Grounds for planning objection

[dub_nerd]

New neighbours moved in next door and immediately put up a planning notice. We're a terraced house in a block of four, and the new neighbours are at the end-of-terrace. They are planning to more than double the size of the existing house, with a mixture of one and two-story flat-roofed extension.

Our back garden is narrow and north-facing. They plan to build their single storey extension right up to the boundary. This will cut off about a third of the sky visible from our back window and make the back garden something of a tunnel. The extension will be a flat roofed kitchen with skylights that will be just a few feet below our back bedroom window (on their side of the boundary obviously). They also plan to build a new seven foot dividing wall along the whole back boundary.

I don't want to kick up a fuss unnecessarily. The new building will certainly be something of an imposition on us, but as I understand it the effect on our light is not valid grounds for an objection. Can we/should we pursue this. What would be valid grounds? Is there somewhere I can go read about all this stuff? Even if we don't object I'd like to understand issues such as overhangs and gutters etc. The cutoff date is not too far away, with Christmas intervening.

 

[Pamcakes]

maybe have a look at your local county councils guide lines on planning and pick things from that. Did your neighbours call into you ?

 

[Leo]

Use your local authority's online planning search to check out planning for other properties in your area. You will be able to read all submissions made and get a sense of what the authority permit along with what grounds are accepted.

 

[kceire]

The single storey extension would most likely be exempt if constructed on its own, so no real objection there.
You can of course lodge an observation to the planning. Doesn't sound as bad as an objection.

You can state (if you want) that you are not against the development in general, but that you wish that the first floor element protect your right to daylight that feeds habitable rooms in your house..

Ive had to do daylight calculations on first floor applications to show they don't have an impact on adjoining dwelling windows. The standard for this is the BRE document "Site Layout Planning for Daylight and Sunlight".
And it can be demonstrated using the 25 and 45 Degree Rules of Thumb.

So your observation could ask that the developer carry out this assessment to demonstrate that your rooms do not loose the required amount of daylight.

 

[MangoJoe]

"I don't want to kick up a fuss unnecessarily.
The new building will certainly be something of an imposition on us."
Our back garden is narrow and north-facing.
They plan to build their single storey extension right up to the boundary.
This will cut off about a third of the sky visible from our back window and make the back garden something of a tunnel.
The extension will be a flat roofed kitchen with skylights that will be just a few feet below our back bedroom window (on their side of the boundary obviously).
They also plan to build a new seven foot dividing wall along the whole back boundary.

There is a lot there..... All reasonable too in my opinion. To your credit it sounds like you are trying to be very fair-minded and react in a neighbourly, good-spirited and appropriate manner.
But... I would not be happy at all, this sounds like a hell of a lot of burden and ongoing, long-standing imposition for you and yours with stellar benefits and no downside for your delighted and ambitious new neighbour.

I'm sure we can all agree its common enough to be in (as a guest) or alongside peoples homes and marvel at the scale of their extension shoe-horned into an impossibly small space and wonder how were they ever in a million years allowed build it. When its a bright and sunny day and you look out on a damp back garden coated in moss with no sunlight and no better vista than 20 metres of somone elses brand new pebble dash it can be a bit much.

- There's a balance between you being a tolerant, reasonable, accommodating person and them having everything all their own way. Perhaps if they need all this extra room and sun over and beyond that of the other 4 houses in the row they should have bought a very different house in a very different location.

If I was you I'd rather risk the fallout rather than live with the consequences - Remember too this person may not be as decent and accommodating as your good self - They could be a piece of work seeing what they can get away with here. Not trying to be dramatic or fan flames etc - I've just observed people at work in this area and sometimes their morals come well behind their desires to get everything they want.

They are seriously planning to more than double the size of this house.... I honestly do not know but can anyone verify - Might people with their architects direction sometimes submit optimistically scaled developments as a "feeler" to see just what they can manage to get away with?

Anyhow best of luck with it all - Hopefully the end result is acceptable to you when all is said and done.

 

[SparkRite]

Good post @MangoJoe .