planning objection

A bit of a long shot but, if anyone has experience of opposing planning applications, I'd appreciate some advice. I gather that the first step is to persuade the council to refer the matter to a planning committee, but on what basis would they do that? The number of objections? The nature of the application? A nod from a local councillor? This plan aims to demolish a Victorian cottage and replace it with a pair of ticky-tacky 3 beds, so it's an important local issue. Everyone's going on about a petition, but a petition about what? About getting the application referred to committee, or would the petition be presented to said committee? We have two weeks left to lodge objections, so I suppose the question is, what else should we be doing in that time frame to avoid it being approved by an individual planning officer? I've contacted all the local conservation organisations, but best wishes is about all they are offering. Well, at least they replied, which is more than can be said for our local councillors. As ever, any specific advice welcome

Reply to
stuart noble
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Start now by writing a letter from you personally to the planning department, quoting the details on the notice which should have been posted on the site, and your grounds for opposing the application. For it to be considered, you (or the person complaining) must be directly affected by the application, normally by being a close neighbour. You could phone the duty planner first, or nip in and have a chat, depending on your local council's procedures.

Then, draw up a petition stating the grounds for opposing the plans, and get people to sign it. Forward this to the planning department, for consideration by the planning officer dealing with the case. Details of who to contact will (round here, at least) be available on the planning department website by searching for the application number. Send a copy to your local paper, including before and after pictures if possible. Do not miss the deadline, or you'll have wasted your time and effort.

Something along the lines of "We, the undersigned, oppose planning application xxxxxxx, on the grounds of yyyyyyyyy". If you're in a conservation area, you stand a better chance, and if the old building is of unusual design, that also helps your case. If the area is mostly Victorian properties, then a case could be made that the style of the new development isn't in keeping with the area.

While you're at it, have a chat with your local paper as well as sending them a copy of the details. They may well ignore it, but you've tried, at least.

Reply to
John Williamson

Thanks, John. The council have sent out at least 30 or so letters inviting comments, indicating perhaps that they consider a lot of homes may be "directly affected". A large percentage have already lodged their objections in writing, or online, and traditionally that should carry more weight than a petition, which merely indicates that one activist has done the legwork. That said, I think petitions are probably in fashion at the moment.

Reply to
stuart noble

Check before going down the petition route how it will count. Our planning dept. counts a petition as one objection. That may be bad news if, as is common, a minimum number of objections is a criterion for passing to the subcttee.

If you are not sure of getting the necessary number of individual objections you could consider giving out a template letter for people to object and topping it up with a petition.

You can also usually object online which makes it easier for a lot of people.

Reply to
Robin

That's not true, anyone can write in support or objection to an application. The developer will try and claim they don't get and only the people in the immediate area can object, but ignore them as they are talking rubbish.

Firstly make sure you understand the process involved (it should all be up on the council website). For example, in my council if the receive 5 objections then the objectors have the right to speak at the planning meeting.

You need to take an approach largely based on planning issues but with local elections coming up, find out which councillors are on the planning committee and harrass them. Keep on at them, pointing out that it will cost them votes if they pass it.

When you get a petition together, get everyone to sign it - if three people live at a house, they can all sign it, not just one person. Even if you've signed a petition, you can still send letters objecting. Emails seem as good as posted letters. No-one will perform a reconcilliation between the letters and petition so it will look like there are more objections. If people are too lazy to send a letter, draft one form them, get them to add their name, address and signature and take them to the council yourself.

Read through past planning applications and results to get a feel for how sort of decisions they come to. Try and get along to listen to a few planning meetings to see how they operate and understand how the councillors think (a very depressing activity in my opinion).

You're life will be easier if the planning officers recommend refusal so think of as many concrete planning objections as you can. You'll have to read the planning policies so you can quote the relevant policies back to them. As these are Victorian building, read PPS5 and quote the relevant bits. Other reasons you might add to your list of objections are:

  1. Lack of ammenity space
  2. Traffic and parking (try and collar the traffic officier who carries out the survey to point out anything they might have missed)
  3. Extra strain on SSIs (if you are near any)
  4. Not in keeping with the surrounding area
  5. Overlooking adjacent properties
  6. Loss of trees

Get hold of the Victorian Society and/or English Heritage and see if they will say anything positive about the buildings. Similarly get hold of a local wild life group and ask them to do a survey about loss of habitat. Try and find some bats or newts in the gardens!

If the developer has done a survey showing that it is a tatty old building with no wild life, don't just accept it, get a counter survey done which shows something else.

Matt

Reply to
matthelliwell

If your council system is anything like ours, one of the elected council members for the district or town council, also a member of the planning committee, has to "call in" in the planning application to committee and take it out of officers' hands. They will already have had a list of planning applications from the planning office, but no further information.

