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[Space Chick]

When I bought my house 8 years ago, I bought it for one reason, it backed onto beautiful woodland. The woodland was a "conservation area" and could not be built upon.

 

About 3 years ago, the land was put up for auction, again stating that it could not be built upon.

 

However, tonight a neighbour came around to tell us that a poster had been put on the lamp-post at the end of our cul-de-sac stating that they are building a development of log cabins AND a housing estate

 

OH has checked this out on the council website and it is true All complaints have to be lodged by the end of the month.

 

I am absolutely devastated, anyone got any tips on how I can complain to the council? I am sure that I won't get anywhere but if I don't try I definitely won't.

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Debs

[Jules.]

I have no advice for you, but hope you can get it blocked.

[mags]

I would ensure all your neighbours know about this and let them know you are putting in a complaint

 

might be a web site that would help you with wording etc

 

you might be able to check the deeds re the use of the land

these would be logged with Land registery

 

 

good luck

 

Mags

[Egluntyne]

**This Book** is useful. A group of neighbours tried to block the building of a monstrous set of flats on the site of the old library near us a few years ago and found this helpful.

 

Log on to your council website and get as many people as possible to log their objections there.

 

Best of luck.

[Happy-Mama]

would the new development reduce the value of your property... could you object on those grounds? Sorry I don't know a lot about it but best of luck to you

[Space Chick]

Thanks for your suggestions, Egluntine, that book looks great.

 

I don't think the council would care about falling property value or my loss of view. However, I am thinking I can appeal on a number of grounds:

 

1. Cutting down trees that are hundreds of years old

2. Rights of access (as we have gates that lead from our gardens into the woods, and there is a scenic walk to the town which has been used for generations)

3. Historical site, there is historical significance to some of the land.

4. Flood risk, as there is a large stream running behind the properties

5. Reduction of agricultural use (as there is also farm land)

 

Following research, ours is one of a number of "candidate sites" for urban development.

 

All additional suggestions gratefully received as I (and my neighbours) will not give up without a fight.

[Patricia W]

Flood risk is probably one of the most powerful. We had a development stopped because it was on a flood plain.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Sorry to hear that, Debs . I hope you manage to stop it . How can they overturn the conservation order?

 

We look likely to lose the field at the end of our garden to a development in the next few years . Nothing we can do about it either .

[Olly]

Don't panic - the fact that they've applied for planning permission doesn't mean they will get it. Make sure you don't miss the deadline for submitting objections, and it would be very good if you could get some of your neighbours to join in as that will have more impact than a lone voice.

 

Unfortunately the loss of view etc probably isn't a major consideration to them, as you say. If it's going to be log cabins, are they in fact going to cut down the trees or is it going to remain a woodland site? They will have to take account of any rights-of-way if they are official, and they are very difficult and expensive to get changed.

 

Your best bet is probably to focus on the effect it will have on the surrounding area - more cars, access routes, impact on local amenities if all these houses are built.

 

You could find out if any of the trees have a TPO (Tree Preservation Order) on them, or maybe get in touch with e.g. Woodland Trust to see if you can find out whether any of them are ancient trees. Finding a colony of something very rare in the woodland would be a help!

 

Sorry I can't think of much more, but I would contact the local paper as well and try and get as much local support as you can.

[redhotchick]

There must be a better site for them to build on than that.

How annoying, upsetting and frustrating.

Good luck in trying to stop this development.

[chickenanne]

Oh, it's awful, isn't it? I speak from experience and know just how horrible it is!

Sadly, the things that aren't "material considerations" in planning include loss of view and reduction of the value of nearby land or housing.

 

However, traffic, flooding (sadly there are ways round this for developers though), nuisance, privacy, (but it has to be really close to you) lack of light (prob irrelevant if woodland as trees will be higher than log cabins), environmental concerns (newts, rare-ish birds, butterflys, plants etc), right of way, drainage, sewerage, public amenity, TPO, conservation value, etc may all have a bearing. Changeing the character of an area is useful too: it's vague but if the area is generally seen as being special then destroying that can be taken into account by planners.

