April - May 2013
Our planning application is finally submitted.
There's a problem, the house drawings are not properly to scale. No, well according to our information they didn't need to be if it's simply a change of use to site a cabin.
They don't accept it's a change of use, it has to be a full application.
I knock up some drawings of the house/cabin/dwelling to scale.
What about the other structures? Other structures - a water tank, reed bed system and workshop which is really just a large shed? Yes well send a drawing of the workshop. So I look up some suitable sized sheds on Ebay and work to the dimensions to produce a scaled drawing.
Okay, it's now validated, yippee. The Planning Officer now has 8 weeks to come to a decision.
We wait with bated breath.
Some consultation responses come it, kind words from friends around the country and harsh ones from the Highways authority. They ask it be refused due to the poor alignment and substandard condition of the access onto the road.
This could be expensive.
So we get a civil engineer to look at it with recommendations, we get permission to do the work from the landowner and we put in a proposal to try to get the highways woman to retract her objection. We will have to wait for her response.
On the plus side, Natural Resources Wales (our version of the Environment Agency) seem happy with it.
But Building Regulations approval will be required. A bit of a headache for such a small dwelling but achievable.
The next nervous hurdle to overcome is the Community Council meeting which we will attend to answer any questions.
In the meantime, we have been getting on with some fencing to keep the neighbours sheep out.
I know the top wire looks wonky but favouring practicalities over aesthetics, it's to help keep the post which is in a slight dip from being pulled out by the sheep fencing which follows the uneven ground.
Our planning application is finally submitted.
There's a problem, the house drawings are not properly to scale. No, well according to our information they didn't need to be if it's simply a change of use to site a cabin.
They don't accept it's a change of use, it has to be a full application.
I knock up some drawings of the house/cabin/dwelling to scale.
What about the other structures? Other structures - a water tank, reed bed system and workshop which is really just a large shed? Yes well send a drawing of the workshop. So I look up some suitable sized sheds on Ebay and work to the dimensions to produce a scaled drawing.
Okay, it's now validated, yippee. The Planning Officer now has 8 weeks to come to a decision.
We wait with bated breath.
Some consultation responses come it, kind words from friends around the country and harsh ones from the Highways authority. They ask it be refused due to the poor alignment and substandard condition of the access onto the road.
This could be expensive.
So we get a civil engineer to look at it with recommendations, we get permission to do the work from the landowner and we put in a proposal to try to get the highways woman to retract her objection. We will have to wait for her response.
On the plus side, Natural Resources Wales (our version of the Environment Agency) seem happy with it.
But Building Regulations approval will be required. A bit of a headache for such a small dwelling but achievable.
The next nervous hurdle to overcome is the Community Council meeting which we will attend to answer any questions.
In the meantime, we have been getting on with some fencing to keep the neighbours sheep out.
I know the top wire looks wonky but favouring practicalities over aesthetics, it's to help keep the post which is in a slight dip from being pulled out by the sheep fencing which follows the uneven ground.
As we were unsure when we would need a large number of straw bales to build our house with and what with last year being such a poor year for wheat, we bought a load in advance and stored them in a local barn.
6 months later and the farmer needed the barn, so we've had to move them all on to the field and cover them with a very large tarpaulin. Having moved most of it single handed, I'm calling it Bale Mountain because it felt like one.
Post Script:
Community Council meeting went well!
Although we didn't get an opportunity to correct one or two misconceptions that surfaced, these were minor points and they agreed to support our application on the conditions that the road access be improved, the financial viability is established and suggested we live in a caravan for 3 years to test our business before being given permanent permission.
The Community Council is a consultee and the final decision rests with either the planning officer if 'delegated' or the County Planning Board.
