Another planning issue!

J

Judy

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Hi, i know there are some threads already on planning issues but cant find anything specific to my query. I am currently in the process of putting in planning permission for a house on family land. Our architect seems to think we are going to have a problem with our site lines.

I believe there is a (fairly) new rule stating that you must be able to see 150m each side when you are coming out of your gate, we have 150m on one side but only about 90m or not even on the other side. We have opted to use an existing gateway (my parents gate as the site is beside them) as our architect feels this is our best chance of getting permission.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience of this or are the council strict on this rule?

thanks
 
Hi Judy,
I’m in Carlow and we built our house last year.
Our architect also expressed huge concerns over sight (site) lines; we had 60m on one side and 77m on the other.

He suggested we contact the council’s road engineer, which we did several times, we send him a proposed site map etc – he never responded.
In the end, we submitted the planning.
It seems the sight line issue is dependant on the road traffic. For instance, if the road you are building has a lot of traffic, they will probably insist on as much visibility as possible either side of your entrance. –
In our case, the road traffic was very light, only two other houses on the road/cul de sac, so we were OK.

So my advice to you would be.
- Request a pre-planning meeting with the council (b4 you submit the planning), you will need to bring site map and house plans
- In the pre-planning meeting, do NOT mention sight lines. Let them tell you of any potential problems.
- If they don’t mention this as an issue, then you will know there will be no major issue for you during planning.

In your case – what is blocking the visibility? If it is someone else’s hedge, ditch, tree etc, perhaps approach them and ask if you can remove the offender.
 
thanks for your response, unfortunately its a house thats blocking the view, our site is near a corner and the house blocking the view is on the corner.

our road would definitely be more busy than that its a national road (i think thats what you'd call it) the speed limit is 80km along the stretch of road in front of the house.

Someone else actually advised us not to go to a pre planning meeting, our plans are just ready to go in and should be submitted this week.
 
I can't understand why you were advised not to go to a pre-planning meeting, we saw the planner twice, once before design stage and another time when we were about to submit it as we wanted to highlight anything that might come up. It would save so much time and energy if you did this. Also, I would mention it to the planner as they will query it when the planning is submitted because it is a condition, if they don't mention it in the meeting it doesn't mean that it won't come up.
 
yes i can see how it would be a benefit alright, we did query going but were told by several people that it had been a waste of time when they went.

Might consider giving them a ring now though seen as we are just about to submit the plans
 
I suppose it also depends on how much of a rush you are in, we wanted planning as soon as possible. In our planning meeting, the planner highlighted something that we resolved there and then which had we not met him he would have come back to us with a further information request - he was a very approachable and helpful person, so I suppose a lot comes down to the individual planner and how they react. Good luck with it all anyway.
 
Attend Pre-Planning Meeting

Arrange a Pre-planning Meeting with the Council.
If you don't you risk getting refused outright or if you are lucky
and they are being nice- they may ask for Further Information.

All Planning Authorities facilitate Pre-planning Meetings- generally on a weekly basis. Don't risk it by not going.
 
I agree here Judy, it may hold you up a month waiting on a pre-planning meeting. I know your probaly horsing to get the plans in. But in my opinion they are essential. In the pre-planning meeting the planner will highlight any issues, in this case they might point out the sight lines. Ring your local council, they will send you out a form for arranging a pre-planning, fill in and send straight back.

If they highlight a possible refusal, then ask them what the solution would be, then ammend your plans accordingly.

If you submit you plans, you will have to wait 8 weeks to find out their decision. So in your case after 8 weeks they might tell you that the sight lines caused a planning refusal. Then you will have to re-submit or provide further information i.e. another 8 weeks.
 
Hi Judy I was just reading all about the sightlines problem ur having. Im going through the exact same thing at the moment! I did have a pre-planning meeting and they mentioned nothing about sightline problems, then it came to the day we were ment to get planning permission which was the 16th Feb and they asked for further info,this has lost us a lot of time, we still have not got the decision but expecting it on thursday 27th April. So fingers crossed.
Just to let u know they asked us for 160m sightlines from either side of the entrance,which is fine on one side but we can only get about 80m on the other side.We have sent back showing exactly what we can get so hopefully they will except it. Any word on yours yet? I will let u know how we get on
 
hi Aisling,

we put in the plans after without going to a pre planning meeting. We are due our decision on the 28th May (which is a Sunday! not sure how that works!) but i would be really interested to see how you get on with it.

