Permitted development rights protection and joining a conservation area update

[smithy42]

Update below original post

I wish to build a brick built workshop in my back garden. I am allowed to do this without applying for planning permission provided it built within the rules of permitted development. However my council want to bring my property within a conservation area (this could happen within 7 weeks).This will mean that I will need planning permission for the workshop. How do I protect my right to build the workshop without applying for planning permission (it will be refused when I am in the conservation area) I don=92t really want to start building it for another 18 months. Thanks for any help you can provide Bob

Thanks for your help. It seems to me the way to go is to Start putting in the footings and apply for a certificate of lawful development. Then slow down your work to a snail's pace. It would be nice to get something in writing stating that I can do it before going to the expense of putting footings down first . I have had a number of ideas and thoughts

1 would I need building regs approval before filling in footings ? This would take more than the 7 weeks 2 If I were to apply for planning permission and pay the fee would they pass the building even though it was within permitted development rights? And could I then build it at a later date? (I could then presumably get building regs later) 3 How much work do I have to do to satisfy =93starting the development=94 as in a certificate of lawful development

[boltmail]

You don't have to complete them, just mark them out and start digging a trench - some visible work, not much.

Depends what you are building, building regs may not apply at all (I think you said it was going to brick-built, which means that it would need to be more than 30m^2 to need BC approval). Even if they do, you would only need to notify them (by issuing a building notice) two days before you start work - there's no need for a full plans application.

Hmm. Interesting question, and I don't know the answer off hand. The fee is substantially bigger for a planning application than for a cert of lawful devt, by the way, and for the reason below, it would carry its own risks.

And could I then build it at a later date? (I could then

It would give you the five year protection if the council were a bit stupid, but the danger with making an application (rather than going via permitted development) is that they can impose conditions - the 'five years to implement' is only a long-stop date if the permission is silent as to duration. So it could backfire if, on considering the soon-to-be conservation area status, they grant you permission on condition that the workshop is completed within six months, or something.

That way, they could curtail the length of time you have to build the thing, so the risk is that you gain time to start implemention (i.e. you get more than the seven weeks to start digging), but lose the right to then complete the development slowly - you could end up worse off (as well as out of pocket).

Not much I would say - a little bit of digging. Maybe a couple of wheelbarrows of spoil, that kind of thing. Enough to show that work has been done on it, probably best not to take the piss too much as you are trying to protect your right to build this thing. As I said (in part) earlier, I would stake out the ground and string some of that red plastic tape around to show where the full set of foundations is going to go for the purposes of a few photos, so they can't argue that what you eventually dig is something different from what you started in 2008. Include those in your application for the certificate (with the spade, wheelbarrow and spoil pile as photographic props), together with a ground plan. Include in and on the plans & description you submit only the bare minimum of details that you need to give them to show your entitlement to PP (e.g. floorplan versus size of curtilage, or whatever the criteria are).

[Tony Bryer]

If the work needs Building Regs, you need only submit a Building Notice. And having done this, if the Council BCO inspects the footings you have cast-iron proof of having started work before the due date.

[John Anderton]

Says who ? I live in a conservation area and, although some stuff is restricted, I can still build outbuildings as long as they're not above a certain size.

Cheers,

John

[Bolted]

Yes, but that size is pretty small (10m^2)- assuming you have a garden of any real size - compared to "not more than half the size of your garden and not within 5m of the house" (to simplify the rule slightly).