fences & planning permission

[Stephen]

Hi, I have a row of 20 leylandii trees at the front of my property.

They are 8ft high. At one time they used to be 30ft high.

I wish to chop all 20 trees down and replace with a 6ft high fence. the fence length will be 11 metres.

The local council have advised me that as the proposed fence is next to a public pavement, I need to apply for planning permission.

We obviously will apply for planning permission. This will cost £150 irrespective of whether PP is granted or rejected.

Now obviously I only want to pay t6his fee once, so want to hear from people who have been there, done that and got the T shirt so to speak..

Now what I would like to know is what the *must dos* and the *Must Not dos* are to ensure that our PP applicatio nis successful first time.

I propose to use concrete posts with 6ft by 6ft wavey lap fence panels in a neutral colour.

It will be adjacent to the edge of a pedestrian pavement which in turn is adjacent to a cul de sac road.

Is a written statement enough or have I got to provide full drawings of the proposed works? WIll photos and hand drawings be enough or have I got to comission an architect?

Regards,

Stephen

[Tim Streater]

Phone your council's Planning Dept, speak to a planning officer and find out what definite no-nos are and what they expect you to provide with the planning application.

[JimK]

Ring them and ask? I would expect dimensioned sketch drawings would be sufficient unless it's contentious... What do your neighbours think of the proposal? If they are o n your side get them to write letters of support for the application, this may help reassure the officer that it won't turn into a political hot potat o for them to be seen to be dealing with completely "by the book" wrt drawi ngs etc.

Jim K

[charles]

but you don't need an architect,, there are plenty of people out there who will draw up plans or even design a building who are not architects

[Tim Watts]

If he can - ours refuses to talk to anyone but will reply to a letter for a fee.

[Tim Streater]

Get on to your local councillor then, and find out whether this is council policy and why. I've not had issues calling Canterbury Planning Dept.

[Tim Watts]

I know it's council policy - and why - well I can summise it is to do with making money.

[Capitol]

Ask them where this is specified.

[Chris J Dixon]

One way to test the water, if your authority has an online planning portal - just scan through and look at the documents submitted for a sample of similar applications.

Clearly you can't see the minimum acceptable, but you will probably discover how simple some of the submissions are.

Chris

[RJH]

Much the same in Sheffield: "If you are needing pre planning advice or confirmation if planning is required or not, then there is usually a charge for this" (SCC planning dept)

[fred]

Personally I'd cut down the Leylandii and install the fence and wait for th e shit to hit the fan, I.M.E. it probably never will. Who is going to compl ain about replacing truncated Leylandii (Ugghhh) with a nice fence ? Whats the worst case scenario ? They make you replace the Leylandii. I think not. You may have to apply for retention but at that stage they will be talking to you.

[Robert]

You dont need pp if its less than 3ft and bordering a road, or 6ft elsewhere. You could always plant a more suitable low maintenance hedge with a few supporting wires. I would set it back from the boundary so you arent always having to clip it to keep it off the footpath If you do it may be worth putting in a few short posts to define the boundary for future reference

[Tim Streater]

Which authority is that. I wrote to South Cambs describing some works we'd had done to check if I should have asked for PP, as we were selling the house. This was six years ago. They wrote back and said no. End of.

[Brian-Gaff]

Blimey, most of the peeps around here would just cut them down and put their fences up, indeed some have done this with no come backs. Brian

[Nightjar]

In the planning laws. Fences, but not hedges, next to a highway require planning permission if they are more than 1 metre high. On other boundaries, they need planning permission if more than 2m high.

[Nightjar]

Given that he has already been advised by the LA that he needs planning permission, it probably will.

That they can't do, but they can require the fence to be removed.

[Robert]

Of course OP may well "suddenly discover" an existing fence buried in the dense high leylandii which has been there for more than 6? years and so beyond LA action.

[Andrew Gabriel]

Someone near me did that, actually put up rather expensive railings which are probably 2m or more high. Council told them they had to get retrospective PP or take them down. All the neighbours supported the application so it went through. The retrospective PP costs more than applying before you start work.

[harry]

I have had this very problem. There are two aspects. Sight lines, ie visibility when you leave your driveway in a car. And appearance. Some snivelling little university educated snot comes along and woffles on about what planning department guidelines, artistic crap and and non-specif ic past history. Utter drivel. They are brain dead.

See what your neighbours have and speak to them.

What you had there in the past/present is craftily ignored if they can get away with it.

Hedges/trees are a loophole. You can plant and grow these as high as you li ke. Which is what you've got. Which may indicate something that happened in the past.

[harry]

Just talk to them BTW. A shit-fer-brains architect is the last person you want And you ONLY NEED PLANNIG PERMISSION IF THE FENCE IS TO BE OUTSIDE THE ONE METRE GUIDELINE.

All you need is a letter, thumbnail plan showing your boundary and the near by road with the proposed fence marked in and fence manufacturer's catalogu e with a picture of proposed fence. Also plead traffic noise, local kids + anything else that comes to mind.

And the answer is likely to be "NO" IME. Again speak to neighbours & get their experiences So very probably, money wasted.

Or just do it and say nowt. Works unless there are busybodies nearby.