Charlottechicken Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 (edited) I feel really awful. My friend is in the process of buying a renovated watermill, with wheel attached but no workings, it is really expensive, a once in a lifetime purchase, with several acres of land, a large mill pool and ducks and swans, a woodland etc, the perfect country idyll. I think it is fabulous and am really pleased for her (and can't wait to be the first visitor ). However, the mill is in Green Belt, and I am afraid I have soured the purchase somewhat, by telling her that most of the things she wants to do to it may not be possible because of the green belt status of the land. I am under the impression that the whole point of green belt is to preserve the look of the countryside and halt urban sprawl, therefore things like changing open land to fenced off garden is a no no, and altering detached buildings within your boundaries to separate living accommodation would not be allowed. I feel like a right party pooper . Anyone know of a good website about this sort of thing, where maybe I could offer some light at the end of the tunnel. Or am I wrong about the strictness of the planning procedures regarding green belt? Edited August 15, 2007 by Guest Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules. Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 I thought you were writing about going to the Greenbelt festival at the BH weekend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladylucan Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 The best thing i would say would be to look at the local council website regarding planning permission. etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlottechicken Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 The best thing i would say would be to look at the local council website regarding planning permission. etc. Thanks, I did. I found the local development plan, it gives no specific information regarding what is or is not allowed on green belt, other than stating that the look of the countryside must not be compromised. Maybe they think no-one would even try to develop green belt Anyone out there live within Green Belt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ladylucan Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 thinking again on the subject, they may let her renovate it as at the end of the day she is sort of preserving it, she may only fall into problems if she wants to say build extensions etc. x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickpea Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 Hang on a tick and I'll see if I can get any answers off my dad (he's a planning consultant!) May not get back to you till tomorrow...things are quite hectic at the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlottechicken Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 It is renovated, and they do want to extend the mill itself and convert an outbuilding. I believe they have more chance of extending the mill itself than creating another 'dwelling' within their own land (less impact on the landscape ) This is a minefield I think Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlottechicken Posted August 13, 2007 Author Share Posted August 13, 2007 Hang on a tick and I'll see if I can get any answers off my dad (he's a planning consultant!) May not get back to you till tomorrow...things are quite hectic at the moment. Wow, that would be really useful! I found something about the mill pond on the local development plan. The local council want to make it some sort of site for scientific interest, to do with the wildlife probably. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gooner.girl Posted August 13, 2007 Share Posted August 13, 2007 I thought you were writing about going to the Greenbelt festival at the BH weekend! So did i Jules! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura & CTB Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 I thought you were writing about going to the Greenbelt festival at the BH weekend! So did i Jules! Is that still going???? Takes me back a bit - last time I went was 25 years ago Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chickpea Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 Right, here's what my dad says: "Tell your friend to look up the local plan for the district the watermill is in, they will have greenbelt policies which let you know what you can and cannot do. This will be based on planning policy guidance note 2 on greenbelts. Is the mill listed? You are usually allowed to renovate existing buildings in the greenbelt, and they should be able to convert the outbuilding, but extensions are usually limited to a percentage of the volume of the original building. Each authority applies it's own limit and in some it can be up to 30%. Best of luck." Hope that helps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jules. Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 I thought you were writing about going to the Greenbelt festival at the BH weekend! So did i Jules! Is that still going???? Takes me back a bit - last time I went was 25 years ago Yes it is.... our young people's leader was trying to get them to go this year but they wouldn't start saving soon enough! And... he wanted hubby & me (plus children) to go along as helpers http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Licken Posted August 14, 2007 Share Posted August 14, 2007 I think that conversion of 'brownfield' areas within greenbelt designated land is a glitch of greenbelt legislation. It means that your friend should be able to do some of the conversion and improvement that is wanted - the local plan and planning office should be able to shed more light on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlottechicken Posted August 15, 2007 Author Share Posted August 15, 2007 They were on the radio this morning talking about building on greenbelt. The whole thing really cheeses me off - there are so many brownfield sites near to us that would benefit a lot from redevelopment that why would we want to go and build on nearby fields??? It makes no sense to me. Snap, Dan! It is very built up by me and I have no objections to carefully thought out developments on what are currently horrid little pockets of tatty brownfield. I also think more effort should go into turning unhabitable properties back into liveable homes, there are so many near me, we would not need to build on greenbelt. Once greenbelt is built on, it is gone forever. I was saddened by what happened to my grandparents village in North Yorkshire (both Greenbelt and National Park) they allowed an American to build a hideous huge detached property within metres of a tree that was listed in the Doomsday book on land that had a natural spring too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charlottechicken Posted August 15, 2007 Author Share Posted August 15, 2007 Right, here's what my dad says: "Tell your friend to look up the local plan for the district the watermill is in, they will have greenbelt policies which let you know what you can and cannot do. This will be based on planning policy guidance note 2 on greenbelts. Is the mill listed? You are usually allowed to renovate existing buildings in the greenbelt, and they should be able to convert the outbuilding, but extensions are usually limited to a percentage of the volume of the original building. Each authority applies it's own limit and in some it can be up to 30%. Best of luck." Hope that helps! Thanks for going to the trouble of asking your dad Lucy. I did check the local plan but it doesn't mention change of use of land unfortunately, so I may have imagined this From what I did find in the document they have more chance of extending the property than converting the garage as creating a further dwelling would be frowned upon. The particular authority are quite 'hot' on upholding the ideals of greenbelt (which is a good thing). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
