Advice sought. Planning regs.

[Brains]

My brother had a bedroom put into his roof
When they had finished, the ridge of the roof was 30cm higher than was intended
The entire roof had to be replaced ............

 

[C R]

My brother had a bedroom put into his roof
When they had finished, the ridge of the roof was 30cm higher than was intended
The entire roof had to be replaced ............

From what I have seen around here, control and enforcement against private individuals doing work in their property is pretty good, against developers, not so much.

 

[Darren Gregory]

As planning approval has been granted the only thing you can challenge is to ensure the developer has submitted all the pre-start p[lanning conditions attached to the planning approval certificate and that any conditions which limit the development have been complied with, COMPLETELY in compliance with the plans and elevations and details approved and referred to in the application.

You can go onto any Council's planning website and search for any planning approval by address or planning application reference to find a copy of the approval certificate and the approved drawings linked to it. Worth reading and downloading all that before the meeting.

If the Council haven't approved all the details and reports submitted [including the floor levels of the proposed houses, the proposed ground levels at the perimeter of the site, the methods for preventing surcharge of the ground where retaining walls are required or the prevention of surface water surcharge over adjacent land then the developer is in breach of the planning approval and the work should be stopped by the Council's Planning Enforcement Officer until the approval of the details or thank work started has been put right...

It may be worth speaking to the Enforcement Officer straightaway if you have any doubts that the developer is proceeding with work that is different to the planning approved drawings or reports or the planning conditions or if the application to discharge the pre-start planning conditions has not been separately applied for/ or not approved.

Hope this helps in the short term... Gateshead Enforcement Officer once stopped a massive house being built with planning approval when the house was built about 500mm higher than shown on the planning approval... so the system does work!

Been offline due to a family emergency but some good advice here, particularly regarding contacting the local Enforcement Team. We often get a bad reputation as things often take time to resolve.

Archie_tect is also correct in that a Council can serve a temporary stop notice to halt work if it is expedient to do so.

 

[Darren Gregory]

Thanks to all have replied and offered advice. Particularly @Darren Gregory and @Archie_tect for their 'educated' offerings. Being on the inside gives a different perspective.

SO. Said meeting went off OK but I fear my pal will get not much satisfaction at the end of it all.
So there were a couple of bods from the Housing Association, the construction guy in charge of the site, a local councillor, me and my pal. The Planning Dept. and the MP's sidekick never showed up.
It was plain from the off that the people involved who had any dealings were keen to say ' not me guv'. Which I can understand. The contractor stated right from the off he had followed the plans to the letter with regards to placings of buildings, roads, levels etc. The housing people said pretty much exactly the same in that the site had been checked and re-checked and the construction was as per the plans submitted and approved.
Lots of discussion about privacy issues and so on and the fact of being over-looked but it all hinges around the plans submitted and approved by the planning committee.
Even the councillor said as much in that if the plans had been approved by the planning committee the construction company and the housing association were duty bound to abide by the appoved plans.
The issue is now that if my pal can prove the council didn't take sufficient cognisance of the levels of the site with regards to existing dwellings then he might just possibly be able to take them to court for compensation.
Well lets face it unless you have a very deep pocket that is not going to happen. He can write in and ask them to have look at their previous decision but I doubt very much any council will own up to an error if it's going to cost them money.
To be fair to the Housing Association were sympathetic and have offered to provide fencing which will offer some degree of privacy but they wouldn't suggest what might be offered, they wanted my pal to write in, possibly with diagrams, and they would meet the cost of what could be provided. That won't be inexpensive because of the layout and the strength of winds along the side of the valley.

So it's one step forward to be back where you were. Well almost.

I guess the lesson is that whatever is going to be built near you be sure to get your details objections in to the planners in good time and to attend any and all planning meetings.

Glad I could be of some help. Couple of points, might be synical but never trust the developer/builder/owner when they say they have built to the approved plans, your local enforcement team can assess it independantly. They frequently make mistakes, not a criticism as most mistakes are somewhat trivial we are all human. Whilst Council's will take enforcement action the vast majority of issues never get that far. Back of fag packet maths I recon we (a Surrey Local Authority) get around 350 cases a year, we probably serve maybe 10-15 notices.

If when considering the application the Council has made an error you would be well within your rights to follow it up. It's not going to change anything on the ground but issues should be highlighted and hopefully learnt from.

 

[Darren Gregory]

From what I have seen around here, control and enforcement against private individuals doing work in their property is pretty good, against developers, not so much.

