- Location
- South Wales UK
Give em 40 yards is it ???
5 years as said above and it has to be a 'material start'. Digging a foundation trench is pretty much enough. We had a 'material start' proved here on a 20 year old plan because they had bought a pallet of bricks and put them in the barn.You normally only have 2 years to start work before planning expires. You must have been running that a bit close!
Some sleepless nights followed...................................Had a neighbour storm onto site where Coal Authority / Thyssen were re-capping a mine shaft after I called them to say the concrete was cracked. (1996)
Neighbour was shouting that we were 'destroying our industrial heritage'.
If the digger driver hadn't grabbed the willy's shirt then he would have been down the hole. 175 metres!
Strangely enough neighbour went away a bit quietly after he stopped shaking.
5 years hereYou normally only have 2 years to start work before planning expires. You must have been running that a bit close!
Well the most important thing was that you didn't loose it. You played 'the game' which is the way it should be. Keep it that way! Anyway stop notices aren't the end they are just a reminderWe received planning approval around 2 years ago for a new building. The planning went straight through without any objections. However, we have been busy with other things and the weathers been dreadful, so only started ground works earlier this week.
All week people have been parking up taking photos. To be honest we thought nothing of it and just carried on. People are always taking photos, as we are sheep farmers and cute little lambs running about in the fields, always attract photos at this time of year.
Anyway earlier today a car pulled up, a chap with a Hi Viz jacket turned up with a camera and a clipboard.
There was no hi or hello, just a I am from the council, who is in charge of this site?
So I came off the dumper and said hello.
He said you need to stop work, apparently what we were doing was illegal and that if we didn't stop a notice or something would be issued as he has had over 20 complaints.
So I pointed out we were only doing what we had planning permission for.
He said no you haven't. Apparently he had checked!
After 20 minutes of nearly losing my temper with him, I said wait a minute, got my phone out and showed him a screenshot of the approval decision notice which was displayed on the councils website!
His face dropped like a lead balloon.
I must admit I got such a lovely feeling in my stomach, when his face sank. Just thought for gods sake leave us alone to get on.
I know for sure if we had just started work without approval thinking sod it or tried retrospective planning there was not a chance in hell that it would have been approved, so it was £90 or so well spent on a planning application.
So a bit of a warning to others, sometimes its cheaper, less stressful and easier to do things right from the beginning.
In how long?In our area 8 planning officers have topped themselves ,
In how long?
That's pretty f**ked up.1 a year ., all women .
I had a chap from the Council visit recently over a minor planning matter, and he said he was being made redundant with many of his colleagues, including his wife. In the end, I gave him tea and biscuits and he spent ages chatting about his future and wondering what it held .That's pretty fudgeed up.
Did they show indentification @Smith31 ?
We didn't ask but he was definitely a council officer as had a file full of planning aporovals relating to our farm just hadn't done his homework before he came threatening enforcement action
I'd make sure that you follow it up and get a written apology. It could be very valuable to have a grovelling planning officer in the future.He had checked using the farm address and the planning history logged against it. However the architect had used a land grid reference not the farm address, so the application did not show up against the farm address. So he came fully prepared to warn us that he would be issuing a notice if we didn't stop work.
He did apologise once I showed him the approval notice on my phone and said he should have double checked against the online map before he came to site threatening us with notices. His attitude changed altogether and was polite.
The aim of the post was to warn fellow farmers not to try and risk it without planning, as it only costs around £90, people complain more when they see work start.
That just about says it allGot to the bottom of it today, a local pub landlord who I've known for years came to see me earlier. There's been some new houses built about a mile down the road, apparently some of the new residents didn't want the countryside spoiling and a petition was passed around to be signed at his pub during the last quiz night.
Bit late as we have had planning approval for 2 years!