Building differs from Planning Permission

[Zebra]

I've made a mistake and I'm not sure how to rectify it. I've had a side extension demolished and rebuilt. There was a gable wall which formed a boundary between myself and the neighbour. In the drawings which the Planners approved, this wall was to be demolished and not rebuilt, so that she gained a bit of garden. But she really wanted to keep it, so we were going to wait and see once the works started, whether it could be saved, but that way I had permission for the worst case scenario.
Turned out it had no foundations, so had to be demolished. The builder said to her that he would rebuild it in exactly the same position and she said OK. The mistake I made is that I should have said at this point "No, in that case we do what is on the drawings, which is to demolish it and not rebuild it." But I too said "OK then."
Now that it is rebuilt and almost finished, it turns out that it is much larger and more imposing than the one that was there before. Here's the old one, and the half-finished new one, which still has to have an outer layer of brick next to the blockwork, then a creasing tile and a brick on edge on top of it, so will be even taller and wider than it is now.
This is not really a period property problem so much as a new build problem, but I'm posting on here because I'm sure some of you will have experience of building extensions in conservation areas. The house is not listed so no conservation officer has ever been involved.
What is really worrying me, is that I don't have planning permission for it the way it is. If we'd been able to leave the old wall there the way it was, that would have been different, but the new one is not what is on the drawings. The builder seems to think it will be fine but I am worrying that if the planning department ever notice, they could make me demolish it. And I hate it anyway, being so large and imposing.
Should I approach the planning department myself and ask their advice? Should I ignore it and hope it's OK and that they don't ever notice and make me demolish the whole thing?
I dread asking the builder to knock the whole end wall down and do it again...

 

[MatthewC]

Hi Zebra.

A few questions for clarification:

1. Are you implying that you are in a Conservation Area, but the CO has not been involved?
2. The wall is in the wrong place (cf the approved plans) as you were going to cede a bit of land to your neighbour. Is it actually her ground or were you just being nice? Is she happy?
3.If it's a gable wall, how would you demolish it but not replace it? It looks like the new one is a gable as well, so the building is longer than the plans??
4. Apart from that length dimension, is there any other issue with the build? You are implying that you don't like it because it's too big, but is that due to errors (height, pitch) or is it simply that you don't like the approved plans?

There are several options for you, but in general (without encouraging dishonesty) in my experience the Council Planning Department is over-worked and far too busy to actually check that the building is as per the approved plans. Equally Building Control here are concerned with compliance with the rules not with the plans, and never speak to Planning anyway! The only way Planning will know is if someone (your neighbour?) was to complain.

Matthew

 

[Feltwell]

My experience is that planning only act if a complaint occurs, or if you REALLY take the p{ss! Much as Matthew says, Building Control and Planning seem to do their level best to ignore the presence of each other.

If you want to be honest then you can write in and ask for a variation to the plans - it then depends on how nice they are feeling as to if they let it go through or not without making you reapply for PP. With no objection from the only affected neighbour, I can't see that they'd bother.

For my garage, despite no objections from neighbours the planners didn't like the ridge height, so we made the garage narrower to bring the height down a bit. Only after we got PP did I realise that the bloke who did the drawings for me made a mistake and put the roof at the wrong pitch - in order to use reclaimed tiles, it had to be steeper, so increasing the ridge height again. I decided to confess to the planners, they let it go through and sent me a letter to the effect that it would be allowed as a variation to plans but only on the condition that I used reclaimed tiles - and that they were letting it through as they recognised that reclaimed tiles would be more in keeping with the surrounding buildings.

A more likely pitfall of ignoring the PP is that when you eventually come to sell, the buyers may pick up that what you've built is not as per the plans, but as I understand it the usual way out of this is to pay for an indemnity policy, which are not that expensive. There always used to be a time limit within which planning had to act - I think it was 5 years from construction - not sure if that still applies though.

I don't understand your problem from the pictures though. It looks like the gable end wall to your building, which obviously has to be there - so is this a garden wall adjacent to the gable end? Or is your objection just that the gable end sticks out above the roof line?

 

[Zebra]

1. Are you implying that you are in a Conservation Area, but the CO has not been involved?
Yes - clearly I had to apply for Planning Permission to demolish and rebuild the building, but as it's not listed, it's only been a normal planning officer who dealt with the case, many weeks after the deadline, and with absolutely no communication with me, unlike the helpful and friendly conservation officers that others on here seem to come across!
2. The wall is in the wrong place (cf the approved plans) as you were going to cede a bit of land to your neighbour. Is it actually her ground or were you just being nice? Is she happy?
We don't know where the boundary is. We don't know whose wall it was. The gable wall which used to be there was clearly built from her side, and many years after my gable end, which was an old timber frame with lapboards on. My best guess is that it was built as a continuation of the garden wall, to hide the messy end gable of my house. I was going to cede the land to her originally so that I could not at any point be accused of building over the boundary.
3.If it's a gable wall, how would you demolish it but not replace it? It looks like the new one is a gable as well, so the building is longer than the plans??
The wall which was there before was not structurally part of my house. I was going to cede the land and build a normal cavity wall with the roof over it, all on my land. But when that wall was demolished and the builder said he'd rebuild it again in the same place, I've had to build a three-layer wall there - two for a cavity wall (mine) - and one as a replacement-garden-wall (not mine), and I've had to build the roof inside it, not over it, so as not to claim it as part of my house.
4. Apart from that length dimension, is there any other issue with the build? You are implying that you don't like it because it's too big, but is that due to errors (height, pitch) or is it simply that you don't like the approved plans?
The approved plans were fine, it's just that's not what the builder's done. It's my fault, I should have said so much much earlier. The ridge and pitch of the roof itself are fine. The issue is that the new wall which replaces the shared/neighbour's garden wall is much higher than it was before, allowing for the upstand etc, which I didn't know it would have to have. I don't have Planning Permission for the replacement wall to be there at all, but I don't expect that the slightly enlarged footprint of the building would be a problem with Planning. No the problem is the height of it and that it sticks up above the roof line so much.

So is this a garden wall adjacent to the gable end? Or is your objection just that the gable end sticks out above the roof line?

 

[MatthewC]

I had to apply for Planning Permission to demolish and rebuild the building, but as it's not listed, it's only been a normal planning officer who dealt with the case, many weeks after the deadline, and with absolutely no communication with me, unlike the helpful and friendly conservation officers that others on here seem to come across!

I think that all planning applications in a conservation area will have been commented on by a conservation officer. In this district I can see all applications by address on their website (so long as they've been loaded), and hence know what the CO has said to the planning officer. I find it's worthwhile keeping an eye on that website so that I can then chase them if things are taking a while - they do have an obligation to do things on a certain timescale, I believe.

Personally, so long as your neighbour is happy, I don't think I would do anything about it, so long as it doesn't get much bigger! :shock: Don't forget that they don't actually have a right to go on your property to inspect your work, so if it can't be seen from any public land, they'll never know.

Matthew

 

[88v8]

Shame, as this started with you being nice to your neighbour.
But isn't this dimensional inexactitude your builder's error, and therefore his to rectify?

Ivor