Town & Country Planning Order 2015 - Part A

[masochists-r-us]

It would appear from this legislation, specifically Class 2 ,Part A that as current owner of a Listed Building, I'm prevented from maintaining, never mind improving or developing my gates,fences and walls without getting Planning Permission first. So, I have to apply for PP and spend £180 just to get permission to mend my fences. Is that really correct ?? If so, I'm wondering why the Government would pass legislation to discourage LB owners from keeping their buildings in good order. Surely they could have added something along the lines of ' should it alter the character of the building', to protect LBs from unsightly development or am I missing something ?

 

[Flyfisher]

That doesn't seem right and I feel sure that councils would not want to be inundated with planning applications simply for maintenance works.

Besides, if a repair is truly like-for-like then what would be the grounds for complaint? Can you imagine the prosecution case - "the accused is charged with replacing a rotten old oak fence post with, er, a new oak fence post"! I understand the courts do not think kindly about frivolous cases wasting their time!

More seriously, have you any specific maintenance in mind?

 

[noj]

Looked it up - I see what you mean...

Permitted development
A. The erection, construction, maintenance, improvement or alteration of a gate, fence, wall or other means of enclosure.

A.1 Development is not permitted by Class A if
d) it would involve development within the curtilage of, or to a gate, fence, wall or other means of enclosure surrounding, a listed building

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/596/pdfs/uksi_20150596_en.pdf

But does that document/order just apply to some very specific areas? Couldn't be sure...

 

[masochists-r-us]

We want to replace a very ill-fitting softwood gate with a oak plank gate that fits, but have been told we must apply for PP. We also want to carry out repairs to our fences as they are in a poor state of repair, but having read this it looks like we'll need to apply for PP to do that also.

 

[Me!]

I don't think you are looking at the correct bit of legislation. I think that one is the one that basically seems to say that with listed buildings we don't get the normal permitted development rights that most people get in non-listed buildings.
It doesn't sound like you are trying to develop anything new, so this act doesn't apply to what you are trying to do.

If you were replacing the old softwood gate with a matching new softwood gate then that must come within the allowable like for like repairs for listed buildings. If you are changing for a new style of gate or one made of a different type of wood then technically that is not like for like and so somebody could choose to challenge the change.

Perhaps you could fit your new gate but keep the old one somewhere as a spare as well in case anyone ever insists you re fit it?

 

[88v8]

If the softwood gate is aesthetically decent, get it reproduced in oak.

As regards maintenance, like-for-like requires no permission. But if you change the height or the colour or the style, that's another matter.

Like-for-like can of course be a bit daft, repairing cement pointing with cement pointing, but let's not get into that

Ivor

 

[Cubist]

I would just send an email to my local Conservation Office with maybe a photograph of what needs to be repaired and a short description of the proposed work. I've used this approach in the past and, so far, I have not been required to make PP request.

That said of course I dare say the response will depend on how much of a tartar your CO is.

 

[Gareth Hughes]

it is badly worded - or rather, the inclusion of "maintenance" is poorly thought-through. I suspect it was intended to catch instances of fences, etc, being painted a significantly different colour or some such situation. I've never asked for an application in such circumstances, but then I'm a pragmatic old softy.

The other four items ("improvement" - what a multitude of sins that has the potential to cover) clearly do have potential to cause real harm to the character or setting of a listed building and are rightly not permitted development.