I discovered earlier in the week that the Parish Council had decided that they objected to our plans because "it will have a detrimental impact on the visual aspect when entering the village". This seems quite perverse as they had already approved the 3 previous plans submitted for our plot, the first two of which were for much larger four bedroomed houses. Enter the world of planning applications, where there's no such thing as consistency. Whilst the Parish Council's opinion is often ignored by the district council, I did feel that things were stacking up against us.
Sadly, and not entirely unexpectedly, worse was to come in the form of a 'phone call today from the Mid Beds planning officer. She explained that she would be recommending rejection of our plans on the basis that there was too much bulk in the house - primarily the roof. Had we submitted plans with hip ends for the roof rather that gable ends, she would have recommended approval. I can't criticise the planning officer at all - she is doing her job to the guidlines she has. I blame our architect who should have discussed this with the planners before submission of the plans as this would have saved us time and money.
I have requested that our plans be withdrawn in favour of a redesign which at last saves us another planning application fee.
We now have a couple of options - modify the existing plan to include hips rather than gable ends, or come up with a new design. I really don't think the existing plan will work with hips so its back to the drawing board it seems.
I have arranged to meet the planning officer on Monday and will have to come up with some outline plans to discuss with her. Trouble is the impending Christmas / New Year holiday is going to delay everything by a several weeks (again!)
Disprited of Clifton
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