am not surprised that they weren’t keen on the solar panels though to be fair.
So the doors are the same material, style, size and location; will be finished in the same way and you're engaging the Conservation Officer before doing any of the work.
Really does baffle me sometimes. There is an Edinburgh based company that does very thin DG units to fit into listed sash windows. I assume they'll be able to make units big enough to fit into doors. Don't know their name though.
ETA: http://www.slimliteglass.co.uk/
Really does baffle me sometimes. There is an Edinburgh based company that does very thin DG units to fit into listed sash windows. I assume they'll be able to make units big enough to fit into doors. Don't know their name though.
ETA: http://www.slimliteglass.co.uk/
Edited by mk1fan on Monday 28th March 16:39
We did a conversion of a Grade 2* listed barn / ideal farm into a family home once.
Everything was fine, period details, reasonable about new / existing openings, up until the planners insisted that all the exterior woodwork had to be painted brilliant white gloss (which wasn't available until the 1960's).
We eventually managed to convince them to allow us to use a "heritage" colour, known as "invisible green". Made the place look 100 times better / more authentic than it would have in brilliant white.
Everything was fine, period details, reasonable about new / existing openings, up until the planners insisted that all the exterior woodwork had to be painted brilliant white gloss (which wasn't available until the 1960's).
We eventually managed to convince them to allow us to use a "heritage" colour, known as "invisible green". Made the place look 100 times better / more authentic than it would have in brilliant white.
Piersman2 said:
A very good reason why buying listed buildings, especially if you are considering renovation/moderniation/development, should be very carefully thought about and the budgets for any work doubled.
Not that I believe they are always wrong, but these conservation officers do seem to have a real 'job's worth' attitude based on not really living in the real practical world.
Things like windows can very, very quickly become very, very expensive!
Yep.Not that I believe they are always wrong, but these conservation officers do seem to have a real 'job's worth' attitude based on not really living in the real practical world.
Things like windows can very, very quickly become very, very expensive!
It has put us off buying a few houses, just basically knowing that we would be limited to what some possible jobsworth said yes to. It wasn't something I was willing to put up with.
OP, a quick chat with a local architect (I say local as it wants to be someoen who knows that planning officer type person) might well get your problem solved. Did the planner suggest what might have been approved at all and did you ask?
Our planning dept seems to be using their powers to right all the wrongs in the town. Our development has been held up for two months because one of them made a comment about not being able to get 3 cars on the drive. When nearly all the other houses in the street only have one space.
The thing is if they could spare the time to take a look they'd see you can get 3 cars at the front and probably 2 up the side. Can't believe we need to do a parking plan for what is not much more than a loft conversion. Blood Planners!
The thing is if they could spare the time to take a look they'd see you can get 3 cars at the front and probably 2 up the side. Can't believe we need to do a parking plan for what is not much more than a loft conversion. Blood Planners!
Si 330 said:
Talk to the conservation officer, they are usually pretty reasonable. They will tell you what they are looking for / find acceptable. There is more often than not a compromise to be agreed on.
But don’t hold your breath on the solar panels.
The solar panels are proposed to the rear. The planner had go through our garden, out of our garages and into a playing field some 80 - 100 yards to be able to see the roof in question.But don’t hold your breath on the solar panels.
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