So find out which council member(s) are on the planning committee from the council web page and write to them explaing your concerns. They should be only too happy to oblige if it is a reasonable request.

rusty

Reply to
therustyone

Wow! Plenty to think about. PPS5 looks to be full of ammunition to throw at the planners, so I will certainly revise my objection letter accordingly. Many thanks. A great help

Reply to
stuart noble

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I'd remind them in the least subtle way possible that there are local elections coming up VERY soon and if they want your vote .... Also, hedge your bets and extract some publicly made statements of support from the incumbents' opposition.

Personally, I'd go with individual letter written by the people who were invited to comment, rather than a single petition from everybody together. Sent to the planning office and copied to the councillors. Try not to use a pro-forma letter as that has reduced impact. Make it look as if people are prepared to take the issue personally, rather than just going along with a "yeah .... me too ... what he said" approach.

Reply to
root

Woops ! that's slightly wrong. The planning decision has to be called in by an elected council member for the ward in question. He (she) doesn't need to be on the planning committee.

The officers won't do this of their own volition as they have then lost control of the decision to the planning committee and they can't refuse a councilor who calls it in. So in general the process has got to be intiated via a democratically elected councilor. (You can also vote for the most helpful cllr.).

rusty

Reply to
therustyone

To continue droning about this....

PPS5 states that

"HE7.3 If the evidence suggests that the heritage asset may have a special significance to a particular community that may not be fully understood from the usual process of consultation and assessment, then the local planning authority should take reasonable steps to seek the views of that community"

"This statement also covers heritage assets that are not designated but which are of heritage interest and are thus a material planning consideration."

Does this building look like it qualifies?

mostly Victorian terraces. Should we need an expert to assess its significance, or does it stand on its own merits? The residents certainly think so.

Reply to
stuart noble

Many thanks I know online petitions require x20 the number of signatures compared to a paper version, but I'll find out the precise details.

Reply to
stuart noble

Hmm. One of our local councillors is also the leader of the council, so getting a message through to him won't be easy ATM.

Reply to
stuart noble

Don't forget your Parish Council, I'm not sure where they fit in the overall District Council, Planning Committee structure but they are in there somewhere. They probably don't have much say but a "no" from the Parish Council has more weight than "no" from private individuals.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

You first need to know the grounds on which a planning application can be refused. Only valid planning based objections will be considered and that does not include variations on 'we don't like it'. The exact grounds can vary from place to place. I have, for example, managed to get an application refused because it would have involved the demolition of a building of a unique character, but that was within a conservation area and might not have worked elsewhere.

So, your first port of call should be your local planning office. They will be able to provide you with details of their planning policy and ought to have details of the grounds on which an application may be refused. Read the planning policy carefully. It may be that the development is contrary to that. Read the grounds even more carefully and make sure that you only object on those.

Other grounds for objection can be that the proposal would result in an over development of the site, but only if it would result in a much denser land use than is usual in the area, or that the proposed development is out of character with the area.

However, you do need to recognise that all you might achieve is getting the proposal modified to overcome your objections.

Colin Bignell

Reply to
Nightjar

Thanks. For now I'm pinning my hopes on PPS5, and hopefully getting the council to recognise the heritage value of the building. Yes, I know what the valid objections are, and I know no one's entitled to a view. Whether I should have a new view of someone's bedroom thrust upon me is another matter (I hope).

Reply to
stuart noble

All planning apps are submitted to the Parish Council, which can object or not as a council. If they do, then the application AIUI is automatically "called in" and has to be considered by the Planning Cttee and not just passed or not by the Officers.

And as has been said, saying "I don't like it" cuts no ice. There has to be a *Planning* reason to refuse it. You should ask to see the Local Plan to understand what the policies are.

Where we used to live, the policy for villages was "infill only" and nothing outside the village enevelope.

Reply to
Tim Streater

Its not quite automatic. If the parish objects, the parish clerk has the power to request (i.e. instruct) a district councillor for the ward to call it in. At the same time the parish submits its grounds for objection to the planning dept and these details will later appear at the planning committee meeting.

rusty

Reply to
therustyone

If the OP posts the planning application nnumber and the council site URL then people can take a look at the application. That would allow some more appropriate advice to be given.

Peter Crosland

Reply to
Peter Croslnad

OK - thanks.

Reply to
Tim Streater

I would but it's complicated, and we already have a civil engineer resident on the case who knows the technical stuff. What's a little up in the air is whether the building being demolished has any heritage value, and PPS5 suggests that it could at least add weight to our objections

Reply to
stuart noble

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