Facts - Appealing planning refusal

I recently heard of a situation of someone getting refused to build on his own property and then receiving the cold shoulder from the planning officer who refused to discuss the reasons.

The advice that was given was to make an appointment with the senior planning officer to talk through the case. If the problematic office is the senior officer, then contact the ward councillor to find a solution. If the application was refused under powers delegated by the council, then a planning consultant is the best point of call. It may be possible to resubmit a revised application; if this is the case, provided it’s submitted within 12 months of the refusal, no additional fee will be asked.  The ward councillor should be asked to request that the new application be considered by the planning committee instead of the planning officer using delegated powers.

The right to appeal to the secretary of state for committees and local government can also be considered but only as a last resort.

For a list of consultants in your area, contact the Royal Town Planning Institute (020 7929 9494, www.rtpi.org.uk)

Facts planning planning permission Uncategorized

Diary - Getting depressed

Well, the first quote came in for our renovation after waiting 5 weeks for them to come back to us. We sent out 5 specs for 5 companies to quote on. 2 Have come back and 2 are screening our calls. The quote that came back was hugely over budget. The whole renovation project will cost us £110,000. £35,000 to work the structure out, £40,000 to build the upstairs zones and the rest to finish the downstairs. We know this company would be expensive but we hoping for the other to get back to us to give us a realistic average to work from.

But the must depressing part of it is the constant questioning regarding the plans we have supplied or the renovation. One builder has questioned how our engineer can plan the build if he hasn’t seen the property…which is a fair point. I’ve now asked the builder and planner to start talking so I can gain some confidence back. It seems when you under take this sort of renovation, you have to get a thick skin and chase everyone, every minute of every day. The engineers report should come any day now so I’ll put that online for you all to see, when it arrives.

builders Diary planning