AIBU to have turned into a NIMBY?

Lozzamas find a crested newt on the site that holds up development, we swear people must plant them as round here nearly every big development gets held up for months if not years while they search for the newts to put them in a safe place

Seriously I feel sorry for you as its not just the house, it's the garden, the inside that you have put your all in.

Is it legal to only post info on a website what about people who don't use the Internet we used to get a letter through the door if it's about property very close I don't know if that still happens but they also post it on the nearest lamppost or window and that does still happen as I was nosy enough to read one yesterday Someone looking for planning permission to change their windows nothing very exciting

Finally spoke to "done it twice neighbour" about the development, he hasn't sold his property...yet- the developer has purchased an option on it, meaning he gets £10k a year until he has to sell and move when they get planning permission. In return he has to sell and move on 28 days notice and not object to any plans put in by the developer, and he cannot sell to anyone else. So he was highly delighted with last years objections it earnt him an extra 10k, he was hoping it would go on a bit so his youngest could finish at school and not have to switch again. At his last place it went on for 10 years apparently, he doesn't think we put up much of a fight so he's not going to get next years £10 k, shame. The probate houses are now owned by the developer. Mr done it twice tells me he is now looking to move to the next likely spot and become done it thrice, he reckons developers have paid for his last 2 huge jumps in property and the money to live there, if he can make it a hat trick he intends to retire at 50! I just hope when he decides where to retire his developer mates don't follow him there and decide to cash in on his environment against his wishes.
I'm just dumb founded that the green belt has been redesignated seemingly without anyone's knowledge and the housing needs of neighbouring boroughs - albeit very real, take presidense over others lives - we too have "brown field" sites available and more suited to development locally, areas that desperately need regeneration and lovely homes and families, but the small developers want garden grabs - makes more money for them. Incidentally did you know that the Government count gardens as brown field sites. Hence as has been said the LA has little/no say in what actually happens.
Love the newt idea, they have a lovely pond that will be destroyed next door - if someone has some great crested newts, I could slip them in with the soon to be homeless frogs and toads. The local badgers aren't going to be too pleased with the houses built all over their ancient paths either. It seems from reading the replies this is happening all over and we are probably as was said all a bit NIMBY- so I'm not feeling It's a bad thing to be after all - it sounds as if it should become trendy, before we loose every village, field and garden - once they're gone they won't come back. Thank you ladies... Lots of good suggestions and encouraging outcomes - Being a pessimist though I suspect the horror stories of building upheaval, over development, local services burden etc. are more likely my future if I stay. Perhaps we need to find a nice little bungalow on the coast, the natural habitat of all us old NIMBY's, leave the towns and villages to the young and take MiL with us to await our eventual demise... Quietly. Hopefully that will come before we do anything daft and old like become a burden to the NHS, get our money back on the pension, vote away the next generations future etc. I'd hate not to leave the maximum in society for people to retire at 50 from get rich quick schemes.

But beware - even bats cannot protect against an unexpected fire that happens to demolish a building which has been refused planning permission.

Planning permission can then be granted when the building is no longer there - it has happened.

Bats - no, not saying you are bats Lozzamas - persuade some Lesser Horseshoe Bats or any protected bat species to nest in part of your attic and some of the surrounding houses before they are demolished.

Put a few great crested newts on the land. Seriously, when I give wildlife talks I always include say something about loss of gardens because of detached houses being demolished and flats being built on their large gardens. Very bad for wildlife such as hedgehogs that need wildlife corridors. This is another aspect of garden loss. I do sympathise with you, Lozzamas, I'd be devastated.

Yes, I'm sure there is a bit of the NIMBY in all of us, and why not? We have the right to feel sorry when the area we love loses all its green spaces and its character and becomes a nice little earner for developers. Our village is filling up with new houses - what was a big old Victorian house behind us in its own grounds is now an estate of 18, the field below us is now on its way to being a development of 12, the fine old old manor house up the road, for years the residence of a well-known local benefactor and his family, has been demolished and around 50 houses are currently being built on the land. The developers have even cast their beady eyes on our local allotments. Not one of these new homes is "affordable housing"- the cheapest being around £275,000, about twice the norm for our area, the dearest around £650,000. One would hope that some thought has been given to how all this will affect local schools and facilities, but I seriously doubt it.

There's certainly a planning application that I am tracking that is an application by someone who is not the land owner.
Maybe you should consider getting planning permission for your plot yourself if you are thinking of selling. This might well increase the price you can get.

Actually, I believe you CAN apply for Planning Permission on land you don't own.

I definitely agree with Monica, having dealt with developers on behalf of my mum. I know from experience please don't believe everything they tell you, they will always try and scaremonger you into selling for a low price. Ask the neighbours In the street ,what's going on with them,find out as much info as you can. Took 7 years after developers bought land to build on as there was problem after problem with planning regulations. So pleased don't be bulldozed out of your beloved home.

