Planning objection possible?
Discussion
We've received a planning application notice for a development of 150 dwellings in the field that surrounds my house. We knew it was coming so its not a great surprise, but there are a couple of issues that i'd like to know if it is worth objecting to/asking for changes.
The row of new houses built behind my house will back onto my garden – their back gardens will come up to my fence. The developers are putting 1800mm high panel fences between the new properties' gardens, but using a wire fence at the bottom of their gardens, so although they won't be able to see into their next door neighbours' garden, the whole row will be looking directly into mine (the new houses are also higher up than mine, so the whole garden/back of the house will be overlooked. Can we object/request that they use panel fencing all round?
The other issue is that they are putting an access path to the development that will exit directly onto the bottom of my drive (it is currently a shared access to my house/the field). So anyone walking down will have to walk across the bottom of my driveway. Visibility is already poor, so I'm worried about the possibility of increased foot traffic on what is already a difficult lane to navigate (not just for me but also the properties further down the lane.
Although it is a shared access, can i object/request that the entryway to the footpath is moved so that i don't have hundreds of people walking across my drive?
The row of new houses built behind my house will back onto my garden – their back gardens will come up to my fence. The developers are putting 1800mm high panel fences between the new properties' gardens, but using a wire fence at the bottom of their gardens, so although they won't be able to see into their next door neighbours' garden, the whole row will be looking directly into mine (the new houses are also higher up than mine, so the whole garden/back of the house will be overlooked. Can we object/request that they use panel fencing all round?
The other issue is that they are putting an access path to the development that will exit directly onto the bottom of my drive (it is currently a shared access to my house/the field). So anyone walking down will have to walk across the bottom of my driveway. Visibility is already poor, so I'm worried about the possibility of increased foot traffic on what is already a difficult lane to navigate (not just for me but also the properties further down the lane.
Although it is a shared access, can i object/request that the entryway to the footpath is moved so that i don't have hundreds of people walking across my drive?
It's hard to be definitive without seeing the plans, but I see no issue with you raising your concerns around the fence and the access with the Planning Officer who could request amendments if they think it is appropriate. Whether the developers chose to comply with the request is another matter, but most will make changes in order to smooth the path through the planning process.
You could respond to the notification with "I do not object to the residential development in principle, but wish to bring to the attention of the case officer a couple of details that I believe are unnecessarily injurious to our amenities but could be mitigated by some simple amendments" and explain what they are.
Keep it succinct, and don't keep banging on the door. Planning Officers have to deal with all manner of fruitloops and loonies hounding them and screaming about their house prices being affected on a daily basis so often a polite, reasonable request is quite refreshing for them and they are minded to help them. They can be masters of ghosting people they don't have to deal with too, so make sure you don't fall into that camp.
You could respond to the notification with "I do not object to the residential development in principle, but wish to bring to the attention of the case officer a couple of details that I believe are unnecessarily injurious to our amenities but could be mitigated by some simple amendments" and explain what they are.
Keep it succinct, and don't keep banging on the door. Planning Officers have to deal with all manner of fruitloops and loonies hounding them and screaming about their house prices being affected on a daily basis so often a polite, reasonable request is quite refreshing for them and they are minded to help them. They can be masters of ghosting people they don't have to deal with too, so make sure you don't fall into that camp.
ewanjp said:
Do you own the bit it's exiting onto?
Sort of...Its a short drive about one and a half cars wide that access our house on one side and is currently an entrance into a field in the other. The boundary goes down the middle of the driveway and we each have access rights across the driveway - us so we can get to our house and the farmer could get to his field for ploughing/mowing etc.
So technically we own half and have access across the other half, and vice versa.
The footpath exit will be onto the farmers half of the drive but people will have to walk across our half, and we will still have to drive across his half.
I'm just a bit worried that the potential for an accident as it will go from one tractor every few weeks to a hundred or more pedestrian every day.
boyse7en said:
Sort of...
Its a short drive about one and a half cars wide that access our house on one side and is currently an entrance into a field in the other. The boundary goes down the middle of the driveway and we each have access rights across the driveway - us so we can get to our house and the farmer could get to his field for ploughing/mowing etc.
So technically we own half and have access across the other half, and vice versa.
The footpath exit will be onto the farmers half of the drive but people will have to walk across our half, and we will still have to drive across his half.
I'm just a bit worried that the potential for an accident as it will go from one tractor every few weeks to a hundred or more pedestrian every day.
