workshop legalities

[neilyweely]

I am hoping to move soon, and was thinking about using the garage as a workshop. However i have since found out there is no garage!

So how do I stand legally about building a wooden structure in the garden to use as a workshop. I believe there is a way I can go about this without having planning permission, does anyone know any more about this?

I have had all sorts of run-ins with the building regs guy in the last few weeks, so really could do with avoiding him if poss.

I hope to be able to make specialist kitchen units to compliment carcasses bought from magnet etc... I have run into problems with units not fitting, and having to use a towel rail, wine rack or the like to fill a gap,and am so sick of this that I am gonna do something about it!

Help please, silly person requires advice!

Thanks guys.
neil

 

[Oryxdesign]

I would think your problem is going to be more about running a business from home than from putting a shed in the garden, depends on the neighbours.
Simon

 

[kityuser]

a friend of mine was planning a garage type shed in his garden.
Looked on the web, thought that he had made all the right choices to negate needing planning approval.
I persuaded him to contact the planning office any and check, and he was basically told that there are some many "hidden" rules that he had better submit plans.
Gues what..... it needed planning for some small petty reason that I can't recall.
wasn't on the web..... strange.
It would seem the local planning office DON'T actually want you to be able to decide yourself. just want your fee.

he got planning approval and built it, but that isn't really the point is it?
Why couldn't he find out ALL the rules?

he was told on one occasion by the planning officer that its basically impossible for "joe blogs" to decide if he needs planning permission on his own.
seems so , especially if they won't tell you all the rules.


I'd check with your local council.

Steve

ps when his plans were published on the internet (by the council) he had objections. They were over-ruled because they were along the lines of "I won't like it" or "he might start a buisiness" :evil:

 

[skipdiver]

Basically the rules are:- no more than 30sq mt floor area,no more than 4 mts to the highest point(usually the ridge) from the highest point of the surrounding land and mainly of a non combustible material i.e brick/block and tile.No nearer than 5 mts from any point of the building to any point of your house and it has to be more than 20 mts from a highway or public footpath.If you want to build in timber then it has to be at least 1mt from the boundary lines.

The other issue is running a business from home.This is a no-no in two ways.The council won't let you and it will invalidate your mortgage agreement,supposing you have a mortgage.

I built a workshop at my last house and stuck to all these rules only for an enforcement officer to come round from the council as a result of a complaint from one of my neighbours.He couldn't get me on anything except the height.I intended to put 150mm thick paths all round when finished so did the roof 4.1 mts high so it would be 3950 when finished.He wouldn't accept this so i had to lower the roof by 100mm.Luckily i hadn't yet tiled or felted so it wasn't too much grief but they can be pernickerty sods.

I am about to start a workshop at my new place but will take my chances and go ahead with it.Luckily i know most of the planning officers from my job and have done work for some of them but it can be a risky strategy to not check first.

 

[skipdiver]

Forgot to mention the electrics.They have to be signed off by a registered sparky to comply.

 

[neilyweely]

ok, thanks for that, so far!

So how about this;

I will build a workshop/shed with a timber frame and a concrete floor. It will be a hobby shed, ostensibly for messing around in, and perhaps I will experiment with some scraps and see whether or not it is a viable proposition to make units!

Or maybe I will carry on trying to find somewhere I can rent out cheap!

I got a funny feelin my neighbours-to-be are gonna take an instant dislike to me! Shame that!

I am hoping I can cram a mini-production-line into a single garage! At the moment I have crammed tools into every space available in the flat (I mean everywhere- wardrobes, down the side of the washing machine - there are a couple of routers in the dishwasher!) and you can imagine the strain it puts on my relationship. I am in desperate need of some secure space.

Maybe I'll go for a drive to some of the local farms and see what's available. One of the guys on the forum got a container, with power, for a song, and it was in my area!

Any suggestions?

Thanks folks.

neil

 

[wizer]

I don't see what the problem is? As long as you are reasonable and abide by the planning regs, you will get permission. Lots of people here have done it. Don't be put off by the council, they work for US.

 

[neilyweely]

wizer, my friend, I don't know what gave you that impression, you've been reading the rules again, haven't you?

The council here, in Bedford, are NOTORIOUSLY bad, and make life as difficult as possible for everyone. I recently had an application turned down on my own house, grade two listed cottage, built 1690, for windows.The original windows are still in, and we proposed to leave them and very, VERY carefully install sympathetic secondary double glazing. In other words we were going to get a matching rear made up for the windows. It was going to cost a small fortune, but you really could not tell the difference. The application was refused, on the grounds that the sunlight on the windows would reflect in a different pattern to the other windows on the other cottages in the terrace (of three!!!). So we were not allowed to save the environment in this case.

