trying to get planning permission on our own land.

[shell70]

We are currently trying to get planning permission on the land we own which is down a dark rural lane with no lighting, reason for this is that my husband and i worry about my daughter and my own safety especially during the dark winter months. I stable my horses during winter, we go muck/turnout at 05.30 and also tend to the other animals before then returning home to get ready to go to work. We have no electric only a generator of which i have to unlock large gates then walk about 30 meters to fire up. We have had 2 break ins all of which myself and daughter have found, thankfully nothing had been taken at the time and we stayed safe, i will not keep anything of any value on site. I also want to be able to care for and spend more time with these wonderful animals. There is also 80 meters up the lane 4 large executive houses being built, at the moment its not looking promising as the planning office recommends a refusal for planning.A couple of days ago our architect asked if i would be prepared if when the planning meeting came up to stand up and explain to the committee the reasons why of which i am prepared to do, does anyone have any other ideas please.

much appreciated.

 

[Honey08]

What are you asking for?

 

[shell70]

What are you asking for?

i was wondering if any one else has had a similar problem but over come it and could give any advice on the matter.
Thanks for asking.

 

[WelshD]

Given the number of fields up unlit lanes I would say your reasons are shakey, if PP wad that easy we would a have houses on our fields.

Firstly I think it depends on what the land is designated for, this makes some land cheaper than others, I'm guessing if your land was deemed suitable for building on it would be worth a considerable sum

I'm not saying you are doing this for the wrong reasons but every day in this country people buy grazing land with the mistaken belief that they can get round the council and build on it and believe me councils have heard every 'reason' in the book

Getting mains electric may be an option, this means you can gave power for lighting at the stables and at the gates and cab rig up CCTV, if you want a base at the field then a cheap caravan could be useful

 

[Archiepoo]

i think Honeys actually asking what you hope to build on the land

 

[Honey08]

No, sorry, what are you asking the planning dept for? Lights, 4 bedroom house, small secure building...?

ps. If it is a house, friends of mine have owned land for 20yrs with the ruins of a house already there, and they had to set up a livery yard and prove it could make money for three years before they were allowed planning pemission, living in a static caravan on site while they waited... Its not easy, and TBH I'm quite glad, or every field in the country would be built on using it as an excuse - not unsympathetic to your issues, but stating a fact..

ps again, they still had to go to council meetings to speak, several times in fact. I think a NFU consultant helped them get round things, but they already had a working farm on site there..

 

[shell70]

ok....this land has been in my husbands family for almost 100 yrs, we are a middle class family that wants to build a 3 bed home in the style of an old barn keeping in with the land. We will never sell or develop the land any further. We applied 3 yrs ago for stables of which was granted without any problem all we are trying to do is make our lives easier for us. we have lived where we are all our lives and DO NOT wish to make a quick sale out of what we can achive in the mean time. the house we want is planned on the basis of us getting older and staying till the rest of our days. Our families have been here for about 110 yrs now.

 

[shell70]

No, sorry, what are you asking the planning dept for? Lights, 4 bedroom house, small secure building...?

ps. If it is a house, friends of mine have owned land for 20yrs with the ruins of a house already there, and they had to set up a livery yard and prove it could make money for three years before they were allowed planning pemission, living in a static caravan on site while they waited... Its not easy, and TBH I'm quite glad, or every field in the country would be built on using it as an excuse - not unsympathetic to your issues, but stating a fact..

ps again, they still had to go to council meetings to speak, several times in fact. I think a NFU consultant helped them get round things, but they already had a working farm on site there..

ok....this land has been in my husbands family for almost 100 yrs, we are a middle class family that wants to build a 3 bed home in the style of an old barn keeping in with the land. We will never sell or develop the land any further. We applied 3 yrs ago for stables of which was granted without any problem all we are trying to do is make our lives easier for us. we have lived where we are all our lives and DO NOT wish to make a quick sale out of what we can achive in the mean time. the house we want is planned on the basis of us getting older and staying till the rest of our days. Our families have been here for about 110 yrs now.

we also have dummy cameras fitted, a derelict caravan to make it look like someone is about most of the time...

 

[Honey08]

Ok - last post as rushing to work.

I didn't mean YOU were making a quick buck, but hundreds of others would if it was easy to do... You're lucky - we got stables refused on our land twice, despite living here 40 years.. I've already given you an example of what happened to my friends, who have just got planning for a 3 bed house... I think you need to speak to someone from the planning dept.

 

[perfect11s]

ok....this land has been in my husbands family for almost 100 yrs, we are a middle class family that wants to build a 3 bed home in the style of an old barn keeping in with the land. We will never sell or develop the land any further. We applied 3 yrs ago for stables of which was granted without any problem all we are trying to do is make our lives easier for us. we have lived where we are all our lives and DO NOT wish to make a quick sale out of what we can achive in the mean time. the house we want is planned on the basis of us getting older and staying till the rest of our days. Our families have been here for about 110 yrs now.

It might be worth going to the planers on an informall basis and ask their advice as to what if anything was going to be ok...

 

[shell70]

yes i know what some of you may be thinking, but we love our rural way of life, always have and always will. we also wouldnt want buildings put up here there and everywhere, where our field is situated we have farm buildings at the bottom of our field, another farm yard 250 meters to the right, the large exectives buildings as you go down the lane to us and 300 meters to our left is also another farm yard. so no we are not asking to build in the middle of nowhere. we also want a rain water harvester along with solar panels, we also want to grow our own veg to live off, all making our lives easier plus keeping our teens with a good upbrings.

