Household Permitted Development: All Change here.

Monday (30th) sees the long awaited change in domestic Permitted Development Rights (PDR's) which move away from the long used "volume" based approach to an impact approach.  So if you haven't yet begun your works then we urge you to contact us for advice as the new Rules are very different to those they replace.

Broadly it follows the model introduced in England in 2008.  Applied with care and skill it will increase the amount by which you can extend your home compared to the rules it replaces but also contain some serious catches for things which might previously have been considered innocuous.

Things to watch out for...

• Interpretation of the Principle Elevation (and other elevations) - These dictate those areas of the house where you can extend without a formal permission subjects to limits and conditions.   
• The requirement that "materials used in the walls, roof or other element of any exterior work must so far as practicable match the appearance of the materials used in the majority of the equivalent element of the existing dwellinghouse" Condition A3(a). This is a seemingly much more restrictive approach than in the English version of the Order and we can see many a DC officer seeking a battle of wills over that one.  ("other element of any exterior work..."  a potential minefield).  
• Height limits and definitions for measuring height/eaves. 
• As applied in Class E (Garden buildings etc) the height limits are much more restrictive than the current Order. We foresee a lot of buildings in urban situations being caught where of necessity they are:
• within 2 metres of the boundary and over 2.5m high.
• within 2 metres of the dwelling and any part over 1.5m high.
• on sloping sites where the eaves height limit 2.5 metres will catch many buildings with useable head room. Unless of course you excavate. 
• Increased control in protected areas (Conservation areas, AONB, World Heritage Sites). No longer are roof-lights PD for example
• Clarification on decking and raised platforms (anything 300mm above ground level now needs permission).
• Welcome inclusion of PDR for External Wall Insulation.

We cant but help thinking the Welsh Government, in trying to remove some of the ambiguity (and flexibility) of the old Order and address some of the criticisms of the 2008 English version has opened up an even greater can of worms.  Our guess is that demands for planning applications for minor proposals previously exempt from control (roof lights/windows//decking/drives/garages) will  rocket.

Flintshire County Council has already announced that it will no longer respond to pre-application enquiries for householder development informally, directing us to the Lawful Development Certificate (LDC) approach. No other north Wales Authority has announced the same yet, but we suspect it will become more prevalent practice. 

We always strongly advise you secure a LDC before you start works.  We are ready to take your instructions to get your development off the ground. 

All Guns Blazing

August passed in a blip.    Mind cleared, body not quite refreshed, we return with vigour and a list of projects raring to go. 

This week sees applications for Reserved Matters for 17 Apartments lodged and a full application for 3 houses. Fee quotes for 2 small projects already issued (one already confirmed).     

The next month will see a major proposal for redevelopment of large caravan park in Denbighshire and for a Waste Processing Facility in Flintshire find their way onto planning registers.  Alongside those a ecologists, drainage engineers and arboriculturalists are completing inputs on a site in Wrexham prior to its submission.   Likewise we have been requested to put together a team of lawyers, designers and specialists to present proposals for a Green Belt housing site in Cheshire.

Next week will see the finished (we hope) designs for the first phase of a clients redevelopment on the Deeside Industrial Park emerge from the mind of the architect to the the likes of us who make these things happen.  

We are a small practice - well "we" is me. As you can see we are busy and as the economy returns from its own sabbatical, business should continue growing.  One  thought over the summer has been to review the potential for an Assistant role for the right person within the business. We've looked in the past, "interviewed" but didn't find  the calibre of person we wanted then. If you are or know someone who is analytical, logical, commercial, customer focussed, builds relationships, astute, assertive, wants rewards for success, works smart and is IT focussed (and those are just a few of the core skills I need) then we have a contact box.  

P