I don't have a great deal of sympathy for people who object to small developments being built, say, in their vicinity - perhaps on the outskirts of their village. As others have said, people need homes. Complaints are often made about the "character" of the area being changed, which sometimes means that they object to the more modern (and modest) residences that are being built.

However, in this particular case, it seems that this new development is in effect right on top of you and will be very disruptive both during the building stages and afterwards. If you were being offered a realistic price to move, if it were me I would be tempted to sell. But if they are trying to frighten you into selling at a much reduced price, that seems really unfair to me.

I don't agree with the idea that local authorities can just publish planning permission details on their website and expect residents to keep checking to see if any of the plans impact upon them. I think residents should be notified personally of plans of this nature.

I agree that you should try and get further information on this and don't do anything too hasty until you have sought legal advice.

Anniebach...Do you think it is acceptable for affordable housing to be built in such a way that others are penalised,either by the quality of their life,or a loss in their property value???
Should this poster should be on a guilt trip?
I see the loss of their house value as theft and I speak as someone who grew up on a council estate.

Councils will always support developers as they do not wish to build affordable housing of their own.
Council housing stock was sold off to residents when properties were reaching a point when their fabric needed upgrading,and not considered to be cost effective.
The plan was that the monies accrued from the sales would be invested in new building,which rarely happened.

Lozzamas,
If your neighbours have done this twice (with the same council),it may be worth looking into any connection between the parties.
My sisters house was devalued and quality of life ruined by very unreasonable development at an adjoining property.The neighbour was a local city councillor.

You may be lucky and the houses filled with very decent people....but you may not and your house value may decrease more.
You are certainly not being unreasonable,and ignore any who suggest otherwise.

The same thing happened to a friend of mine in the UK ....she was a widow, living with her disabled daughter in a house her late husband had restored beautifully. A developer came along and wanted her to sell it to him. She refused. She was the only person to have done so .....which would have meant the developer would build all round her house ....in the end, a compromise was reached ....she agreed to sell her house (the plot on which it stood would be used for three new houses !) and the builder in return built her a modern three bed bungalow ....she agreed after she moved, that for her and her daughter this was the best solution, and easier to live in for her daughter than the three storey house ! .........although you really do not want to sell, and the price being offered would be insufficient for you to buy a similar house in your area, what are the chances of the developer getting so desperate he would offer to build you another house ?!! .......not what you want at the moment, but as we all get old and cannot cope with a large house and garden, a bungalow, for instance, might be a good idea to consider ?

The beautiful open farmland opposite our house, which is the last green gap between our small town and our borough town, has been designated for building 1600 houses on, despite there supposedly being a covenant saying it must be kept as the green gap.

There have been public consultations and protests but all in vain. It seems that so long as the box marked "have the public been consulted?" is ticked then they can go ahead and do what they want.

If the local council is brave enough to refuse planning permission, the developers appeal,then an inspector comes down from London and hey diddle diddle overrules the council and local population, We don't have any local democracy. We don't have choices. This is all driven by central government.

Craftycat,
This is EXACTLY what happened in our area. The "village" (actually a village suburb of small town) which currently has a tiny population and a post office, is to house something near 3,500 of the area's required 3,750 new homes. Some of these will be build on land which floods intermittently (!)
Ironically, these also aren't "affordable housing" and furthermore are being marketed by the developers as commuter homes for our nearest big city (which isn't even in our county, let alone borough).
It annoys me, even though I'm already on a main road, as there are masses of brownfield sites which the developers won't use - I have had this directly from the council - and the reason is, apparently, that the council can't afford the incentives the builders want to use brownfield and the council are afraid of government sanctions if they haven't built enough. Basically we are over a barrel here, and so is the council.

I can definitely see your dilemma, but these estates are built in stages (and ridiculously quickly as they want to sell them) so if you decide to stay, the disruption may be over quicker than you think. Housing estates are not at all like individual architect designed houses which seem to take forever, and so once one is done, the rest will follow quickly.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck.