 

[shell70]

Thanks for your ideas folks, sorry if my messages seem a bit scatty, brand new to this site today and still trying to find my way round it, Thanks Honey08.
Its just so difficult to discribe things on here.

 

[WelshD]

I don't think anyone is questioning your motives but building a house sets a precedent for the land and that surrounding it so it's not just your situation the planners have to consider, what happens if you want to extend/build a cottage for granny etc... For all they know you could be planning a small estate in the future, good intentions sadly are not considered

On the upside have you thought about turning the situation around and using the new executive houses as a precedent for the immediate area? That's worth a try and if that doesn't work ask to see the planning application of those houses to see what hoops they had to jump through to get permission

 

[shell70]

Thanks WelshD, we have the same architect of one of the houses being built, and we have looked at the reasons being why the officer recommends a refusal which being silly issues like there is no walking path down to our land.... there is not one to the new houses going up or is there to the other two very large houses as you turn to go down the lane, these being situated about 100 meters down the lane...another reason being we want to build in the middle of the countryside, i could understand this if yes we was a mile away from anywhere, either side no matter which way you look there are farm yards... so think its a matter of just wait and see.

 

[WelshD]

Keep chucking their reasons back at them if they aren't justified

Maybe moving the location of your build may help, if it virtually backs in to one if the new houses it may be harder to refuse, not ideal I know but lots of windows to the front rather than the back and other design features can compensate for a less than ideal position

 

[jrp204]

We tried to get planning to build a dwelling on a brown field site on our field, there was an old ag shed there and alot of WW2 concrete buildings. We wanted to move our agricultural contracting business to one site, rebuild the ag shed and live on site. We stated that security was a reason to live on site which was not accepted, we did have 500k worth of machinery at the time. This may still be the case.
I am now on the parish council and have been to a couple of planning training sessions, and i'm afraid if you applied to the council down here you would be turned down, security, equestrian, wanting a better life would not be reasons to pass a plan.
You need to speak to your local planning officer, you could also look up the plans for the oher houses that have been built to see the reasons cited for the development.
Sorry to be negative, we have the t.shirt and the jumper having been to appeal and losing, it is very difficult to build on green field sites, for a reason.

 

[PeterNatt]

The only way to get what you require is to instruct a planning consultant to get you planning permission.

 

[shell70]

Thanks jrp204 and peternatt for your advise.
We understand that the council is trying to protect green land but also feel its a matter of time that my daughter who is 15 and myself are faced with danger early 1 morning, my husband works away everyday and therefore up much earlier than us.
We have put such an awful lot of thought into the our land, designing the home making sure its in keeping with the surroundings. we spend our none working hrs maintaining the area, sadly at the moment i am madly washing/ironing making sure all is done ready for school on monday. Once i have done these jobs im then off poo picking so we can have a quality day with our animals tomorrow and to do what else is needed to do.
many thanks

 

[Suelin]

We are in a similar position and would love to live on our land but have been refused. I am told by the local authority that the only way we would stand any chance was if there was a business on the site, that meant there had to be a person there 24/7. If that were proved then we could be granted temporary planning for a mobile dwelling but after a specified period this would need to be renewed and one would have to provide proof of trading (accounts etc) and show at least one agricultural wage. At that point the council MAY grant full planning but equally if they felt the argument didn't stack up then they could insist that you removed the temporary dwelling. Had we both been younger we might have gone down that route but we are too long in the tooth for new businesses now.

We were also told that security issues were not an acceptable reason for granting planning. (At this point we had been burgled 8 times in 12 months!) It does seem a bit harsh to me I must say in view of everything we went through but those are the rules.

I do believe that occasionally it is possible to get planning for a building of great architectural merit, ( Not sure who decides what is architectural merit but there you go)

A planning consultant may be able to advise further especially with the government relaxing the rules a bit. At the moment it all seems a bit up in the air frankly. Suffice to say that IMO none of the relaxed rules do anything to strengthen our personal case.

Good luck with it.

 

[MillionDollar]

Good Luck. It look us 5 years to get planning for our house on our farm that already had a few big concrete barns!!!

Here, you def would never get planning for a house.

 

[Orangehorse]

Actually, now might be a good time to apply, as planning regulations are being relaxed a bit. Approach a planning consultant and go for an "eco" house. You might also get the house tied to the land so it can't be sold off separatley. Lots of agricultural estate agents have planning sections that are up to date with all the regulations and the attitude of the local councils and your chances of success. There are also firms that are only planning consultants that are used by building firms to help with their applications.

Security issues won't be taken into account, the planner's opinion is that it was your decision to have the horses there and unless you are running a stud or agricultural business with lots of stock around then there is no "need" for anyone to live on site.

As for building for your own use - I am afraid that the planners won't take any notice of that at all, they have heard it all before, and 12 months after the house is built it is on the market - seen it locally!

However, there have been successful planning applications locally that 5 years ago would never have been passed. Be prepared for quite an expensive and lengthy process, but you might succeed. And an expensive build. Think ground heat pump, rainwater harvesting, solar power, etc. etc.