If it is private and unadopted by the council, have they agreed anything with the farmer for access rights?Its a short drive about one and a half cars wide that access our house on one side and is currently an entrance into a field in the other. The boundary goes down the middle of the driveway and we each have access rights across the driveway - us so we can get to our house and the farmer could get to his field for ploughing/mowing etc.
So technically we own half and have access across the other half, and vice versa.
The footpath exit will be onto the farmers half of the drive but people will have to walk across our half, and we will still have to drive across his half.
I'm just a bit worried that the potential for an accident as it will go from one tractor every few weeks to a hundred or more pedestrian every day.
If not then i don't think they can use it with out permission from one or other of you. Then who will be responsible for the up keep of it?
You can certainly object on grounds of reduced amenity and privacy regarding the fence. I would also label it as an objection as it will have a different status than stating you don’t object in principle. There will often be a set number of objections that will need to be reached before the objection will be heard before the planning committee, plus an objection mentioning the issue of the lack of a substantial boundary fence, particularly given the levels difference will essentially require that the planning officer will have to request that fence from the developer or provide a very good justification why it shouldn’t be there, which would be very brave I would suggest.
The issue of your driveway and shared path - that will be more complicated. Is it a public right of way? How established is the field access? There may be other concerns outside of planning that may come into this so you should speak to your conveyancing solicitor to fully establish your rights regarding the land along with others rights.
Highways may also have concerns if there is the potential for conflict between vehicles and pedestrians.
The issue of your driveway and shared path - that will be more complicated. Is it a public right of way? How established is the field access? There may be other concerns outside of planning that may come into this so you should speak to your conveyancing solicitor to fully establish your rights regarding the land along with others rights.
Highways may also have concerns if there is the potential for conflict between vehicles and pedestrians.
Chipstick said:
Location plan and or photos would be useful.
This is the google view of my house. The red line is my boundary. The field surrounding my house to the south and east is to be developed with around 150 houses.
You can see the boundary splits the driveway in two. The gate to the south (you can see the tractor tyre ruts in the grass) is where the footpath from the development is planned to exit.
Promised Land said:
I doubt you’d get 100 pedestrians a day walking there, most humans don’t use their legs at all and drive everywhere.
Is that the only road opening to the estate or is there one further down where that farm currently is at the end of the road?
Nice part of the country BTW.
I'm not so sure. They are doing 150 houses now, but another 800 or so are planned to join on a bit further out as they extend the town.Is that the only road opening to the estate or is there one further down where that farm currently is at the end of the road?
Nice part of the country BTW.
The road past my house will be (according to the plans) deadended down by the farm, so there should be no vehicular traffic up from that way. But just north of my house on that lane is a footpath to the primary school, which all the kids from the new estate will be using. The footpath past my house will be the most direct route, so I expect a reasonable number of pedestrians to be using it four times a day (there and back for drop off and collection times)
It has been a great bit of the countryside for the last 20 years. Its a shame that we are going to be engulfed in a big estate as it will definitely change the feel of the place. When we moved here it was a hamlet of a dozen properties a few miles out of town.
The Rotrex Kid said:
Where is the actual access to the site/housing going to be for cars? Your lane hardly looks up to supporting the vehicular traffic for 150+ houses!
Ah, well, that's a hot topic of debate in the area...The developers are trying to buy a local park (swings, slides, football area etc) from the local council which is a bit further down the lane (about 200m) and to put the access road through it. They are promising to build a bigger park within their development, but this is facing stiff opposition as the new park would be further away from an existing estate, and the new access road would go into the existing estate near a local school. Also, developers have a poor reputation for completing local infrastructure works after they have built the houses. They all seem to go bankrupt shortly after selling the last of the houses and never complete the park/pitch/kids areas.
If the council actually develop a backbone and don't cave in and sell the park, then these houses will still get built but will have an access road going down onto the main highway - which is further away and presumably a lot more expensive for the developers to build.
We have a small (35 houses) estate built about 500 meters from our house. Planners made all kinds of promises to everyone about access routes, reducing the speed limits etc etc.
We didn't really have any objections to the houses being built but have been trying to get the 30 zone extended past the new houses for a while.
Soon as the plans were passed not a single item promised was delivered. The house are now built and the developers gone.
We didn't really have any objections to the houses being built but have been trying to get the 30 zone extended past the new houses for a while.
Soon as the plans were passed not a single item promised was delivered. The house are now built and the developers gone.
boyse7en said:
The developers are trying to buy a local park (swings, slides, football area etc) from the local council which is a bit further down the lane (about 200m) and to put the access road through it....