In total sympathy. We moved into a quiet cul de sac opposite woodland & backing onto large gardens behind us in 1992 with 2 teenagers & were very happy to live here for as long as we could manage.
All fine until about 5 years ago when the 'Big' detached houses that back onto ours decided to start selling off their back gardens to developers to build new small estates.I know they were offered huge amounts of cash & I can understand the temptation to move on & let them get on with it. Now we are blighted with noise, dirt & endless disruption getting out of our road while the latest of these new 'roads' are built. They cram totally inappropriate new builds into these spaces & now the local children can no longer get onto the local primary school with their siblings & the doctors are over run. They do not provide enough parking so the road is blocked with cars parking on pavement.
We have fought against it to no avail & even got together to get a QC to put our case to the council when they held an enquiry on the latest development- after 3 months it was amended to 13 instead of 39 dwellings but that went up to 29 when they started to build. Apparently this art of Surrey has to provide housing for London overspill. Our small area of the borough has provided 98% of all new build in the entire borough.
You can't win against these developers who have plenty of cash to grease palms. There are plenty of brown field sites locally sitting unused but they have now opened up green belt land at end of road adjoining the local primary school for building soon. No provision is being made for more local services to cope with the amount of new people moving in.
It is a disgrace & we are powerless to stop it.
These are not 'affordable housing'properties- which I could understand- but mostly large & medium detached & semi detached properties which make the most profit for the developers.
Am I a NIMBY?- yes I probably am & I feel I am fully justified in expecting to live in the sort of area & environment that we paid for all those years ago & are still paying a mortgage on.

Sorry been sleeping this afternoon so to answer some of your questions- our LA no longer send out consultations- they are published on their website and you answer them there - that is considered notice served nowadays. I'm not a big internet person so have only seen it once approved. It did go in last year and was rejected due to dominating the area, and 33 resident objections, the developer then changed the plans to reduce the houses from 3 storeys to 2 on the advice of the planning office and agreed to plant more trees on our boundary - which actually is a nuisance as they were only removed two years ago to open the vista, and it's gone through on a nod as all the original council objections were addressed by the resubmission. The planning officer made the comments in line with the local planning guidelines - which places a duty on them to increase the housing stock and ensure more choice and diversity of accommodation by ensuring all areas are mixed and the need for high intensity housing is shared in the more rural parts of the area. Large parts of the green belt here are apparently being set aside in our next strategic plan as the LA moves to comply with new housing density guidelines. To put it simply the planning officer said all big plots are to be split up whenever possible, sorry but that's what the council have voted for. At present our 2 neighbours houses like ours are central in their plot so about 30 feet from the boundary the new development will be against the boundary on both sides as well as opposite. I am altruistic generally - my kids both moved half a country away in order to afford homes, I know houses are needed and we did seek to build them 2 starter homes on our plot and were refused permission as it didn't meet the density guidelines - not intensive enough. I'm just bemused that against all wishes except the developers and profiteering neighbours the whole village and my future in particular is going to be changed forever. We were sorted, we now probably have to start again... All good advice though ladies thank you, I guess I just have to get the mourning over toughen up and try and profiteer myself, however unwanted (this wasn't all about the money) I will have to stay local due to caring for MIL who lives on an ex council estate about 2 miles away.

www.gov.uk/search-register-planning-decisions

www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices.html

I would check first of all that they DO have planning permission and they HAVE bought all these other houses. You should have had notice of their application for planning permission. If you didn't, you can create merry hell at not having a chance to object.

You can see the details of the application - they can't get planning permission for land they don't actually own!

You say most of these houses were probate sales, do you know that for sure? And that they definitely have bought them all?

Divide and conquer is the name of the game, if the developer can persuade you that everyone else has sold, he will get you to sell. He may be doing the same thing to everyone else.

If they did buy them, you can find out the prices, and make sure that you get at least the same as the others. Hold out - the developers need your land desperately, make sure they pay top price for it - and don't be intimidated.

If you get to the point of considering a move, bear in mind that the developer make get desperate for your site. Especially as he will have workmen and equipment already working at hand. It could be that he ends up offering well over market value if you are the only resident standing in his way.

I echo what anno has said. You should have been given written notice of the planning applications with a time limit for objection.

You say it is green belt land but I am scratching my head over this.

The council website would also have had all the details.

The local planning office tell me my wishes are out of step with the need for affordable housing and my reduced house price, quiet enjoyment etc. do not figure in the planning process

The planning office is a public service. They can't voice personal opinions like that.

Whatever they think/say, you had a right to object and a right to appeal the decision.

You mention other residents. Did they also not object?

I agree with M0nica's post.

Yes, there is some NIMBY in all of us Luckygirl, plus we do not want our house devalued because, should we decide to move, that could restrict our options of what we would like to buy in future.

I would be tempted to move but hold out for a proper price for your house plus enough money to cover your removal costs.

You are against affordable housing if near you?
I don't think that is the main issue - we had building work going on around us (unexpected work on what was protected land) and it went on for years and years with noise, dust and mess.

When the development came up for planning permission were you and other established residents given the opportunity to comment/object? It does sound as if it was sprung on you which is not as it should be.

I agree with those who say don't accept it without a fight, always worth a try!

Luckygirl I applaud you! Your post is both right and honest, yes, there is an element of the NIMBY in all of us!

Altruism is of course commendable, but who among us would feel altruistic about (for example) having travellers setting up a temporary "town" next to our property?

Tin helmet time, perhaps?

Agree with last 2 posters ??