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genuine question; why is it bad living to a house converted into 8 flats?
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The council keep rejecting applications but we keep getting chancers who try.
We thought this one had gone away but he put in a second application just over a month ago, which will likely be rejected but in the meantime our buyers have been frightened off.
Ah, OK, so this has been going on for a while. I thought it might have. That definitely sounds like no-hoper applications, but as I said, you do get people hoping for those instances when the planning system goes wrong. I suppose, however, that it's not so much the specific application that's the problem for buyers but the threat that this will just keep recurring. What you would need to convince prospective buyers that the risk of development happening there is low would probably be a brief report from a planning consultant about the site constraints that could show the likelihood of much larger development there is very low. I don't think this would be very expensive.
The council planning officer has encouraged the developer to withdraw the application
There might also be a dimension of the owner bullshitting prospective developers and causing them to waste their time. Talking to the developer might also be worthwhile, as might putting a little list of the past, failed applications together that could demonstrate how unlikely success is.
(I don't expect there's anything here that you haven't done yet, but just in case.)
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access is also problematic, as it is only 2 metres wide, which effectively prevents vehicular access as it's not wide enough for emergency vehicles to get in
An old colleague of mine fought the development of flats behind his house in Chingford in a similar situation (neighbour behind had big piece of land) and eventually won on the basis that emergency services vehicles wouldn't be able to get in properly.
I'm afraid it was a long and tiring battle though. He's an absolutely lovely man who does a lot of charitable work alongside his job, a real pillar of the community and lovely to everyone, and it was the closest I ever saw him to pissed off when dealing with it.
If you thought it would help I'm sure he'd be happy to offer advice but I'd have to warn you about his comedic name beforehand so you could get any giggling out of the way first...
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amey
Oliver Schick
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@andyp
Thanks everyone for the supportive words. It's appreciated.
We live on a corner of a road and our next door neighbour has the corner plot which comes with a substantial garden, hence the developer interest. However, there is a culverted river running across the back of the garden which complicates any planning application and access is also problematic, as it is only 2 metres wide, which effectively prevents vehicular access as it's not wide enough for emergency vehicles to get in. Most sensible developers understand the limitations of the site and steer clear, but there seems to be a select few who think they can make it work. The council keep rejecting applications but we keep getting chancers who try.
We thought this one had gone away but he put in a second application just over a month ago, which will likely be rejected but in the meantime our buyers have been frightened off.