Hi all
We have a neighbour nearby who has just had extensions done to his property. All the building works are in accordance with plans submitted etc. But he has also put a ghastly orange shed up next to the new building works - the front doors to the shed are level with the general building line. This certainly detracts from the "street scene". Do planners investigate anonymous complaints so I can avoid personal involvement?
TIA
P
Yes. I set up a Yahoo mail account (something like snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com) and mailed in when a neighbour did something.
The planners responded that they would prefer a non-anonymised request so that they could talk to me about it. However, they did investigate and they then responded to me. As it turned out the development didn't need permission, but I did feel justified in asking them to look at it, and I was impressed that they acted swiftly and competently.
Matt
Bear in mind though that you can be traced by the IP number of your ISP embedded in the e-mail headers from Yahoo - in my case [XX.XXX.90.86], which correctly traced my ISP within the last few minutes.
As a matter of interest, under the current legislation (RIPA I believe) any 'authorised' persons within your local authority can apply to the ISP to obtain your name and address - so this method of reporting is *NOT* anonymous.
As a matter of interest, most councils *will* *not* give the name and address of someone reporting a possible breaking of the rules - but if you object to a legal planning application, they will give the objectors name and address to the planning applicant.
Tanner-'op
Talk to your local councillor. They'll be able to put in a query themselves, under their name, leaving you out of it.
-- JGH
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "TheScullster" saying something like:
They'll look at complaints from any gutless wanker.
Do sheds come under planning?
I dont think a shed needs any permission if its a temporary structure
Which is an excellent reason to use Gmail.
A highly abused act that is being used for all sorts of reasons, none of which were originally intended (unless you're really paranoid)
Can do if its large, near a boundary, or in a conservation area, or if there are any special restrictions on the land.
Possibly TheScullster's near neighbour?
No, all sorts of garden "features" don't such as tree houses, summer houses, gazebos, shelters, usw, usw.
Looky here ...
The council won't divulge your identity unless you make a formal objection. It then becomes a matter of public record. In the case outlined above the putative builder did indeed approach objectors and make "Menaces" :-((( .
Derek
A pal of mine almost completed a sun-lounge in his back garden and was 'caught' by the planners, who are insisting on a full application for it.
It's shown on their enforcement papers as a "large shed".
Not quite true Clint. Son uses Googlemail via Sky Broadband and a look at the embeded headers from e-mails that he has sent to me show Sky's ISP as
90.2xx.148.135 well and truly placed there.Couldn't agree with you more - and I have personally (face-to-face) bitched to my MP about - it and he replied "he didn't know anything about RIPA".
He must have found out though because he sent me a copy of the Act a few days later with a nice covering note.
And it's going to get a lot worse!
Tanner-'op
Most don't but in principle the planners could take action if the structure was held to be detrimental to the surrounding area - s.215 Town and Country Planning Act 1990, Land Adversely Affecting Amenity of Neighbourhood. Our LPA tried to use it when someone painted their house shocking pink, but backed down when I suggested that if they were so keen on using these provisions they might serve a notice on the owner of the derelict Twickenham riverside site (said owner being the Council!).
See
In message , Tanner-'op writes
Only if you send via their SMTP servers (exactly as it should be), if you compose and send using their web GUI then you only get the Google IP that originated the mail, try it...
Makes you wonder what exactly MPs do, I suspect the vote buddying system they use makes it far too easy for them to skive off and gain little knowledge of what actually happens in parliament.
Did the note contain anything of any value though? I emailed my local MP about RIPA and was told that he wasn't prepared to comment unless I wrote to him on paper with a full postal address 'proving' that I was a constituent. Seems he gets the right to privacy but doesn't like it when his constituents are a little anonymous, of course a little effort would have told him or his office that the address I included is the one I'm registered to vote from.
Frankly, I have little to no faith in the parliamentary system or anyone in it anymore unless I actually want them to hoover up more of my hard earned or erode my rights further.
RIPA makes a mockery of the argument 'if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear'. Theoretically, you could be subjected to extraordinary rendition for a nice little break to Gitmo if you forget the password to your encrypted bank details.
On Wed, 22 Oct 2008 09:35:50 +0100 someone who may be Clint Sharp wrote this:-
Go along to his surgery, details of which should be in local newspapers and on his web site and discuss that face to face with him.
Well someone complained about my workshop, planners came to look and cleared it (I had already checked the rules of course) but most definitely would not tell us who complained.
A.
The argument "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear" is fundamentally flawed. I can't believe that anyone is still using this.
In message , Mark writes
Of course it is, I'm just amazed at the idiots who support 42 days, CCTV everywhere, ID cards etc. and still seem to believe it.
The problem is that none of the 'security' precautions they want will make a damn of difference to the real terrorists but will punish everyone who has to pay for them and live with them day by day.
They all remind me of a sign I saw at the security lodge of a nuclear power station, it politely requested that anyone carrying a bladed weapon or firearm was to hand it over to the guard. You can imagine a determined attack force being stopped in their tracks.
Just look in the Daily Mail.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.