Can't speak for your personal experience but in my experience Local Planning Enforcement employees are honest hard working people. They will, where it is expedient to do so, recommend enforcement action. Despite this your comments reflect what is often heard at my authority but it is simply not correct.

One possible explanation is that the vast majority of our cases deal with private owners rather than large developers so it is simply case of numbers. In addition developers usually have the finances to ensure that they employ professional planners, home owners often rely on the internet or word of mouth, "my mate down the pub said it don't need planning". Home owner perhaps therefore make more mistakes?

 

[colly]

My brother had a bedroom put into his roof
When they had finished, the ridge of the roof was 30cm higher than was intended
The entire roof had to be replaced ............

That happened to our neighbours a few years ago. They put a 'garage' in the rear garden. It was sunk into the ground and had two stories. The inspector told them it was too high and they should cease work. Instead they carried on and finished it.
The LA took them to court andthey had to chop 20'' off the top. Being a ridge roof that meant removing the whole roof and a big RSJ and taking out brickwork.
It's still two stories but one is about 6ft maximum inside and the one above is probably less.

Because they carried on regardless of the inspectors warnings it cost them £2000 court costs and £18000 in fines.

 

[dan_bo]

That happened to our neighbours a few years ago. They put a 'garage' in the rear garden. It was sunk into the ground and had two stories. The inspector told them it was too high and they should cease work. Instead they carried on and finished it.
The LA took them to court andthey had to chop 20'' off the top. Being a ridge roof that meant removing the whole roof and a big RSJ and taking out brickwork.
It's still two stories but one is about 6ft maximum inside and the one above is probably less.

Because they carried on regardless of the inspectors warnings it cost them £2000 court costs and £18000 in fines.

18 Grand?! fark.

 

[colly]

18 Grand?! fark.

Serves them right tbh. They were told long before it was anywhere near finished. Even tried building the drive up so they could claim it wasn't as big as the LA said. There was other stuff too that they were warned about and ignored the warnings. For instance a wall around the back garden made from 4'' breeze blocks. 8' tall in places, built with no pillars anywhere. You could see it move in the wind.

 

[dan_bo]

Serves them right tbh. They were told long before it was anywhere near finished. Even tried building the drive up so they could claim it wasn't as big as the LA said. There was other stuff too that they were warned about and ignored the warnings. For instance a wall around the back garden made from 4'' breeze blocks. 8' tall in places, built with no pillars anywhere. You could see it move in the wind.

Like you say, Tough tit.

 

[Brains]

18 Grand?! fark.

Plus as much again wasted materials and rebuilding costs no doubt, I'd presume not much change from £40 Grand all in

 

[colly]

Plus as much again wasted materials and rebuilding costs no doubt, I'd presume not much change from £40 Grand all in

The odd thing is they bought a 4 bedroom house, left it empty for 9 months then spent another 15 months taking out chimney stacks, walls, windows etc. Re- roofing, Putting in rooms in the loft ( which had to be altered because again they breached planning rules) building two extensions and a two storey 'garage' in the back garden.
All of it done on the cheap with crap finishes everywhere. Why they didn't simply buy a bigger house is beyond me. Loadsa money I guess.

 

[classic33]

How does work done on an adjoining prroperty, which affects yours, fall under planning regulations.

Internal weight bearing walls and load bearing structures within the other property being removed?

 

[Darren Gregory]

How does work done on an adjoining prroperty, which affects yours, fall under planning regulations.

Internal weight bearing walls and load bearing structures within the other property being removed?

Hi classic33

Not sure what you mean by your first point, if you have more detail I might be able to advise you.

Internal alterations are not development so not a planning matter. Might be a building control issue though, but can't help you there.

 

[classic33]

Hi classic33

Not sure what you mean by your first point, if you have more detail I might be able to advise you.

Internal alterations are not development so not a planning matter. Might be a building control issue though, but can't help you there.

Supporting/load bearing walls removed, which resulted in cracks appearing where the wall meets the ceiling.

Removed to "open up" the house. Both are in a terrace of four properties.

 

[Archie_tect]

Supporting/load bearing walls removed, which resulted in cracks appearing where the wall meets the ceiling.

Removed to "open up" the house. Both are in a terrace of four properties.

Any structural work automatically requires approval under Part A1 and A3 of the 'Approved Documents' under Building Regulations Acts... contact your LA Building Inspector who will check their records for any submitted applications that you may not know about andcome out to inspect any structural work that's been done without approval.

Any work done to a party wall between a pair of semi-detached or terraced houses also requires the people doing the work to arrange a Party Wall Agreement before work sartsto make sure that any work done to the jointly owned party wall doesn't adversely affect the neighbouring property