[cloddopper]

Lucky lady see if you can find out how many people close by to you don't have a car.
 do they do a dial and ride around your area.
are there taxi services
 
 Out in the sticks a taxi twice a week to local habitation will usually be far cheaper than owning a depreciating asset / liability called a car , you won't have to buy fuel or tax or repair it either.
 Internet shopping solves all your needs , you grow all your own veg and some meat why would you need an environmentally polluting car ?

 My wife uses the internet to work from home all the time , we got rid of her car after realizing we could save nearly £ 4 ,000 per year . She uses the occasional taxi & odd  bus if needed  .. I have a Motability vehicle for my own needs .

 We kept photocopied most of our receipts and put them in numbered bags with a master list showing what we'd spent  shopping that way and using the internet and the phone for tradesmen to bring stuff including  Tesco deliveries & construction & animal feedstuffs lorries delivering .

Our nearest chemist had a delivery service direct from the doctors if you wanted it . There was no reason to own a car ... very few of my old neighbours did ,  like you they walked , used the dial a ride bus and taxis plus friends popping in and out who  usually did their friendly community bit.

 Some used to car share as per the rules & contribute to the fuel .
There are websites that you can set up things like shared Journies  on .


 The privacy rules .. depending on how close the barn is

 Veloux roof lights can be a way round line of sight problems so can the reflective light tunnels that let oodles of light into a room .
 You'll need to consider escape routes.

 If you mug up on a sealed house with clean air recycling I think you can also get by having to have windows opening to give views over your property .. bung in extreme double opaque glass or even triple glazed window in the problem areas.


I offer that for each of the likely objections  you find at least six solutions . got to the planner and ask which solutions they would accept .  ( take a voice recorder to record the conversation.
If they say none go to your parish council and ask their help in getting the changes approved. ( so far it will have cost you very little.
 If you still get the middle finger. Ask how you go about an official appeal .. & seek advice from a former local planning officer who lives in the in the area .
 They are either retired or consultants and are amine of valuable info .
 also look for people who have had similar probs and see how they over came them .

One of my planning applications was uniquely timed so that the normal planning officer was on holiday when the plans went in just before the next planning session.
  It seemed to work for they didn't appear to know it was presented  & passed . It is apparently all down to knowing how the timing works out .
 

 One of my biggest problems on another planning consent was the usual crap called visual  intrusion into the countryside. I'd been advised 18 months previously  about certain planning zealots using that to block nearly all consents .

 So we grew 86 six foot tall Leyandi that soon got to 18 feet tall as I used  drip hoses and loads of liquid feeds  .......  hiding almost everything .

As soon as we got permission we pruned the Leylandi with extreme prejudice to let the light int.

[luckylady]

Thanks for all the info.
Currently have an ex planning officer helping us in this and will be listing visiting services to the village, i.e. butcher twice a week, milkman every other day bringing groceries also, a fishmonger, Tesco/Sainsbury's deliveries, mobile library, paper delivery, prescription delivery and others I can't remember off the top of my head right now  .  We have village allotment holders who have a swap your produce scheme, we personally grow our own veg and fruit, there is a medibus facility, taxis, 5 buses per day pass through the village, all children are collected by school bus, dial-a-ride etc.  I hope this will disprove her assumption that it is unsustainable to live in our village although we are about 300m outside the village core and therefore are classed as open countryside for planning purposes      The fact that there are other houses, the village hall and the church filling the gap between us and the 'core' seems irrelevant.  Planning officer keeps mentioning in her report how 'remote' we are.  The sustainability without a private car is also necessary for future generations due to environmental issues.  As there are now some pretty good eco friendly cars on the roads then surely our future generations will be creating better ones by the time they are our future generation commuters!
With reference to the privacy issue the barn conversion is 15m from the farmhouse and they are concerned that our first floor windows will look down into the ground floor kitchen and back garden area. Simple addition of a storm porch would solve that issue and would be in keeping with the character and there will be a private front garden provided.  She conveniently forgets to mention the 8'6" brick wall between the house and barn that creates part of the old foldyard.
Doganjo, I will find the councillor's email addresses tomorrow.  You have spurred me on 

[Lesley Silvester]

Sounds like it's all coming together. Hope it all goes as you want.

