Melissa Kite Melissa Kite

Real life | 13 June 2019

No one can tell me if I’ve been given permission for four loft windows or two

issue 15 June 2019

When is planning permission for four loft windows actually planning permission for two? Or simultaneously vice versa? It’s a very tricky question. After spending a week in the nine circles of hell that constitute local authority planning, I have narrowed my loft conversion problems down to two possible options.

Either I’d got planning permission for four windows and it was revised down to two, or I’d got planning for two windows and it was revised up to four.

Half the planning department at the local council think it was the former and half the latter. Building Control, meanwhile, said they always bow to planning. In other words, they think it’s two and four.

It all started with a note from my architect when the permission came through two years ago. Congrats, he said. There was only one thing I wasn’t allowed. Four roof lights became two after complaints from neighbours. That sounded about right.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in