Advice sought. Planning regs.

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colly

Re member eR
Location
Leeds
It's not for me but for a friend of mine. There is a development going on behind his house, which he isn't all that happy about but he understands that that is the way of these things.
The issue is that one of the houses ( and possibly another one thats yet to be started ) is being built on land thats been scraped up and the house stands over 3m higher than it otherwise would have done.
It looks down directly onto his house. It is probably 20m away but I'm not sure of the exact distance.
The garden of the new house will be on some of the piled up ground such that anyone in the garden will look like they are standing on top of his 6' hedge. Looking directly down into the living rooms and horizontally directly into the bedrooms. If they should stick a 6' fence in he will have a 12' screen behind his house which ranges 20' to less than 10' from his house. That seems unreasonable to me.
Especially as before this he had a clear view over the Wharf Valley. I have read that no one has the 'right' to a view but they do have a right to the 'amenity' a view provides. Whatever that means.

He has asked me to attend a meeting tomorrow at noon being held at his house which will include developers, local MP's assistant and probably someone from the council.

Naturally the planners, and the LA Planning Dept. are sticking to the story that it's all been passed in accordance with the regs. but there are reasons to think that this isn't the case.


Any information as to what the actual planning laws allow.

It's very short notice I know but I've only just been asked.
 

Slick

Guru
Lots of similar examples all over the country, it's a very common situation.

If planning has been breached they can still go for a retrospective application but no guarantee they would get it.

Did your mate complain when it was first brought forward?
 
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colly

colly

Re member eR
Location
Leeds
I think he's been complaining non stop but as is often the case he has been given the run around.
To be honest I am surprise he has managed to get a meeting arranged. In cases where someone is moaning and grumbling all the time I feel they will just 'cock a deaf'un' because they know they maybe can not be challenged and lets face it how many people can afford to take disputes like this to court?
He has spoken to workmen on the site and he's hearing they have cocked up levels all over the place and there are issues with other things as well. (oh and the guys on site have been told not to speak to him)
Perhaps, and it's a big perhaps, they have actually slipped up somewhere, either deliberately or or by accident and this is a way of finding out just how clued up he is.

I dunno. Long shot that.
 

Slick

Guru
I do know a couple of examples where levels have been wrong but mostly they were fixed on site or planning was altered to match the building. I have seen one being demolished though so it can happen.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Right to privacy is the main one, for me.

I'm in a house on a slope, with the house to the rear a similar distance as given in the first post. Bedroom window is just above ground floor height looking out towards it.

The only other things that might be brought into it are the right to light and the right to a/the view. The second isn't covered/considered in planning regulations. There is no legal right to it.

The right to light, get some pictures taken around two hours either side of noon, if it's possible that he might lose out.

Extension planned at the house to the rear will cost more than expected as there's a gas main running under the back garden, and alongside the house. Drains also will require removing and relocating.
 
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colly

colly

Re member eR
Location
Leeds
Unless they are not building to their approved drawings or don't have planning permission in the first place its too late now.
Yes I fear it is too late and the council do say it's been done to the plans.
Of course if the plans themselves were wrong in the first place.....maybe there is something there.
He does have in writing from the MP that 'he would be looking down on the development rather than being looked down upon'. It seems the MP attended a meeting and was told this. How much weight that would carry I have no idea.
I suspect precious little.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Check online on the councils site. There should be full details on there, including the height of the new build.
 

Slick

Guru
Yes I fear it is too late and the council do say it's been done to the plans.
Of course if the plans themselves were wrong in the first place.....maybe there is something there.
He does have in writing from the MP that 'he would be looking down on the development rather than being looked down upon'. It seems the MP attended a meeting and was told this. How much weight that would carry I have no idea.
I suspect precious little.
Who allegedly told what to whom mean nothing. It's all about the plans as they were passed and the site levels.

I wish your mate the best if luck though.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
@colly was the person you're asking for in the property in the late 70's. Asking because the gas mains were relaid around that time in this area. The records of this work has since been lost.

Do they know the general direction of the gas supply to the house. Recent development was scrapped due to a gas main "that shouldn't have been there" being found.
 
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colly

colly

Re member eR
Location
Leeds
Is the 3m pile the house sits on just a soil heap or imported stone? You could argue it's the equivalent of an additional storey in height?
I'm pretty sure it's just soil scraped up and bulldozed into a raised mound. ( What to do they do about unconsolidated land?)

@colly was the person you're asking for in the property in the late 70's. Asking because the gas mains were relaid around that time in this area. The records of this work has since been lost.

Do they know the general direction of the gas supply to the house. Recent development was scrapped due to a gas main "that shouldn't have been there" being found.
The development is on a greenfield site. My pals house stands at the end of the original development which was in the 1970's
 
Location
Cheshire
I'm pretty sure it's just soil scraped up and bulldozed into a raised mound. ( What to do they do about unconsolidated land?)


The development is on a greenfield site. My pals house stands at the end of the original development which was in the 1970's
It sounds like perching any building on a 3m platform would be in breach of the consent unless that's how it was drawn, worth checking this.
 

classic33

Leg End Member
Being done under the Local Development Plan, or something else.

Locally the gas pipe routes never made it from NEGas to British Gas, when NEGas went(Late 70's). Always fun when mentioning they're digging in the wrong area.

Check if possible, but bear in mind the right to privacy and mention it when meeting all who turn up.
 
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