The planning permission application should be with Herefordshire County Council today or tomorrow. Gulp.
Tim at RRA has done a magnificent job on the drawings and the application document and it all feels "right".
We are biased of course, so someone else may look at it a different way, but when compared with the previous permission it seems difficult to imagine that anyone could view the new design as anything but a huge improvement on the previous (and approved) design.
Take a look at the cross section of the new design vs the design that currently has planning permission and you will see just how much better our design works with the landscape. This is in the Design And Access Statement Appendix (F) - see below for the links.
We now have to wait for 21 days for local feedback and for the Parish Council to comment. I think we have to wait for @ 8 weeks in total to get a decision from the Herefordshire County Council, so more waiting...
Here are the documents. Beware, they are large so may take some time to download.
A3 Drawings
Consultation Booklet
Design And Access Statement
Design And Access Statement Appendices
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
Saturday, 7 May 2011
The Plot
I haven't said much about the plot yet - or even where it is. It in Wellington Heath, just outside Ledbury, in Herefordshire.
We turned found the plot by Internet search and something about it peaked my interest. I think we visited twice before making an offer. Its an awkward pitched site with a difficult planning history but I always wanted to build an earth sheltered house (although it tuns out it will be alot less earth sheltered than I imagined) and the price was within reach.
We had looked at alot of sites but they were in the middle of nowhere which I didn't want as I didn't want to totally reliant on a car, or were infill sites in villages/suburbs which just didn't set my imagination racing.
The site is actually an infill site, between a 50's council built cottage and an 1800's quarry workers cottage (brick built), but its has those views and is on the edge of the village so you don't feel to cramped.
I have quickly fallen in love with Herefordshire, a county I had barely ever visited before. As you turn on to the M50 from the M5 the countryside changes and soon you are in a very different world to the Midlands I am used to. It does remind me of the countryside I grew up in near Melton Mowbray, so I think I am getting comforting echoes of my youth and associations with my late parents. Now that they are both gone that connection seems suddenly very important despite the connection being only in my imagination.
Wellington Heath is a mile or so out of Ledbury which is a really lovely town - all the amenities you could need day to day and the people seem nice based on our experiences to date.
The village is quite ramshackle haven grown up through illegal settlements of quarry, canal and railway workers, but is rather fun for that. It has a good pub but no shops, but as Ledbury is so close this is understandable.
We turned found the plot by Internet search and something about it peaked my interest. I think we visited twice before making an offer. Its an awkward pitched site with a difficult planning history but I always wanted to build an earth sheltered house (although it tuns out it will be alot less earth sheltered than I imagined) and the price was within reach.
We had looked at alot of sites but they were in the middle of nowhere which I didn't want as I didn't want to totally reliant on a car, or were infill sites in villages/suburbs which just didn't set my imagination racing.
The site is actually an infill site, between a 50's council built cottage and an 1800's quarry workers cottage (brick built), but its has those views and is on the edge of the village so you don't feel to cramped.
I have quickly fallen in love with Herefordshire, a county I had barely ever visited before. As you turn on to the M50 from the M5 the countryside changes and soon you are in a very different world to the Midlands I am used to. It does remind me of the countryside I grew up in near Melton Mowbray, so I think I am getting comforting echoes of my youth and associations with my late parents. Now that they are both gone that connection seems suddenly very important despite the connection being only in my imagination.
Wellington Heath is a mile or so out of Ledbury which is a really lovely town - all the amenities you could need day to day and the people seem nice based on our experiences to date.
The village is quite ramshackle haven grown up through illegal settlements of quarry, canal and railway workers, but is rather fun for that. It has a good pub but no shops, but as Ledbury is so close this is understandable.
Friday, 6 May 2011
The View
When the going gets tough I gaze at this snapshot.
If all goes to plan this will be the view from my office and the master bedroom.
Selly Park in Birmingham is leafy but it can't compete with views of the Welsh hills!
Thursday, 5 May 2011
Let's Start
Start what? I'd like to say building the house but that is far off, so this start is the start to the blog. Still, we are closer to starting the build today than we were yesterday.
Although the plot has planning permission we never intended to build the original design - that house is too small, sits poorly in the landscape and just doesn't work very well internally.
We have therefore been working with Mark and Tim at RRA in Hereford to create a more sympathetic design. We also wanted to build an "eco" house. Why pay ever bigger energy bills when with the right design you should be able to pay (almost) nothing! With a PV panel or two we might just turn a profit, although the return on the investment isn't really the point - but I'll save that for a later post.
After a false start earlier in the year, yesterday we got the green light from the planing officer. There are few technical things to get get right but we hope to put in a planning application in the next 10 days or so. The only major hurdle from then on is the Parish Council.
Now that the build looks likely to go ahead (although this is by no means guaranteed), this blog will be a chronicle of the process. Wish us luck!
Although the plot has planning permission we never intended to build the original design - that house is too small, sits poorly in the landscape and just doesn't work very well internally.
We have therefore been working with Mark and Tim at RRA in Hereford to create a more sympathetic design. We also wanted to build an "eco" house. Why pay ever bigger energy bills when with the right design you should be able to pay (almost) nothing! With a PV panel or two we might just turn a profit, although the return on the investment isn't really the point - but I'll save that for a later post.
After a false start earlier in the year, yesterday we got the green light from the planing officer. There are few technical things to get get right but we hope to put in a planning application in the next 10 days or so. The only major hurdle from then on is the Parish Council.
Now that the build looks likely to go ahead (although this is by no means guaranteed), this blog will be a chronicle of the process. Wish us luck!
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