You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
The owner of a nearby smallholding has been refused permission to build a commercial kennels and an office block. The kennels would have been 25 to 50 metres away from our properties.This is the 2nd time an application has been refused.
In the past couple of days two men have been calling at neighbours houses"asking"them to sign a petition saying they are happy to have the kennels approved. The owner of the property is from a notorious violent criminal family and a few of the neighbours have signed even though they don't agree.One elderly neighbour, whose husband has just died from Covid,reported the " visit" to the police but they couldn't help.
My question is could a petition,with at most 5 signatures ,influence an appeal and reverse the refusal.
Speak to your local councillor. What were the grounds for refusal?
No
If its been denied twice that that would suggest there is something more fundamentally wrong with the planning application.
You local Councillors decide planning, in most cases this is through delegated powers to a Planning Officer. As elected officials they do this on your behalf. In your scenario I would be asking to speak to your local councillor, in confidence to explain the situation. They can then represent this to planning team prior to any appeals or reviews. This puts separation between you and the formal consultation process which is usually public.
Edit, What MartinH said!
If the cooncil found out they were using this tactic they would never get permission.
Agree with above. Only big companies like Tesco can use intimidation to overcome planning decisions.
If the cooncil found out they were using this tactic they would never get permission.
Why not ? What do the council care? Ours only interest is the size of the brown envelopes.
As I understand it intimidation cannot be taken into account when planning permission is decided.
Since he bought the property he has run an illegal tip with heavy wagons tipping in the fields. Then an unlicensed puppy farm which was closed down. He's constructed a new driveway to the property in a totally different position to the permission he was granted.Last year the police blocked the road and there was a full on armed police raid followed by a forensic search team. It's not a quiet life here !
wow. have you thought about moving house?
All the neighbours hope there is a successful court case following the police raid and one of those unexplained wealth orders is issued.
No. A planning appeal is dealt with by the Planning Inspectorate - effectively a Government agency entirely independent of your Council. A Planning Inspector will make a decision on the planning merits of the case and local politics is taken out of the equation. He or she will consider objections made to the application, the appellants' case and that of the Council and make a decision. That decsion can only be challenged in the High Court and only very limited grounds I.e. the Inspector erred in law somehow. Inspectors are not maliable in the way you fear local Gov officials or Coincillors might be. Good luck!
Just chopping that up...
No. A planning appeal is dealt with by the Planning Inspectorate – effectively a Government agency entirely independent of your Council. Inspectors are not maliable in the way you fear local Gov officials or Councillors might be. Good luck!
Yes
A Planning Inspector will make a decision on the planning merits of the case and local politics is taken out of the equation.
Yes and No ... initially they judge if the appellant has a case and if they may have suffered financial harm from the council planning.
Sadly our council planning is so bad they are almost guaranteed to pass that.
Their work is lazy in the extreme so if they refuse they list the minimum reasons and then the appeal is if those reasons are valid.
Other reasons may or may not be taken into account.
He or she will (primarily) consider objections made to the application, the appellants’ case and that of the Council and make a decision.
What I mean by that is there may be 20 valid reasons for refusal but of only 3 are listed the inspector will usually only address those 3 and the appellant will focus on those 3.
We had gross errors in one ... no daylight assessment was provided they simply stated they had done one and the measurements were entirely fake. Even then on the plan where they claimed to have done the test they shamelessly chose the maximum distance. Any idiot that owns a tape measure (me) could measure what they claim to be 20m as measure 15m... Inspector didn't even acknowledge photo's and measurements and google maps because this wasn't one of the grounds for refusal.
A 100'? oak tree moved 15' ... (really) between plans... again not challenged. It must be 300 years old and between 2 sets of plans where the first was refused due to the tree they just moved the tree on the plans.
The plans went to appeal .. 2x4 bed houses... they are building 2x 6 bed plus an extra garage... from foundations up and halfway through the first submitted a new proposal for 2x6 bed plus garage they already mostly built.
Meanwhile our former garden is now a refuse site where they throw their litter and used cement over our fence. Constraints are completely ignored (they aren't meant to park construction on the road) but they just ignore it and they have no option because they can't fit the construction traffic down the access road (as they lied about the width on the plan)
Not a dissimilar character to joeegg's neighbour...
That decision can only be challenged in the High Court and only very limited grounds I.e. the Inspector erred in law somehow.
As per a granted permission
There are people around here from a certain community who believe that any laws or regulations do not apply to them.The biggest most expensive houses in the area with the flashiest cars all belong to these people.Ours is not an isolated incident as 2 friends who live nearby have had " visits" with regard to separate planning refusals,another kennels and a gypsy site.
A friend who is an ex councillor was followed home and threatened after taking photos of work going on at an illegal development. The man involved was later found guilty in court.
To be honest I'd just move. At some point in time he will do something that materially effects your quality of life.
Arguably he already is.
The Planning Inspector (for the appeal) will not be local to the area and could be from anywhere in the country in theory. They are well trained in handling harassment. I won't go into what @stevextc has said as it sounds like an awful experience for him. However, he's incorrect insofar as an Inspector would not judge if there is a case to answer or not (it's not the high court and seeking leave to appeal etc). If the appellants submit an appeal in a valid form it'll be heard whether that appeal has real legs or not. The sanction is that the Council (or the Inspectorate) could seek costs against the appellant at the end of the process if it were completely spurious.
This is starting to sound like Gypsies are involved in which case , move house. Council will not touch them under any circumstances.