If the council don't sell the park, then these houses will still get built but will have an access road going down onto the main highway - which is further away and presumably a lot more expensive for the developers to build.
The access needs to be settled as part of the Planning application (even if the application is only an outline), so the question is : where is the access shown on the current application?. That's what the LPA will be basing their determination of the application upon.If the council don't sell the park, then these houses will still get built but will have an access road going down onto the main highway - which is further away and presumably a lot more expensive for the developers to build.
boyse7en said:
The other issue is that they are putting an access path to the development that will exit directly onto the bottom of my drive (it is currently a shared access to my house/the field). So anyone walking down will have to walk across the bottom of my driveway. Visibility is already poor, so I'm worried about the possibility of increased foot traffic on what is already a difficult lane to navigate (not just for me but also the properties further down the lane.
Although it is a shared access, can i object/request that the entryway to the footpath is moved so that i don't have hundreds of people walking across my drive?
What are the exact terms & conditions of this shared access? If it's access for you & the farmer, is there anything that stipulates that access rights suddenly have be granted to 600 other people? It might be a question for review by a suitably experienced solicitor.Although it is a shared access, can i object/request that the entryway to the footpath is moved so that i don't have hundreds of people walking across my drive?
Mr Pointy said:
What are the exact terms & conditions of this shared access? If it's access for you & the farmer, is there anything that stipulates that access rights suddenly have be granted to 600 other people? It might be a question for review by a suitably experienced solicitor.
... But this is not a matter for Planning (unless they actually require land in your actual ownership to deliver their proposal, in which case they should have included it within their application red line, and served notice upon you when they submitted the application).If they are using the 'farmer's half' of the shared access, it is highly unlikely that there will be anything restricting an intensification of use across the land, on their part. Such limitations are usually only applied when there is an easement granting access across somebody else's land.
The only consideration for the Planners is whether the proposed access would create an unsafe level of conflict between current and proposed users, which for the level of traffic using an existing access to a single dwelling is pretty much inconceivable.
Equus said:
Mr Pointy said:
What are the exact terms & conditions of this shared access? If it's access for you & the farmer, is there anything that stipulates that access rights suddenly have be granted to 600 other people? It might be a question for review by a suitably experienced solicitor.
... But this is not a matter for Planning (unless they actually require land in your actual ownership to deliver their proposal, in which case they should have included it within their application red line, and served notice upon you when they submitted the application).If they are using the 'farmer's half' of the shared access, it is highly unlikely that there will be anything restricting an intensification of use across the land, on their part. Such limitations are usually only applied when there is an easement granting access across somebody else's land.
The only consideration for the Planners is whether the proposed access would create an unsafe level of conflict between current and proposed users, which for the level of traffic using an existing access to a single dwelling is pretty much inconceivable.
So... purely out of interest, I've just looked this one up.
A few points that might be of interest to the OP:
A few points that might be of interest to the OP:
- This is a Reserved Matters application on an already approved Outline. This means that for a large number of issues, the horse has already bolted. I haven't read it in detail, but there is an already signed and sealed S106 legal agreement in place covering delivery of the access, public open space, etc.
- The critical bit of land he's concerned about for the footpath access appears to be owned neither by himself nor the developer, but (subject to confirmation - though I am certain the developer will have already checked this out themselves) looks very much as though it's part of the adopted Highways verge. It's certainly not included in the application red line boundary, therefore the LPA will not consider it as part of the application (indeed, it would be unlawful for them to do so).
- The back gardens of the houses do not back onto his garden and they do not come up to his fence. There is a buffer zone, approximately 5m. deep, between his existing boundary and the proposed new garden boundaries, marked as 'existing woodland retained' on the soft landscaping plan. I assume this to be the belt of trees running up the eastern side on the image of his plot shown above. The plot boundary he has shown in red above is incorrect: the angle between his southern and eastern boundaries is slightly acute, not slightly obtuse, as he has drawn it. The proposed post and wire mesh fence lies to the east of this retained tree buffer.
- The OP must have upset someone already, because there's a cluster of affordable housing next door to his house.
The devil is always in the detail!
Planning permission has already taken been granted on this site. The Reserved Matters are just to assess the specific details of scale, layout, appearance, access and landscaping, the principle has already been given the residential development.
I’d suggest that the OP figures out his ownership and look to see if the developer needs visibility over his land.
Planning permission has already taken been granted on this site. The Reserved Matters are just to assess the specific details of scale, layout, appearance, access and landscaping, the principle has already been given the residential development.
I’d suggest that the OP figures out his ownership and look to see if the developer needs visibility over his land.
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