Re: Re: One Off Housing

It seems to me that it is still a case of “Who you Know”, when it comes to rural development. I have been involved in a large number of applications for one off houses, and the policies of my LA seem to be somewhat inconsistent. I have had planning recently granted for a dwelling with a ridge height of 7.5m in an area populated with dwellings of much lower ridge heights. In this instance the local councillor applied a lot a pressure on the area planner, the result being a grant of permission. While the same planner refused a dwelling of similar size in a similar area.

My question is who dicates the implication of planning policies, Planners or Councillors. Generally I havn’t found much of a problem with the genuine housing need issue, in fact it is open to abuse with the insertion of a common condition, “The property may be sold within seven years subject to the approval of the local authority with the potential buyer showing a genuine housing need.

I feel the only way forward is a common policy on one off housing, each LA would zone areas of the countryside which would define the size and type of development. This would speed up applications and possibly reduce the number of refusals to ABP.