Truly beaurocracy gone mad.

I had to replace every other tile with a vented tile on a job the other day to appease a rather irate building regs fella.

you can't win. got to go, have baby in hand now, typing difficult.

cheers

neil

 

[Digit]

I think you must have run into the one I knew Neil.
Pre 16C thatched cottage, Grade 11 listed and the thatch need repairs, so being a good boy, (I learnt susequently) I applied for a grant for the repair.
NO!
But if you replace the thatch with tiles then of course we will be only too pleased to help!
A pint of beer for the local publican and I had a semi retired thatcher on the job, and cheap, within a week.
I applied for a grant here in Wales as well when we moved in.
NO!
Your house has no foundations!
8 courses of visible brick above ground level must have been invisible to them.
I loathe officialdom, they are a pain in the rectum!

Roy.

 

[BradNaylor]

I loathe officialdom, they are a pain in the rectum!

Roy.

There is a perversity in the psyche of anyone who would want to be a council official, a traffic warden, a 'Community Support Officer' (plastic plod), or a sunday morning football referee.





Not to mention forum moderator....

:lol: :lol: :lol:


'It was a joke' he cried, as they dragged him away in irons...

 

[Smudger]

Our local council require planning permission for raising or lowering any boundary between the house and the street.

That includes hedges, so you can see where this is going...

They also charge a fee for storing materials (even for a few minutes) on the roadway next to the skip you paid a hefty fee to leave in the road.

They even have people who drive around checking these things.

I suppose it helps to pay for the speed humps, road markings and 'traffic calming' measures that bedevil the place...

 

[Anonymous]

_____

 

[skipdiver]

I deal with BCO's on a regular basis and find that massaging their ego works a treat.Most times i have already decided how i am going to do that roof,timber sizes and spacings etc.But i always make a point of asking their opinion so they can get their TRADA tables out and check safe span lengths.I then tell them that their way of doing it was a really good idea and something that hadn't occured to me.They lap it up and i now find that they hardly ever check what i do.

The last one i got was fresh out of college and looked about twelve.I couldn't resist bombarding him with questions and the poor lad got in a right state.It amused me for a while anyway.

 

[Digit]

What have I started? Hope none of the mods work for the Council planning dept! :lol:

Roy.

 

[skipdiver]

Obviously hit a raw nerve Roy.I dont mind them telling me what to do at work because the customer ends up paying for it but when i do stuff at home and have to pay someone to come and check my work when i probably know more than they do.....................phew! deep breath.You get the gist.

 

[garywayne]

Neil.

I noticed Skipdiver listing certain regs, but forgot to mention, although you can go to 30 sqM, your shed can not be any larger than, I think it is 70 quM without planning permission, (in my area anyway).
Also in my area, your shed can be closer than 1M to the border as long as you have at least 1/2 an hour fire retardant insulation each way.

My shed, which is 3M x 10M and over 70quM, is
1.57M from my conservatory.

I went to my local council with plans and ask them there if I would need permission. They wrote back to me within a few days saying I would need permission because my shed was larger than 70 quM. That was the only reason.

So don't get sucked into the 30 sqM thing. It didn't cost a thing to find out wether I needed permission, just to get it.

Good luck with your project.

 

[skipdiver]

Just been on the planning portal and it mentions nothing about that.Worked out the cube of my last workshop and it was 96.When the bco visited me about it he never mentioned that at all.Maybe it is just this area.I do know that 70 cube is the permitted development right afforded to anyone in a semi or detached house.Maybe this is where the confusion lies.

In fact i asked a bco about garden buildings and he told me you can have as many as you like as long as they meet the criteria and are more than 5 mts from the house.Not sure if they have to be 5 mts between buildings.

I would also point out that i am not giving advice expecting it to be slavishly followed.Merely pointing out what anyone can find out for themselves.

 

[garywayne]

My apologies

My house is a semi detached.

 

[Digit]

As for a BCO not telling you something do what I did when I built my garage. Ask two, one said I did need planning consent 'tother said I didn't!

Roy.

 

[skipdiver]

No need for apologies Gary.The problem is in the interpretation.I suspect you needed planning because of the proximity to your conservatory.The 1mt rule comes into force if the building is of a combustible material.If it is "substantially" non combustible then it can be nearer to the boundary line.

Except of course if your neighbours complain under the party wall act.But that's a whole other can of worms.