Don't lose out in the postcode planning lottery: here's how to beat the system

21/03/2016

Location always affects the price of your home but you may be surprised to hear that it could also affect whether you get a rubber stamp for your planned loft extension or granny annex. 

Even though around 90 per cent of applications are granted nationally, Just Planning, a specialist in low-cost householder appeals, estimates 20,000 households will be hit by unfair rejections this year and has discovered a north/south divide to planning rejections, with a higher proportion of “nos” coming from councils in the south of England.  

Appin, in the West Highlands, comes with permission to build an additional house (£595,000, Knight Frank)

“Overworked planning officers who are confused between national and local planning policy tend to reject applications out-of-hand based on dated rules,” says the self-styled planning guru Martin Gaine, boss of Just Planning.

The research shows the bottom 10 councils with a 27-47 per centrejection rate are all in the South East. It is particularly difficult to extend in the capital – seven of the 10 councils with the lowest approvals are London boroughs. Conversely, the top councils where 100 per cent of planning applications were approved include Northumberland National Park, Redditch, Darlington and Gloucester.

The roof terrace

Claire Phan, 36, thought she had ticked all the planners’ boxes when she applied for permission to build a roof terrace on her London home, yet her application was refused for being out of keeping witharchitectural character and too dominating for neighbours.

 “I even used an architect who had worked on lots of properties nearby, including our neighbours a few years previously,” she says.  Duly made adjustments did not appease, with a “loss of privacy” subsequently cited. So Phan, owner of London crockery hire company Vintage Tea Party, engaged Just Planning for her second appeal in February last year, with the support of the apparently overlooked neighbours in Hammersmith.

Six months later she had planning granted. “The ruling said that most gardens are already overlooked and that roof terraces are common in the immediate area, including the adjoining property,” Phan says.

The side extension

Jo Taylor, 50, is another victim of the computer-says-no system. She was refused permission for a very high-quality, two-storey side extension to her house in Norfolk, when the council said it was out of character with the neighbourhood – even though all the neighbours and the parish council were in favour. 

“We felt bemused and extremely unfairly treated as the refusal was timed to deny our application the opportunity to be put before a committee. It was based on one planning officer’s opinion,” says company director Taylor, who subsequently had the decision overturned when the appeal inspector described the plans as making “a positive contribution to the quality and character of the area”. 

Lynda, Mike and Angela Mein live in three converted barns in Cheshire and were refused permission to replace all the old timber windows, which were rotting and letting in the cold and noise, with high-quality PVC double-glazed units that looked exactly like the original timber. The planning officer didn’t look at the new windows, but rejected the application because he didn’t “like the sound of PVC on a barn”.

They won on appeal. “Everyone should appeal a refusal, even though many people aren’t aware there is a process in place,” says Gaine, who claims a 71 per cent success rate last year in overturning the decisions of council planning officers, many of whom had made subjective judgments without taking new planning directives into account.

A government proposal to allow well-performing local authorities to charge higher fees for planning won’t help. “The real issue is a lack of digitisation and widespread confusion over national planning policy. The only solution is to standardise policy and extend permitted development,” Gaine adds.

Listed houses

What about planning and listed property? Suzanne Bowman, a listed buildings specialist at law firm Adams and Remers, warns that special consents are needed before making any changes to a listed building

“Every part of a listed building is protected, including the interior and exterior and its curtilage or external area,” says Bowman. “Failure to get consent is a criminal offence and you could go to jail or be fined up to £20,000. Listed legislation has teeth.” 

While unauthorised works are a common problem, conservation officers are thin on the ground and most councils don’t have the money to carry through all prosecutions.

Gaine advises, however, never to ignore an enforcement notice that the council serves if it suspects a development has been carried out without planning permission, and can require an extension to be dismantled at a high cost. “You have the right to appeal within 28 days and the requirements of the notice will be put on hold while the appeal is considered,” he adds.

Failure to act could result in court action, leading to substantial fines. You could, of course, buy a property with planning permission already agreed. Blackhay Farm House in Bodmin, Cornwall, is on the market through Savills for £1.65 million.

It has five bedrooms, five bathrooms and a stone barn – and comes with planning permission to convert it. Other properties ready for transformation and complete with paper trail include a four-bedroom garden cottage in Kent with consent to extend. In such cases you really are getting more for your money, and why not let someone else do the hard work?

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