Site Planning Query

Last year I agreed a price for a site with a farmer and tried to get planning for a 1 and 1/2 story house on it drawn up by an architect. We have been turned down twice with the only house we might have got being a low lying bungalow, not even a dormer. As we want a 1 and 1/2 or nothing we have just pulled out on the contract which has cost us a lot of money.

I am now looking in the same area(due to zoning) for another site, finally my question:, I am being told before I can get an indication that we would get planning for a 1 and 1/2 story on the new site we again need to agree a price and have a contract drawn up. I dont want to go back down the road of a new site contract and paying out a deposit etc again unless I knew we would have a very very strong chance of getting close to the house we want. Has anyone had or heard of anything similar or any advice. It is worth noting that before we agreed a price on the first contract a councillor got an indication we would get planning for a 1 and 1/2 but this of course was well wide of the mark.

who has told you this? we had a pre-planning meeting to get an indication of what the planner thought but at no point were we asked to show the contract we had for the land.

Only the planning officers will decide wheather you get planning or not. In my experience a councillor has no say in the planning decision's at all.
Can you not build a bungalow with ample space in your attic for extra rooms - that's basically what a story and a half is!
You won't really win against the council - what they say goes. (which is so unfair really)

erw fan, are you saying it would be worthwhile trying to get a meeting with the planner and have a discussion about a site that we dont have any contract on?
If so, thanks might try that. Would be worth a gamble anyway I suppose though it will be the same planner we have been dealing with on the last site.

Carebear,
thanks for the info, dunno if your married but i am and have tried selling the bungalow with a large attic idea but to no avail. It is very unfair when there is so many new 1 and 1/2 story houses within a mile raduis. I agree there is no changing the councils mind, this is why we pulled out!

in my opinion, it would be well worth it. When we had ours we took photos of the style of house we wanted together with the local needs proof. The planner gave us his opinion (not binding obviously) straight away and it really gave us a level of comfort that it was worth going in for planning for what we wanted. Our planner was in Louth and we rang directly to get an appointment with him but apparantly other counties (Meath I think) have pre-planning evenings where you can just go on spec.