[sabrina]

Planning around here seems to be who you know and if your face fits. New houses springing up in fields that use to be grazing land. I find it very odd that some people have to fight tooth and nail for planning and others get away with all sorts.

[chrismahon]

Similar issue in my old village. Chap opted for the holiday cottage route and had to leave it empty for one month a year. One week and can't your daughter go on holiday?

[Fowgill Farm]

LL
i suspect you are from North Yorkshire like me and planning is a real bar steward in this county especially if you're anywhere within spitting distance of the national parks   Suspect also know the lady in planning that you are delaing with as she id the same to friends of ours who had a farm in the middle of the village and wanted to take the farm out to the outer limits of the village and build new houses on the old yard, it took four years of wrangling and had to go to top govt and had very expensice barristers involved but they got it in the end as the village needed more people in it. The trouble is planning don't see that out local schools & villages in genreal are dying because young people starting families can't get a foothold on the property ladder round here, the average age in the villages is now something like 58.
It will back fire on them in the end becoz there'll be nobody left to pay their extortionate countil bloody tax.
Sorry folks rant over
Mandy

[happygolucky]

What I find strange on one  hand the government are encourageing eco friendly use of transport such as bikes, bus, walk etc,  yet planning requies there to  be so much enphasis on cars and parking.......not evey one wants to drive or  have a car...I know thats just one issue but it is strange and puzzzeling. The councils pay for people to encourage use of cycles as well, mind you, after my husband went down a tram line in Edinburgh, lots of work places discourage using bikes for work
 
Good luck and promote the Eco thing........I suspect we would have similar issues although our self contained  unit is passed  but only for us to use rather than let out.....

[shygirl]

just remember the council are as thick as shoot. iv never met an employee that is competant in their job.

my friend had to rebuild his farmhouse as it was very ancient and unrepairable due to poor foundations and it took more than 2 yrs after knocking it down for him to get permission to rebuild it. (the council condemned it halfway through a planned renovation) there was a stumbling block over designated parking for 4 cars (it was a 4 bed house) even though it was in a farmyard and surrounded by its own land. you have to be so basic, obvious and deliberate with planners. they cant comphrehend anything unless its spelt out to them.

[happygolucky]

and you have to find the "in" words to use....sometimes I wonder why some things get passed yet others are refused.
We had a neighbour, they have sold up and gone now, but they had an enourmouse extention to thier house, in a conservation area, and it was horrid, people used to stop to look at it, no bricks matched, windows different, badly built, etc etc , but the did get planning, my brother in law, well my X brother in law, built a super house that matched in so well with its surroundings it was hard to tell which one was the new one after a couple of years....
anyway...good luck!

[luckylady]

Wooohooo!    Planning committee voted in favour of our application against the recommendation of the officer.  Really wasn't expecting that!  Now need to celebrate with sleep  as I haven't done enough of it since I found out our case was going to committee.  My mind has been whizzing incessantly and have been doing research for our case in the middle of the night when feeding the kitten.
Doganjo  I think it was your suggestion that gave me the oomph for the final hurdle and tipped the scales.  Thank you.
One of the councillors actually said it didn't matter if the building fell down as it wasn't a listed one!!!  I think this comment shocked most of the other councillors and seemed to actually help our case.  Silly man shot himself in the foot.
We just need to get FIL's ticker fixed as well as my mother's and life will be back on track.
  Thank you everyone for your support when I needed it.  I love this forum. 

[lachlanandmarcus]

That is @&£) insert swear word amazing amazing news - congratulations x a million!! So good to hear'

[shygirl]

well done, what a relief for you x

[FiB]

Brill.  So glad to hear a good planning outcome for a lovely individual (rather than the usual story of developers). YES!!!!!!

[luckylady]

Thank yooooo! 
I can't help but feel a little smug at the poke in the eye to the case officer.  We have only one constraint on the barn conversion which is it has to be tied to the farmhouse (our suggestion anyway to get in their favour) whereas the house extension into the milking parlour has 15 constraints on it akin to a listed building - this was the permission the case officer granted!  Sourpuss she was!

[happygolucky]

   well done, thats fantastic news for you!!!