another of Jacob's rants.

[mikej460]

Our old drive ran right up against the side of our cottage with no visibility to traffic coming from the right, so we wanted to move it further away and opening onto a large turning circle. The council made us jump through hoop after hoop and spend hundreds of pounds employing a surveyor to map out 'visibility splays'. We live in a quiet country cul-de-sac. Having done all the planning officer asked for he insisted it go before the planning committee. The Chairman waved it through stating he found it unbelievable it was put before them. The new drive now looks great but I was not a happy bunny having wasted so much cash on useless diagrams that added nothing to the obvious improvements the move produced.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

My mother applied for PP for a bungalow on years ago. Directly across the road they gave permission for a sixty million gallon lagoon on the grounds that it was built so as not likely to flood. Hers was turned down ........... yes, because of the likelihood of its flooding.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

On the same development they gave permission for a plant that would take a large truck every three minutes 24/7 to service while at the same time refusing a bungalow further up the road as the road wouldn't take any more traffic.

 

[Valhalla]

councils and common sense ??

Surely they are mutually exclusive.....

 

[Billy_wizz]

Council and common sense the only way they go in the same sentence is if no is Included before the words common sense

 

[Rorschach]

Now come on lads we are being a bit unfair here. Councils have their flaws of course but they provide a superb service in some areas. I mean just look how good they are at funnelling public money into their own pockets, they find lovely cushy jobs for their mates, they are amazing at providing totally unsustainable pension funds and they provide lovely "research trips" to hot countries for senior staff.
Makes you proud to be ummmmmmm oh I lost my train of though there.

 

[Keith Cocker]

Mmmm .......
"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help. ".
R. Reagan.

“There is no such thing as society” M Thatcher.

Reagan and Thatcher were both a**holes of the first order in my opinion.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

No one asked for your opinion.

 

[stuart little]

Yeah, saw the title and thought, best of luck there.
Good few years ago local council sent plans back, obviously drawn wrong - who would have the kitchen at the front and sitting room at the back.

Apart from 4 bungalows & 2 semis, on my estate, all of the other16 houses, including my bungalow, have the kitchens at front & living rooms at rear, which is ideal as it gives the better outlook to the rear.

 

[Keith Cocker]

No one asked for your opinion.

I normally don’t wait to be asked on such matters but do with it what you will.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Already done.

 

[Jonm]

The colours for land plans and planning permission were determined many years ago. The vast majority of plans then were in black and white with colours added manually.

Coloured plans are a very recent development. Producing this planning permission plan is the easiest one to do, print in black and white then mark with felt tip.

To change these standard colours would cause confusion and a lot of expense. Look what happens when you try to standardise the colour of electric cables. Previously red live danger. Now brown earth safe, umm no.

 

[GerryT]

“Councils and Common sense” that’s an oxymoron if ever I saw one !

 

[Spectric]

Councils, along the same lines as government where they are nothing more than a gaggle of odd balls whose main interest is themselves, and love to stick their snouts in the trough when it comes to making money. As for making logical or sensible suggestions or ideas just no hope.

Be aware that at the moment if your council is a bit dodgy and can be easily swayed, bribed or persuaded then the government is looking for an area of guinea pigs to try out it's new ground source heating system in the form of a big hole filled with toxic radioactive waste going under the guise of a geological disposal facility. Maybe you could have a tropical microclimate and have an area more like the mediteranean before everyone else gets one from global warming!

 

[Sandyn]

When I decided to build an extension to the house, the first thing I did was make an appointment with the planning department to talk it over and make sure I supplied them with everything they needed. They were extremely helpful. I was lucky to find a guy to draw up the plans (on a drawing board!) who used to work in the planning department. I had no problems with the submitted plans. The build took me quite a while to complete. My allocated planning officer visited a couple of times, just to do a spot check. At one, he said I needed a small window in the door between the garage and the kitchen. then suggested if I had the door open in the other direction, it wouldn't be necessary, he was really helpful, laid-back guy, very friendly. As I completed the build, I had to make some changes, because the wall at the back end of the house was 0,3m out over a 6m length. I updated the plans and re-submitted with no problems. The build was completed and final sign-off done with no problems. Overall, I found my council planning department, very helpful. The planning officer even pointed out that I had been overcharged and organised a £20 refund!

 

[Terry - Somerset]

The role of council planning departments seems to be:

• making simple decisions more difficult for the typical house owner, whilst
• co-operating willingly with developers who want to build large numbers of high density, minimal standard, boxes on green fields.

Surely this is what local democracy is all about!

 

[Woody2Shoes]

The role of council planning departments seems to be:

• making simple decisions more difficult for the typical house owner, whilst
• co-operating willingly with developers who want to build large numbers of high density, minimal standard, boxes on green fields.

Surely this is what local democracy is all about!

The role of council planning departments successive m/puppet tory governments after caving in to intensive lobbying by well-funded vested interests seems to be:

• making simple decisions more difficult for the typical house owner, whilst
• co-operating willingly with developers who want to build large numbers of high density, minimal standard, boxes on green fields.

There, FTFY !

 

[Rorschach]

The role of council planning departments successive m/puppet tory governments after caving in to intensive lobbying by well-funded vested interests seems to be:

• making simple decisions more difficult for the typical house owner, whilst
• co-operating willingly with developers who want to build large numbers of high density, minimal standard, boxes on green fields.

There, FTFY !

We had a labour government for 13 of the last 24 years

 

[Woody2Shoes]

We had a labour government for 13 of the last 24 years

That's as maybe, but the tories are significantly more susceptible to this kind of lobbying....

 

[Rorschach]

That's as maybe, but the tories are significantly more susceptible to this kind of lobbying....

It's just anyone in local or national government, regardless of party or political persuasion. Power corrupts, money corrupts. Show me someone with any kind of power and I will show someone who is corrupt.