Objections to Permis de Construire

[AnOther]

No, I just missed your post.

In 2003 I applied to cull, or better still fell, a large PITA Sycamore tree in a conservation area.

Here is the website for the relevent local authority with their policy which I believe is standard in the UK.

http://www.tendringdc.gov.uk/TendringDC/Environment/Planning+and+Buildings/Heritage+and+Conservation/Tree+Protection+and+Preservation.htm

In essence then they had to object to my application within 6 weeks of submission failing which I was free to do as I wished.

They didn't, I did.

It subsequently came to light that they had somehow 'lost' my application for 2 weeks and even when they found it failed to note the date it was actually submitted instead registering it 2 weeks late.

Upon the expiry of the 6 weeks from submission I called in the tree surgeon and had the barsteward invader tree erased completely. Some of the locals were up in arms but I told them to complain to the council not me. If I was doing anything unlawful they could have slapped an injunction on me inside the hour but they didn't because they couldn't, they had screwed up and that was all there was to it.

Pathetically, 2 weeks after all evidence of the trees existence was gone, and at the end of their 6 weeks, at 5:30 in the afternoon, somebody shoved an envelope through my letterbox with a refusal !!!!

The same 6 week term applies to all planning applications, not just trees.

EDIT: I note that some changes came in in 2010 so maybe the 6 weeks has changed.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/2184/made/data.pdf

[Salty Sam]

Thank you for that information. Interestingly, within Conservation Areas the requirement is only for you to notify the authority of the intention to fell a tree and, as you rightly say - they have 6 weeks to respond usually by applying a Tree Preservation Order should they have an objection.

In respect of a planning application for a new build prior to 2010, there certainly wasn't a set 6 week period applicable nationwide. I'm intrigued to know how you managed to achieve a new build effectively without planning permission, without building control intervention, and without the council stepping in to halt the build until retrospective permission was granted?

How on earth did you manage to sell the property?

[AnOther]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]I'm intrigued to know how you managed to achieve a new build effectively without planning permission, without building control intervention, and without the council stepping in to halt the build until retrospective permission was granted?

How on earth did you manage to sell the property?

[/quote]Where did I say I did that ? [blink]

[Salty Sam]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]

[quote user="AnOther"] I speak from 1st hand experience in obtaining planning permission for a new build and for cutting down trees - both in a conservation area.[/quote]

Are you saying in affect, you didn't actually have planning permission or because it exceeded a 6 week rule, the local authority were forced to grant your application? [/quote]

Confusion reigns. So can we take it therefore, you were in fact granted planning permission for the new build, but the only problem you had with the council was in fact due to them being 'time expired' from the time of your notification to them raising any objection for removal of the tree?

 

[AnOther]

Yes, the two were separate though.

The tree came first (or should that be went !) as it's removal, or at least a significant reduction, was necessary to provide adequate access to the site. I of course said nothing about this at the time citing - quite genuinely - nuisance value and potential property damage from roots as the reason for the work. My immediate neighbours were 100% behind me on this as they loathed that particular tree as much as I did, if not more.

For the subsequent new build application, again with no objections from the neighbours as the plans both gave them access to their back gardens, where they previously had none, and included permission for garages for them, the now pi55ed off council tried every trick they could muster to knock it back but eventually ran out of objections and ultimately I won the day. Time was not a factor here as they were very quick off the mark with their objection when the application for building regs went in !

The icing on the cake at the end of the day was that the chairman of the parish council was forced to apologise both to me and the council planning committee for telling blatant lies. A couple of years later he had the brass neck to knock on my door canvassing support against a proposed mobile phone mast which was going to be sited close to his house, I took great delight in telling him to go forth and multiply then stuck a poster in my window in support of the plan [:D][:D][:D]

[PaulT]

[quote user="Salty Sam"]

- they have 6 weeks to respond usually by applying a Tree Preservation Order should they have an objection.

[/quote]

Beware, Local authorities often impose blanket TPOs as a matter of course and to fell a tree you have to apply for the TPO on the particular tree to be lifted.

Paul