Building regs and DIY - Petition on no 10 web site

[chris_at_winton]

Spotted this - obviously of interest to DIY'ers. (and anyone who just hates the nanny state in general).

Chris

[Jim Alexander]

Typical incompetent confusion between planning and building control.

Jim A

[Steve]

Done!

Happy Christmas to all.

Steve.

[meow2222]

I cant see it happening, governments look to increase control to push people into unwanted spends, they dont normally move in the opposite direction. Especially not when theres a safety excuse or real reason, both of which there would be in this case.

Need a more well thought through petition.

NT

[Tim S]

Ditto

Tim

[Bypass]

What is happening, with the Building Regulations, is that Local/Central Government is moving towards a system of 'self-certification'. In doing so, it's shifting the responsibility for compliance-checking away from 'over-stretched' Council's.

Just my twopenny worth

[meow2222]

Who ends up certifying, householder or a professional they engage? The game is to get people to give as much money to the wealthier sectors of society as poss, and since this also lines up with safety issues in this case, both real and imagined, this approach fits normal government practice like a glove.

NT

[raden]

Same here

(but with mixed feelings - there are a number of dangerous incompetents out there - but then they wouldn't pay any attention to such things anyway)

[dennis]

Don't be silly. I wouldn't trust some builders to do stuff without building regulations approval, certainly not most DIYers. Its all very well saying that (eg.) an opening needs a lintel but who is going to check?

[Huge]

Much too long.

"Governments look to increase control."

There. That's better.

[Bypass]

Would you, for example, trust a builder to move a wash hand basin and amend the waste pipe to suit? Yes, I would think so. Well, that task requires Building Regulations approval.

I think you can find a valid point to suit both sides of any argument.

[Andrew Gabriel]

A year or so back, I asked some colleagues what sort of questions solicitors had asked about conformance to building regs when they were selling their houses. For that sample size of just two, the only building regs the solicitors were interested in checking up on were structural alterations, and underground drainage alterations. There were no questions about replacement windows, boilers, etc. I don't know if this is the norm or not.

[Bypass]

I think you'll find that there have been some significant amendments to the BR's within the past year. Revisions to the Approved Documents typically come into effect on the 1 April.

[dennis]

Not acording to the head of building control who happens to be my neigbour it doesn't. It may have to meet water byelaws but its not inspected unless you dig underground drains.

Mind you he also told me not to bother with part UP either as it was just too much work for them to cope with. ;-)

[Steve Walker]

Some sympathy with both points, but anything which resists the encroaching red-tape is worth a try.

[Hugo Nebula]

On Sat, 23 Dec 2006 12:47:51 +0000, a particular chimpanzee named Bypass randomly hit the keyboard and produced:

If only...

What happens is that Councils spend time chasing certificates rather than looking after real work.

[Owain]

Still superfluous words.

Take your pick from: "Governments increase" or "Governments control"

Owain

[Adrian Simpson]

In article , chris_at [e-mail] writes

Nice idea, but don't expect anything to come of it.

The situation behind another petition on there (save our waterways) was the subject of a Prime Minister's Question recently, and despite it being in the top ten petitions Bliar was unaware of the circumstances, so his office obviously pay great attention to what is being placed there.

Adrian

[Dave]

Ah! April Fools day.

You don't score any points to see that the fools are us :-(

Dave

[meow2222]

A good start is to educate the public so the wrong is no longer publicly justifiable, then they have to let it go to maintain votes. However with this particular petition they don t seem to have figured out the solution yet. That one doesnt have a prayer.

NT