Is the planning system corrupt?

Thought this was “Gransnet”?

Okdokey08

Thought this was “Gransnet”?

What do you mean?

kjmpde

I do think that planning rules are peculiar. I once attended a planning meeting where a woman wanted to rebuild her house which had burnt down. the fire brigade had confirmed that the fire had spread very quickly due to the thatched roof and also burnt down the adjacent buildings. the lady wanted a tile/slate roof on her house. the local councillors were more concerned about how "pretty " thatches were and not the recommendations to have a less roof which burnt down so quickly. The same with applications to remove trees - the risk to human safety goes out of the window when the tree officer likes a particular variety of tree.
I know of one developer that bought several houses in our village and then built extra houses in the gardens. There is also the old trick of getting planning permission for a garage and then it is so easy to get permission to convert into an extra room.

Any thatched house is going to be listed and strict controls on replacing like with like and very little leeway.
Extra houses in gardens is very normal infill and as long as it’s a similar style will usually get passed
Converting a garage, maybe into a “granny flat” is allowed, as ancillary to the main house as a single dwelling, and cannot be later sold off.
Empty property, pubs are often left empty if they are not going to be economic, but it takes 3 yrs to get change of use. Several in this area have been changed to residential, 2 with little car parking into starter homes, one larger site into 2 detached and 2 semis, very successfully.

‘Affordable’ is 80% of the average house price. In a nearby, really wealthy town, that would make a property £900:000.

Greyduster

^My particular beef is with developers who blithely promise to incorporate a percentage of affordable homes into their plans in order to persuade a local authority to rubber stamp planning permission, and then - lo and behold - when the development is completed there isn't a single affordable property to be seen!^
This happened recently when an extension of 200+ houses was added to our estate. Also promised were cycle lanes and an extension to the public transport system. Has any of this happened? No. Most of the houses were sold off plan and none of them were “affordable”. The other concern is that builders still appear to be building on lands which are flood plains. This is happening where my son and also a friend of mine live in York and there are public concerns about where all that water is going to be drained off to. Appeals to the council fall on deaf ears.

Over the past 10 or so years we have had huge developements around where I live.

Developers have to have a certain % of social housing and 'affordable homes' starting price £350K for 2 bed house. BUT, all the social housing developements were sold to London councils, we live in Kent. So there is no chance of locals getting local social housing or even getting on the housing ladder.

Boadicea

When I lived in Hastings public consultations were supposedly still going on regarding the building of the Jerwood Gallery when the signs "To the Jerwood Gallery" were erected!

Many large old buildings are left empty - former schools, hospitals etc. Developers buy them and apply for pp to demolish and build houses/flats.
When this is refused the buildings stand empty for a while then mysteriously catch fire and have to be demolished "for safety reasons" - so then developers reapply and invariably get their way.

Yes, strange isn't it, the number of buildings which 'catch fire' after planning permission has been refused then mysteriously the developers get permission to carry out their plans.