Hello All,
We would appreciate some of your thoughts on how to handle a neighbour’s activities with regard to planning issues. Sorry this is a large post, but thought the more information we could give, the better.
We live in one of a number of early Georgian houses that make up 2 sides of a square. Another side is open to the road, and the remaining side is a public house. The square used to be covered in grass, but since the development of the motor vehicle, is now the front car park of the pub. All of these properties are GII listed, with the pub being listed for “group value”, according to Images of England.
The pub shut earlier this year, but is being taken over by the chap (I'll call him Bob) who runs a restaurant on the other side of the road. Bob has formed a business partnership with a local builder to take over the pub (alarm bells ringing). Bob is currently renting the neighbouring property to us, and is apparently thinking about buying it. As he is a neighbour and because we do like to frequent his restaurant (and likewise the pub when it re-opens), we would prefer to keep the relationship amicable.
To the rear of the pub is a large car park that forms a boundary with our rear garden. The pub's garden is on the opposite side of the car park, hence we are relatively private; just a bit of noise now and again.
Now, beyond the end of the rear car park is a large roughly triangular field that forms part of the land belonging to the pub. This field extends behind the end of our garden and is currently scrub land, covered by 3 foot high vegetation and doesn't look like it's been tended for decades. There's also the odd tree. The houses in the immediate vicinity are in a conservation area, but from looking at council maps, this area ends at the end of our garden and the pub’s car park. Therefore, it looks like this field isn’t in the conservation area.
Bob has mentioned that he intends to clear some of this field to provide additional seating with a view towards a small river that runs 15 feet or so from the boundary of the field.
Question: We assuming that nothing is improper planning-wise with him doing this. Is that correct?
What is of more concern to us is that the word around (our relatively small) town is that the plan is to build “holiday chalets” on the field. We are waiting for Bob to bring this up in conversation, but nothing yet. There’s been no sign of any planning or LBC applications so far, but we are ready to argue our case as and when this happens.
What’s prompted this tome now is that a JCB appeared earlier today and has been parked up in the field, presumably ready for Monday. This may be to clear some of the vegetation, but seems a bit over the top to us.
Question: How much do you think could be done in the field before any sort of permission needs to be applied for (if any is needed at all)? One of our worries is that it may be easier to ask for permission to build on land that’s been semi-worked, rather than on an untouched field.
We are aware of work being done in the pub itself which we think may require LBC, namely a full rewire and knocking down a small wall in the kitchen area. Is this indeed the case?
This is the first time we’ve been in a situation like this and hoped that some of you may have some words of wisdom for us! Any suggestions would be appreciated.
We would appreciate some of your thoughts on how to handle a neighbour’s activities with regard to planning issues. Sorry this is a large post, but thought the more information we could give, the better.
We live in one of a number of early Georgian houses that make up 2 sides of a square. Another side is open to the road, and the remaining side is a public house. The square used to be covered in grass, but since the development of the motor vehicle, is now the front car park of the pub. All of these properties are GII listed, with the pub being listed for “group value”, according to Images of England.
The pub shut earlier this year, but is being taken over by the chap (I'll call him Bob) who runs a restaurant on the other side of the road. Bob has formed a business partnership with a local builder to take over the pub (alarm bells ringing). Bob is currently renting the neighbouring property to us, and is apparently thinking about buying it. As he is a neighbour and because we do like to frequent his restaurant (and likewise the pub when it re-opens), we would prefer to keep the relationship amicable.
To the rear of the pub is a large car park that forms a boundary with our rear garden. The pub's garden is on the opposite side of the car park, hence we are relatively private; just a bit of noise now and again.
Now, beyond the end of the rear car park is a large roughly triangular field that forms part of the land belonging to the pub. This field extends behind the end of our garden and is currently scrub land, covered by 3 foot high vegetation and doesn't look like it's been tended for decades. There's also the odd tree. The houses in the immediate vicinity are in a conservation area, but from looking at council maps, this area ends at the end of our garden and the pub’s car park. Therefore, it looks like this field isn’t in the conservation area.
Bob has mentioned that he intends to clear some of this field to provide additional seating with a view towards a small river that runs 15 feet or so from the boundary of the field.
Question: We assuming that nothing is improper planning-wise with him doing this. Is that correct?
What is of more concern to us is that the word around (our relatively small) town is that the plan is to build “holiday chalets” on the field. We are waiting for Bob to bring this up in conversation, but nothing yet. There’s been no sign of any planning or LBC applications so far, but we are ready to argue our case as and when this happens.
What’s prompted this tome now is that a JCB appeared earlier today and has been parked up in the field, presumably ready for Monday. This may be to clear some of the vegetation, but seems a bit over the top to us.
Question: How much do you think could be done in the field before any sort of permission needs to be applied for (if any is needed at all)? One of our worries is that it may be easier to ask for permission to build on land that’s been semi-worked, rather than on an untouched field.
We are aware of work being done in the pub itself which we think may require LBC, namely a full rewire and knocking down a small wall in the kitchen area. Is this indeed the case?
This is the first time we’ve been in a situation like this and hoped that some of you may have some words of wisdom for us! Any suggestions would be appreciated.