[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by ArthurKing

Received a reply from the Planning Office at our local Council.

The don't give out pre planning advice over the phone or via email, basically I have to spend £180 for a Pre Planning Meeting to find out if parking is going to prevent me converting the garage!

I guess it makes sense in terms of money making.

To be honest, its more hassle than its worth by the sound of it. Guess that's our fault for buying a new build, I would never buy another one.

Looks like we will just have to cope for a few years until the Mortgage term comes close and then look at moving.

Given the whole cost of doing it are you really not going to find out for £180?

[ArthurKing]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

Given the whole cost of doing it are you really not going to find out for £180?

Nope.

I am 99% sure they will say no due to the parking issue.

I just wanted clarification but I am not paying £180 for that.

If we do need the extra space, I will probably have a door knocked through and raise the paperwork for this. Will make out its just for easier access to garage etc.

Then build the room out myself with the view of removing it once we go to sell.

[DB118D]

Would a local architect not be able to give you some advice?

[AyrshireColin]

Originally Posted by ArthurKing

Looks like we will just have to cope for a few years until the Mortgage term comes close and then look at moving.

Maybe it's me picking this up wrong...I'm struggling with the relevance of this. You can move any time, you don't have to let the term of your current mortgage product determine this.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by ArthurKing

Nope.

I am 99% sure they will say no due to the parking issue.

I just wanted clarification but I am not paying £180 for that.

If we do need the extra space, I will probably have a door knocked through and raise the paperwork for this. Will make out its just for easier access to garage etc.

Then build the room out myself with the view of removing it once we go to sell.

If you don’t use it now for parking and most people don’t you may well be able to ask and they might be reasonable.

My experiences with planning is they’re generally not that bad. Is the estate bad for parking, is it clogged with cars and not safe for kids etc?

It could have been a restriction the planners asked the developers to put in due to such worries that have turned out to be unfounded.

[ArthurKing]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

If you don’t use it now for parking and most people don’t you may well be able to ask and they might be reasonable.

My experiences with planning is they’re generally not that bad. Is the estate bad for parking, is it clogged with cars and not safe for kids etc?

It could have been a restriction the planners asked the developers to put in due to such worries that have turned out to be unfounded.

Nah its not too bad for parking, we park outside the house as well as on the drive. There are about 14 visitor spots dotted around which is decent for 86 houses total, plus no other restrictions so people park where they please.

Its in our Councils 'Local Plan' which they publish, it states:

Rural areas:
Two or three bedrooms
Two per unit (Refer to note 2)

Note 2 states:

Single garage with GFA less than13.2m2 not included. Double garage with GFA less than
26.4m2 but greater than 13.2m2 treated as single garage. Multiple longitudinal parking per plot will be assessed as a maximum provision of two spaces irrespective of combined length of driveway and garage. Communal spaces should not be located more than 20m from the dwellings they serve.

I checked other planning applications in the area, specifically for the roads with new builds and found one which was approved for a garage conversion but it stated:

"The existing driveway to the front of the garage is large enough to hold two cars which would accord with the parking standards and therefore no objection is raised to the loss of the garage."

This was in 2017 and a new build on a development up from ours so I am just basing my thoughts on this.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Note 2 refers to communal spaces being 20m from the units they serve. Do you have one that close to you? Surely they must be allowed to count, or why would the point, with the distance from your dwelling, exist at all?

[ArthurKing]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

Note 2 refers to communal spaces being 20m from the units they serve. Do you have one that close to you? Surely they must be allowed to count, or why would the point, with the distance from your dwelling, exist at all?

Well we have a visitor space almost opposite us which is about 20m away, unsure if this refers to communal spaces.

There is no way every house is less than 20m from a visitor bay, some are nowhere near.

[Goneinsixtyseconds]

Originally Posted by ArthurKing

Well we have a visitor space almost opposite us which is about 20m away, unsure if this refers to communal spaces.

There is no way every house is less than 20m from a visitor bay, some are nowhere near.

But, if yours is less than 20m away then it may count for your allocation. According to note 2.

Although, are there communal spaces for general parking, or are they all marked as visitor?

Where do you park your second car now if you have one?

[ArthurKing]

Originally Posted by Goneinsixtyseconds

But, if yours is less than 20m away then it may count for your allocation. According to note 2.

Although, are there communal spaces for general parking, or are they all marked as visitor?

Where do you park your second car now if you have one?

No specific communal spaces, there are about 15 or so visitor spaces dotted around the estate which are clearly marked with a V, not that is stops residents using them sometimes.

We park outside the house, there are no restrictions on any of the roads so its basically just park where you like and use your common sense to avoid blocking driveways etc.

[DB118D]

Can you not submit driveway extension as part of the plan and make that "phase 2" at an undetermined future date?

[KRS_SN]

Originally Posted by ArthurKing

No specific communal spaces, there are about 15 or so visitor spaces dotted around the estate which are clearly marked with a V, not that is stops residents using them sometimes.

We park outside the house, there are no restrictions on any of the roads so its basically just park where you like and use your common sense to avoid blocking driveways etc.

you are defeating yourself for a question of £180. don't prejudge the response. if your garage isnt converted and you never asked the question its not the planning departments fault.

[Rasco]

Originally Posted by KRS_SN

you are defeating yourself for a question of £180. don't prejudge the response. if your garage isnt converted and you never asked the question its not the planning departments fault.

My wife is a planning officer, I showed her this thread, her advice was chat to your local planning team (for free), the issue in the local plan re: parking would only be an issue if parking was a material issue in your neighbourhood and from your lists it appears as if it's not of concern. The fact that you don't have PD rights is not an issue esp if you plan to make zero external modifications (doors & windows), so you probably don't even need a to put in a planning application, you seem to have done your research so just go a step further to get assurances for the duty planning officer.

[machman767]

Just being devils advocate but if you used your garage to park a car could you a) actually get it to fit and b) if it did fit could you get out of it? Cars seem to be getting bigger yet garages seem to be getting smaller. Wouldn't this make the parking regulations not valid?

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by machman767

Just being devils advocate but if you used your garage to park a car could you a) actually get it to fit and b) if it did fit could you get out of it? Cars seem to be getting bigger yet garages seem to be getting smaller. Wouldn't this make the parking regulations not valid?

AFAIK a garage can only be classified as a "garage" if it meets specific criteria, which includes its size.

When we extended our house we included a garage in the design but were going to make it shorter than normal so as to provide more living space (because we were never going to use it for our cars).

The advice from the architect was that if the internal dimensions were less than Xmetres x Ymetres then the house could not be advertised as having a garage - it would need to be described as a storage room.

Whether it's a usable space for a car didn't seem to be a criteria !

[ArthurKing]

Originally Posted by Rasco

My wife is a planning officer, I showed her this thread, her advice was chat to your local planning team (for free), the issue in the local plan re: parking would only be an issue if parking was a material issue in your neighbourhood and from your lists it appears as if it's not of concern. The fact that you don't have PD rights is not an issue esp if you plan to make zero external modifications (doors & windows), so you probably don't even need a to put in a planning application, you seem to have done your research so just go a step further to get assurances for the duty planning officer.

Appreciate the reply.

Hopefully your wife's planning team are better than ours. I couldn't speak to the planning team apparently, all enquires needed to be done online or via email. Online is no help, just say the fee is £180 for pre planning advice and the email reply I got said they do not give out planning advice and I needed to go via Pre-Planning!

The guy on the phone even asked his colleague who said they cannot tell me if PD rights have been removed and I should do a Lawful Development application first.

To be honest, I am just going to leave it at the moment and see how we cope. If we do need the extra space, I will just have a door knocked through and see what happens.