Appealing a Conservation Officers decision

[Sarah Ship]

Hello
We have a Grade 2 listed cottage.
We appear to have a very differing opinion to our Conservation Officer.
We have an Architect involved in our application (although this doesn't appear to make any difference)
Has anyone challenged their Conservation Officer ? What is the process, is it worthwhile etc etc ?
Thank you.

 

[Cubist]

There are formal avenues you can pursue up to and including an appeal to the Secretary of State. The route typically starts with the local councils Building Control office through which a negotiated solution may be agreed after which a formal complaint can be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate and m should that fail then directly the SoS. If the disagreement concerns a point of Law a Judicial Review can also be initiated/pursued.

At the end of the day it comes down to a judgement call and the depth of your pockets.

 

[Sarah Ship]

Thank you for this
So there isn’t any neutral arbitration, only via the Council themselves.
That doesn’t appear very favourable.
And no official guidelines, just the Conservation Officer’s judgement
It seems it varies from one council to another too.
Doesn’t seem I’ve much hope
Is there an equivalent of ‘case law’ if I can prove it’s been done elsewhere with consent ?

 

[Mulder]

I believe you can resubmit as many times as you like, may be council dependent. It's unlikely the CPO would disallow all works in their entirety.
If you have your heart set on major building works or modifications, you may be out of luck, but if you want to make more subtle "improvements" or changes, you can resubmit with slight modifications and address the points they objected to. For example, if you can find historical photos or other buildings nearby with similar changes, you will stand a better chance of success.

 

[Cubist]

Have you made a formal application or was there a face to face discussion?

Case Law is only relevant if you feel/believe the councils officers have misinterpreted and/or not confined their judgements to the letter of the law itself, not the nature of the proposed project.

 

[a twig]

Is this a planning issue (eg for an extension) which the Conservation Officer has objected to, or is this a Listed Building Consent to do property repairs issue?

 

[a twig]

If it is LBC you wish to appeal there is a handy guide here:

Appeal a listed building consent decision

Appeal a decision on a listed building consent application by your local planning authority - deadlines, how to appeal and how long it takes to get a decision

www.gov.uk

If you aren’t confident doing it yourself there are various firms with expertise in such things who will assist for a fee

 

[Sarah Ship]

I’m

Have you made a formal application or was there a face to face discussion?

Case Law is only relevant if you feel/believe the councils officers have misinterpreted and/or not confined their judgements to the letter of the law itself, not the nature of the proposed project.

Yes we have made a formal application.
We had a site visit from the planning officer & conservation officer. But we were told it was preliminary & for them to view only, we weren’t allowed to discuss with them.

 

[Sarah Ship]

Is this a planning issue (eg for an extension) which the Conservation Officer has objected to, or is this a Listed Building Consent to do property repairs issue?

Hi.
The property was neglected & in disrepair when we purchased it.
It needs refurbishment (no extension). So listed building consent.
Mainly moving doors/blocking up doors.
Apparently work prior to us buying the property was done without consent (only minor) but they want us to put that back too. That involves an internal wall, which would appear non original from the construction surrounding the area.
CO claims is ‘palimpsest’ shows development of the building, although ironically we aren’t allowed to alter it develop in any way

 

[Sarah Ship]

If it is LBC you wish to appeal there is a handy guide here:

Appeal a listed building consent decision

Appeal a decision on a listed building consent application by your local planning authority - deadlines, how to appeal and how long it takes to get a decision

www.gov.uk

If you aren’t confident doing it yourself there are various firms with expertise in such things who will assist for a fee

Thank you. I’ll take a look.
Really appreciate you taking the time to send the information.

 

[Sarah Ship]

I believe you can resubmit as many times as you like, may be council dependent. It's unlikely the CPO would disallow all works in their entirety.
If you have your heart set on major building works or modifications, you may be out of luck, but if you want to make more subtle "improvements" or changes, you can resubmit with slight modifications and address the points they objected to. For example, if you can find historical photos or other buildings nearby with similar changes, you will stand a better chance of success.

Thank you for this information.
It’s helpful.
We haven’t been given any proper reasons (it’s a few modifications). Just used the terms ‘ must be kept as original’.
It’s particularly frustrating as the property had permitted refurbishment in 1989, which was more extensive than what we’ve requested. I don’t know if guidelines have changed since then ? But they were allowed to remove original ceilings & plasterboard. We for example want to vault a ceiling displaying the original timbers but it’s not permitted.