 

You could also try to make it into an expensive place to develop with a reduced property value, such that a developer will put it on hold. Keeping as many trees as possible, keeping the original waterway uncovered, limiting parking and access, question wether local facilities can cope (schools, doctor, library, hospital, dentist, sewers, water, drainage, roads, amenities, etc).

 

I think it helps if your objection is on clear, specific grounds which are all relevant - so no use mentioning TPO's, newts or whatever if there are none, it'll just make you look like your clutching at straws.

 

If the land has already been designated for development then I think the very bad news is that something will end up being built there. Sorry, I know it's grim - I really do - but you could either (a) try to get what is least annoying for you and your neighbours built, or (b) try to fight all development. You are more likely to succeed with (a) but obviously what you really want is (b).

 

Finally, it isn't the end of the world. It feels terrible I know, but you may find that the developer intends to (eg) keep a generous strip of woodland between your house and the proposed housing (as it will increase the value of his development) - just generally to keep a woodland-y feel to the land. Not ideal for you admittedly but better than seeing it all change.

[Scramble]

Sorry to hear this Debs

I don't know what to say really, just wanted to wish you luck!

 

That's the same reason that my parents bought their house as well

[Nutmeg]

I don't think the council would care about falling property value or my loss of view. However, I am thinking I can appeal on a number of grounds:

 

1. Cutting down trees that are hundreds of years old

2. Rights of access (as we have gates that lead from our gardens into the woods, and there is a scenic walk to the town which has been used for generations)

3. Historical site, there is historical significance to some of the land.

4. Flood risk, as there is a large stream running behind the properties

5. Reduction of agricultural use (as there is also farm land)

 

 

You have my every sympathy having been through this a few years ago.

 

Some points to be aware of:

 

You are NOT entitled to a view (but you are entitled to light) and the council has no responsibilty whatsoever as to whether your property falls in value.

 

Get as many people as possible to object, not just neighbours, but walkers, any local history groups, ANYONE who you think may be affected by this. Also check out with local wildlife groups if there are any protected species living in the area (toads, newts, etc).

 

Contact your local MP, he/she may come out on your side.

 

When you write your letter of complaint, do NOT put any emotion in it, use hard facts in a constructive manner.

 

Find out the names of every member of the planning committee and send them each individually (The council has to give you this info along with their addressess and hand deliver to be certain they have it.) a copy of your findings/letter of complaint, etc together with your contact details BEFORE the meeting. Trust me some of these people don't even bother to read what is in front of them at the planning meeting.

 

Some of this may sound OTT, but I can assure you you have to come out with all guns blazing to have even a hope of fighting a council planning decision.

 

We won our first objection, but sadly lost the second, although we managed to have the buidlings reduced and delayed work for well over a year, which was a small victory.

 

Any further advice, please just ask. I really don't envy you, it is a very draining experience and will bring out emotions you didn't know you had!

[Redwing]

Get down to your local council offices, they are obliged to show you the plans and if you ask nicely you can normally get someone on the planning case to talk you through them

 

The plans will give you a better idea of what to do next

 

With reference to the log cabins, unless I am very much mistaken this can be a way of getting a permenant stone/brick dwelling on the site longer term as if a temporary building stays in place for a certain amount of years it gives a good reason why a permanant one can go on the site later so be aware that 'settling' on log cabins now could be opening the door for a replacement development down the line

 

Best of luck x

[Chickvic]

Good luck - it seems like lots of other people have good advice!

[Space Chick]

My Hubby is a man on a mission

 

Today he has emailed the council objections, and has produced a leaflet for a leafleting campaign of the estate. He's spent most of tonight in a neighbours house as they have been planning what to do next. Turns out this chap (who has lived 4 doors away from us for 8 years and we've never spoken to before ) is a local historian, in fact we have several of his books

 

They are planning next steps together, along with a few other neighbours including printing and distributing leaflets, contacting local newspapers etc tec . I will join in once I am fully fit again. The historian knows our MP personally, so we are hoping that may help our cause.

