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Fisher German’s planning team are starting to find that residential barn conversions are becoming significantly harder to deliver through the planning system. Policies have become a great deal tighter and many local authorities are requesting more in depth information before they will even validate the application.
The further information required, regularly includes a species survey, a structural survey and several authorities are now requesting that the barn is marketed for a period of 12 months or over, for other uses such as commercial, tourism and leisure before they will accept a residential application. It should also be noted that even when the marketing is complete, there is no guarantee that the application will be received positively; it could still be turned down for any number of other reasons such as on Highway safety grounds.
This policy review obviously poses quite an obstacle, both in terms of timescales and more importantly financially. Protected species surveys can cost on £800 or more and structural surveys can be a similar cost. Both generally require an additional three weeks in the programme. The requirement for buildings to be marketed before an application can be made, results in greatest cost and time delay to the client. This makes some cases unviable, and is considered unreasonable in other cases, where it is obvious due to location or structure that no other uses are viable.
One recent application was withdrawn as the authority has requested that the building is marketed for 18 months with 2 separate agents. A second application, which is now the subject of an appeal, has seen a request to obtain planning consent for alternative uses before marketing. This case has been made worse with the planning officers admission in writing that residential was no doubt the only viable use.
It will be interesting to see how this appeal will fair, and whether or not it will set a precedent for appeals in the future. In the meantime, the message must be to allow for a greater budget and timescale in all planning applications for barn conversions and to take professional advice from a planning consultant familiar with that local council, from the outset.