Niether will the law. Panorama last night anyone?.
Agree with above. Only big companies like Tesco can use intimidation to overcome planning decisions.
The more savvy 'developers', aka speculators and spivs, use more subtle methods...
Ours only interest is the size of the brown envelopes.
Indeed. We have a local 'property tycoon' who goes around looking to buy up probate properties, 'does them up' (slaps plasterboard over the damp), slaps lots of pretty looking flim-flam in, sticks 'to the nearest millimetre only just ok' dormers and extensions on and rinses the next gullible buyer.
His planning applications go through the local planning process like a dose of salts whilst other non-commercial ones don't go through with such indecent speed. I can only assume he expenses the bribes and dinners to avoid the tax on those too.
Sounds Like East Lothian Council planning dept.
Massive developers money rules.
This is starting to sound like Gypsies are involved in which case , move house. Council will not touch them under any circumstances.
Niether will the law.
Oh no, not those (they are all the same) gypsies. I don't know who is worse the gypsies or those muslims.
brads
Full Member
This is starting to sound like Gypsies are involved in which case , move house. Council will not touch them under any circumstances.Niether will the law. Panorama last night anyone?
agreed, either that or developers bunging local planning a few £££, mole valley are terrible for both!
Off topic, but thought I'd just apologise for playing the man rather than the ball a bit on the wood burner thread. In my opinion, I overstepped the mark a bit with my 'alpha male' and 'tory fanboi' comments. Although posting the Lumberjack Song did amuse me. In any case - sorry.
I will continue to argue with you until the cows come home about certain things, but I'll try not to veer off course into name calling in future.
Yours evermore,
fannyh 😆
(That did genuinely make me chuckle yesterday - I put it in here as a joke, not to make any particular point).
Lol You're more than welcome to take the piss mate. I'm thick skinned, and I hope we disagree on loads more stuff haha.
But thank you. Insults are low and I'm sure they are well beneath you.
I will admit to being well pleased with myself for the @ lol.
Oh no, not those (they are all the same) gypsies. I don’t know who is worse the gypsies or those muslims.
Very blinkered attitude there bud. And no I'm not joking.
Unless you have been on the other end of them making your life a misery without fear of having anything done about it then you've no idea what they are capable of.
Oh, and I've spent time with some very nice Gypsies and only recently was given a wee tour of ones caravan which was his pride and joy, so thinking I tar all their drives with the same brush is bullshit.
But thanks for calling me a rascist.
Sounds like our neighbours when I was growing up.
In fact, did you buy my mum and dad's old place?
Usually they were no bother, probably following the "don't shit on your own doorstep" maxim - but every so often there'd be a big police raid.
Later found out they were the main local drug dealers as well as ringing lorries (which we kind of knew about).
One of my dads mates spent his working career in he Met police, he retired as Chief Inspector. He working in old school flying squad, dealt with armed robbers, he headed up a street crime unit, he worked undercover for years. He was proper, old school tough cop.
When he retired he took a job with the local council as a liaison officer with the travelling community. He quit after about 6 months as he was too intimidated.
I don't have much advice to add but you have my sympathies as you seem to be caught between a rock and a hard place.
There is something incredibly galling about people who think they are above the law.
reported the ” visit” to the police but they couldn’t help.
There's your problem.
Yes it is the " travelling " community.Brads has called it right. Most of them go about their " business " quietly so no one can see what they are up to.Footpaths around or through their property are blocked and one nearby even put notices up on a footpath saying their dogs are likely to attack you.
It has become the norm around here for them to buy farmland cheap then start moving caravans and mobile homes onto the land.They ignore council demands to remove them and that's when the intimidation starts.My local councillor said the planning department were reluctant to become involved when they realised the background of the people.
It took the council 11 years of court cases to be able to demolish a nearby house built without permission.
If the guy nearby gets his way with the kennels and office block,which is a way in for housing,then I think we would seriously look at moving.
Anybody interested in a property in County Durham ? Close to Hamsterley !
Unless you have been on the other end of them making your life a misery without fear of having anything done about it then you’ve no idea what they are capable of.
Is that just gypsies that are capable of these things or is it other all people too? See what you are doing?
Oh, and I’ve spent time with some very nice Gypsies
Some of my best friends are .....
I knew it would be gypsies when I first read it. No advice, but resist!
Nope, not doing it.
Edited.
I’m not exactley the most law abiding person
👀
Oh belt up.
Indeed..
Anyway...sounds like a rubbish situation. With most irritating neighbours a few frozen sausages may sort it out, but I can't see you have much choice other than to move, which sucks.
Nope, not doing it.
Edited.
Yeah, it's probably best to delete posts where you say a section of society is abnormal.
Best to quit before you start saying they should be 're-educated'.
I said they want no part in normal society and normal rules do not apply to them.
If that's abnormal then so be it. I know plenty abnormal peopel who aren't Gypsies.
I wouldn't want any of them as neighbours.
Damn ! tried so hard not to post lol.
Anybody interested in a property in County Durham ? Close to Hamsterley !
Sounds good. What are the neighbours like?
I'd move now, before the kennels etc start to happen
It means they "win" but you aren't going to beat them without significant personal cost.
Go now
Is that just gypsies that are capable of these things or is it other all people too? See what you are doing?
They make up 5% of the prison population but less than 0.1% of the general population. There's a multitude of reasons for that, not all of it's down to institutional racism. In comparison BAME people makes up 25$ of the prison population but 14% of the general population.