Can anyone out there help me please? having a nightmare !! Planning officer turned up unannounced at my property on 20 Feb this year- builders started work on extension on 15 Jan, but due to weather way behind schedule. Officer told builders that there was no planning permission or application in place, no building regs had ever been applied for, and that they were to down tools , leave the site immediately, and that he would be taking both the owner ( me!) and them to court. I knew nothing of this until the following day as had gone to a funeral. I have all documentation, full planning permission, plus building regs approval dating back to 2001.I also have in my posession correspondence from the same planning officer, dated October 2009 enquiring as to when the extension would be completed! I phoned the head of dept and complained, and duly arranged a meeting between the 3 of us for the following week.The man's attitude was unbeleivably rude, bullying and unhelpful- so much so that I fully expected my builder to 'walk' I phoned and complained again. I lost 2 weeks on the job due to all of this, and then on 20 March found same planning officer sat outside my property in his car peering through the back gates. Told builder , 1 hour present the following 2 days and not seen him since. Now having to pursue builder through Trading Standards, his own liabilty insurance and the courts.Work completed declared below standard ( WHICH i DO NOT , AND NEVER HAVE DISPUTED) but I do feel that the planning officer was more than contributory to all the problems, and quite frankly should have got his facts straight in the first place.In addition to all this he swore blue blind that I only had permission for a 1 storey extension ( it clearly states 2 on all paperwork) , but he would 'do me a favour' and alter it to comply! I want to go for compensation , but have heard somewhere that I would be better off going for 'days lost' on the project due to his actions. Also have no idea how much to ask for! Please, any suggestions very gratefully received, thanks in advance. Incidentally work did commence, and was approved, in 2001, with several visits then from the ( different, and very pleasant) planning officer!

Earlier this year (late April /early May) I verbally sought advice from my local planning department as I'm looking to have a conservatory built. I was advised that as I live in a semi-detached property I could project 3 metres from the existing rear of my house without permission but any further I'd need to subject a planning application. Having now employed an architect and submitted the plans on 31st May I've recently discovered that the legislation in my area has now changed, as of 30th May, meaning that formal permission is no longer needed for the 4 metre projection of the proposed development. As you'll appreciate I feel misled. So having submitted the plans and paid the fee before the application could be validated and registered I feel that I've wasted significant funds which the council have refused to refund on the grounds that the application has been validated and registered. Does anyone have any advice on whether it's feasible to continue pursuing this with the council?

Can anyone tell me what the law is on planning application time limits are? Do the council have to place a notice on the building that is the subject of the planning application and if so do they have to allow a certain amount of time between posting the notice and actually making a planning decision? Thanks in advance.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20543308

Hello there. Is there anyone one on here that would be able to advise on a planning query ? I wont bore you with the details until I know I am in the relevant section. Thanks

Hello to anyone that might be able to help -I hope ive posted thi in the right are wasnt sure. I live in a one bed house with my 13 month old baby and need more space. Im told that I have very good potential to extend to a 2 bedroom house but dont have the funds to do it and a poor credit history will not enable me to take a loan out. will my mortgage company (ge money) consider a further advance with a poor credit history and a recent payment arrangement due to hardship. Im guessing they wont even consider it but just exhausting all my options! Any suggestions welcome

Hi there, I wonder if someone might be able to help me with a query I have. I purchased a property 5 years ago which was a converted police station and in the "garden" (patch of tarmac outside the sitting room windows) was a large (approx 25ft tall, and 4ft square CCTV camera) and also a sign directing traffic to a nearby car-park. I get no financial compensation for them. I wasn't fussed about them really - but I changed my garden fence and the council have been around saying that the fence was too high and saying that if I didn't take 2ft off the top then they would take me to court. It seems that before I bought the place someone else had tried to add a higher fence - the council kicked up saying it was against planning, the owners at the times didn't apply for retrospective planning permission so it went to court and it was judged that a fence that high could never be sited there (which was annoying for me). The planning offices said I had no option but to cut down the fence or they would just take it to court and it would go straight though as it had already been agreed. Well, I have cut the fence down - but I have this CCTV camera and sign post in my garden (which I now want rid off!) I have looked through the deeds and there is no mentions of them - and nothing I can see on any other documents. would anyone happen to know: a) Would I be entitled to anything from the council for these being sited on my land? b) Would I be entitled to request they resite them, and make good the garden? c) Would I have a leg to stand on writing to them about the above, or could they just make my life more difficult? Many thanks in advance Graham