I've got a basement flat in a house. The house is grade 2 listed, not starred. The house is one of those grand old ones with the (presumerably) servent's quarters round the back. In fact before it was converted into flats it was a hotel - the basement and back entrance were a bar & cellar.
knowing I needed listing consent to make changes I invited the local listing officer round to discuss and be completely up-front. I wanted to change the entrance ( which is down steps at the back of the building ). As you look down the steps, the flat door is on the left at bottom on external wall, and straight ahead is a small alley which runs maybe 6 foot which hasa 'ceiling' formed by the overhang from the ground floor flat. I proposed enclosing this alley because I wanted the 'front door' facing you as you looked down the steps. The listing officer seemed fine with this but mentioned the cobbles on the floor needed preserving and suggested a floating floor to accomodate this. I also wanted to enlarge the living room door to make it a french door - both alterations would have allowed more natural light into the flat. At the moment there is no natural light into the part at the back who's outlook is alley/overhang and the other part of the back is okish but not brilliant ie looking on to wall but no overhang.
I submitted a listed building application as per above but it was refused. Reason : the partial removal of the wall of the lounge will adversely affect the integrity of the listed building, and quotes various policies. Ok, obviously one has to accept set-backs, so I got my planning chap to take out the partial removal of the lounge wall and resubmit. I rang the planning dept yesterday to make sure they had received the revised application and by accident spoke to the listing officer who said they were surprised the revised application had included the changed entrance/door/alley arrangement ( which was in the previous application ). I asked why, and he said because it was unlikely to be accepted without strong justification. I was a bit stunned since I'd already run this past him before putting in the first application, thinking it was ok, then obviously it also wasn't cited as a part of the reason for refusal when the the listing application was refused - just the internal lounge wall which I'd taken out.
I'm confused !!! Can listing officers 'play' around like this? If it wasn't ok last time surely it should have been listed as a reason ? Right now I'm just stumped - I thought if you talked it through prior to any application, then removed anything that was responsible for a refusal, there would be no danger of a subsequent refusal - but apparently I'm wrong. Can the goalposts be continually moved so you don't know what they will and won't accept ? Many Thanks.
knowing I needed listing consent to make changes I invited the local listing officer round to discuss and be completely up-front. I wanted to change the entrance ( which is down steps at the back of the building ). As you look down the steps, the flat door is on the left at bottom on external wall, and straight ahead is a small alley which runs maybe 6 foot which hasa 'ceiling' formed by the overhang from the ground floor flat. I proposed enclosing this alley because I wanted the 'front door' facing you as you looked down the steps. The listing officer seemed fine with this but mentioned the cobbles on the floor needed preserving and suggested a floating floor to accomodate this. I also wanted to enlarge the living room door to make it a french door - both alterations would have allowed more natural light into the flat. At the moment there is no natural light into the part at the back who's outlook is alley/overhang and the other part of the back is okish but not brilliant ie looking on to wall but no overhang.
I submitted a listed building application as per above but it was refused. Reason : the partial removal of the wall of the lounge will adversely affect the integrity of the listed building, and quotes various policies. Ok, obviously one has to accept set-backs, so I got my planning chap to take out the partial removal of the lounge wall and resubmit. I rang the planning dept yesterday to make sure they had received the revised application and by accident spoke to the listing officer who said they were surprised the revised application had included the changed entrance/door/alley arrangement ( which was in the previous application ). I asked why, and he said because it was unlikely to be accepted without strong justification. I was a bit stunned since I'd already run this past him before putting in the first application, thinking it was ok, then obviously it also wasn't cited as a part of the reason for refusal when the the listing application was refused - just the internal lounge wall which I'd taken out.
I'm confused !!! Can listing officers 'play' around like this? If it wasn't ok last time surely it should have been listed as a reason ? Right now I'm just stumped - I thought if you talked it through prior to any application, then removed anything that was responsible for a refusal, there would be no danger of a subsequent refusal - but apparently I'm wrong. Can the goalposts be continually moved so you don't know what they will and won't accept ? Many Thanks.
. I was probably part venting, and severely shocked ( it's very recent ). I was trying to get a feel for 'is this normal' and 'can they do this'. Obviously they can - so it's back to the drawing board.