 

We have found out that the trees have TPO's on them, but that didn't stop the council cutting one down last year

 

On an amusing note, they asked what the big structure in our garden was, Phil told them it was our Chicken Run - they were very impressed and want to buy eggs

 

Fingers crossed, and thanks for listening and caring!

 

Debs

[Olly]

Well that sounds very positive, well done to you and OH for getting things moving, hope you feel well enough to join in soon. Let us know what happens.

[Old Speckled Hen]

Oh best of luck. It's a dreadful situation to be in.

I once lived near Maidenhead and our garden backed onto fields and a lake.

We moved on but years later I was in the area and decided to have a snoop at our old road. It was horrid. There were houses right down to the lake shore.

I'll keep my fingers doubly crossed.

[Guest]

I would also contact Ramblers /tree preservation and the tree people at the council..what I am getting at is they all need to be involved even if they are part of the council..its a bit like divide and rule..you need all departments involved and all the different parties contacted. Look at access points too.

 

I live in a conservation area and planning was turned down to build on a farm field near us ( it wasnt set aside and had been crop planted every year) it was turned down as the infra structure in our village is non existant. We have a pub thats it!

 

good luck dont get disheartened

keep at it as you have to try to stop it thats all you can do

indie

[Space Chick]

The council have set up a website and have asked for comments on that, so I have played them at their own game today. I found all the references to policies (environmental, welsh assembly targets, biodiversity) and have quoted what other departments say back to them. Here is part of my response as an example:

 

I understand that the trees within this area are subject to Tree Preservation Orders, so am at a loss to understand how such a proposal could even be considered.

 

The proposed development would have a huge environmental impact on the area and would unquestionably diminish the value of our biodiversity.

 

Within the Environmental section of your website, you speak with pride about the importance of maintaining biodiversity. You have even enhanced this commitment by creating a Local Biodiversity Action Plan, citing one of the areas of significance to be the Native Woodlands and Parkland. Within this Action Plan, you pledge to protect wildlife, for example Bats, which live within the area proposed for development.

 

In addition, the council has maintained its support (as highlighted in the document Rights of Way Improvement plan, pg 6) to the WAG Environment Strategy for Wales entitled “Our Environment, Our Future” that by 2025 everyone will have access to green space and barriers to countryside access will be removed. Surely by proposing destroying valuable green space, the council is setting out to fail its long term objectives.

 

Whatcha think? (I obviously have not included all my response referencing areas in view of the fact that this is a public forum, but it gives a flavour of the approach I have taken)

 

Good idea about contacting all of the departments Indie, I think I will do that.

[Valkyrie]

Sounds good to me. Straight to the point. Ten out of ten and a merit badge. In Virginia Water the developers down one of the roads totally ignored the TPO's, chopped down the oaks (which were a good 200 years old judging from the size of the trunks). They were fined some rediculously low amount (£5000 or so for the lot) - which obviously they will make more than that on the house sales.

[Space Chick]

Well OH has been doing his caped crusader routine. He has delivered over 600 leaflets tonight There have been a few houses which want to be more "active" in the campaign, so we are going to widen the delivery circuit. Anyhow, OH was delivering a few hundred leaflets to one couple who had offered to help with delivery when a leaflet was posted through the door, it was OH's leaflet!!!! He spoke to the person who delivered it, and they had had a few hundred photocopies and had decided to deliver it to a wider area

 

We have approached our MP about a meeting, and have got in contact with some environmental groups. Its great to see the community working together

 

The "Save our Woodland" campaign whilst only on Day 3 is going rather well

[Yorkshire Pudding]

It sounds like a really good start - well done to you and OH. Best of luck with the campaign!

[mags]

sounds good

 

my brother's old house was next to farm land when he bought it and we used to walk down the sides of the fields.

A few years later it was a housing estate fields gone

 

 

woodlanes are needed

 

 

Mags

[chick wiggle]

Oh how horrible Debs, i really know how you feel, we went through a similar thing a few years ago and it is draining. It sounds like you are really doing every thing you can and very well too. Respect to your OH! Follow all the advice given (we did it all and eventually after many appeals, we won) It can be done, you just have to keep fighting I'm afraid. i wish you the best of luck and strength!