I was interested at your point that at the pre planning meeting they never mentioned the sight lines and now they are looking for more information, this is one of the main reasons we didnt go for a pre planning meeting as our architect told us that you may get a different planner at the meeting than who's actually doing your plans and they may have very different views as in your case. Best of luck with the decision, only a week to go!
 
Hi Judy,
Exactly what your architect said,we did get a different planner dealing with our application then who we spoke to at the pre-planning meeting. Really u done the right thing, U could be a month waiting on a meeting date so its the same length time if they do ask for further information,so it makes sense doing what ye done.Where about are u from, Just wondering what counsil your going through.
I will be in contact when i hear anymore
Take care aisling
 
we're both from Kildare so going through Kildare CC (which i believe is one of the toughest CC's to go through) thats just our luck! Ye i'll look forward to hearing what they say to you, which council are you applying to?
 
Hi Judy,

good luck with you plans - our decision is due the week after you!

From what I gather it is very unlikely that they will give planning straight off. Our architect told us that they will definitely come back with some 'further information' request - even if they know they are going to grant premission they don't want to appear to be doing so too easily!

I would have thought that if your parents are currently using the gate then it shouldnt make any difference if you use it too....but that is probably too simple!

Probably best just to wait and see now.....!
 
Hi Winnie,
Good luck with your decision too! Ye doubt they'll give it straight away anyway but i'm just hoping it wont be a flat out no. What we have been told is that they can come back and say that we would be adding extra traffic to the road by using the existing entrance but seen as its one of the main roads of out the town i dont know that they can justify that. We tried to combat this by saying on the application that we both currently live in the house (not strictly true!) and we both already use the entrance so hopefully they will except that.
 
Hi judy,
We are from co.waterford in the gaeltacht (Ring) dunno if u'v ever heard of it.
So we are applying through Waterford CC,it is normally very hard to get planning in Ring as its a Gaeltacht area and lately there has been big houses built in 12-15 at a time and they are ruining the area so there is a lot of upset people in Ring at the moment about the houses that were already given planning so they are that bit more strict. But as we have both lived in Ring all our lives and we are building on parents land it should be in our favour, please god. Anyway 1 week today ahh i just cant wait that long.
It seems like a year we've been waiting with the last 5months.
Anyway what kinda house are ye hoping to build?
Keep in touch :)
 
Hi

I just had a pre-planning meeting for a site in County Waterford. There may be an issue with the number of entrances on the road - there has been in the past. Our site is quiet narrow, 36 yards, but it is very deep, 100 yards. There was a suggestion that it might be okay if the site was wider to lessen the possible number of entrances on the road. That would also suit us as we would have more privacy on either side of the house if someone else was to build on our left hand-side. But maybe the farmer selling the land might not go with this though.. Fingers-crossed!!
I am sure there will be plenty more 'planning isses' to work out!!
 
Hi All, I was dealing with planners about 2 years ago and its a nightmare. The architect wasn't much better....However, we went to a preplanning meeting and the planner at the time was very helpful, told us what we could and could not have. We wanted a "special" feature on the front and thought it would be a problem but the planner was happy enough with it. We ammended the plans to suit what we could not have and submitted them. 8 weeks later another planner wanted further info on the "special" feature on the front. In the end we had to ammend the front of the house much to our disappointment. Anyway, thats awhile ago, the point I want to make is, I read an article in a local paper during the week and seemingly, since around 2000 if you have a preplanning meeting and the planner allows something that may be a bit dodgy then you can get a written letter stating that the preplanner has allowed the said dodgy bit and both the planner and applicant sign the letter and you then add this to your application, so if a different planner deals with the application they will see that the said dodgy bit was already approved and they will not question it. I wish I knew this sooner and I hope this info will help people in the future. I agree that a preplanning meeting is best practice and would urge anyone who does have one to get a letter stating that the plan was more or less approved by a preplanner. it could save you alot of hassle in the future and money also.
 
Hi Aisling, we are hoping to build a dormer/story and a half type house not too different from the houses around us so hopefully they wont have a problem with it. Good luck with the planning tomorrow!

Aido when they advertised the pre planning meeting they said that it was not a guarantee of getting permission and was only to talk to a planner so i dont think they would have given us a letter saying we should get permission. I havent heard of anyone getting one of these letters.
 
Hi there,

I recently applied for planning permission in Co. Meath (notoriously difficult) and my architect who is a bit of a council requirements guru told me that I only needed 90m of clear sight either side of the entrance.
 
that seems quite low alright, think it depends on the type of road you'll be driving out on (national or cul de sac etc) and the speed limit on the road. Our's is a national road with a limit of 80km think thats why they expect more sight lines
 
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