We were instructed to assist a new client seeking to convert a garden building into an annexe.
We presented the application and supporting statement setting out how the existing building would be retained and altered to form the annexe, and that it would still form part of the existing domestic unit. The Council refused to validate our clients application as it considered (without any objective evidence) what was being provided was not an annexe, amounted to a separate dwelling unit in its own right, that we have used the wrong forms and requested an increased planning application fee.
We completely disagreed with the Council, not least that it had pre-judged the application even before validating and considering it. After talking options through with the client, we exercised a right of appeal to the Welsh Government against the Council's notice of Invalidity -a fairly new power in Wales.
That Appeal was successful and required the Council to validate the application. It had to determine it as first presented. Of course, because the application was valid when first presented, the practical period to determine the application was significantly reduced to some 4 weeks after the appeal decision.
The Council have today granted planning permission, just within the 8 weeks from us first presenting the application, much to the delight of our client.
Yet another reason to consider the expertise of a Chartered Town Planner.
NIce one!
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