Bonkers!

(Image: SEE Monster)

OWLA has recently, further to three refusals and a good deal of soul searching won an appeal to convert a farm building in the countryside to a contemporary, energy efficient dwelling.

Winning or for that matter losing an appeal isn’t in itself exceptional but this one mattered. It mattered as the position of the local authority in the context of a housing shortage, an economy desperate for growth and national policy to support ‘green building’ as a contribution to net zero was, in a word, senseless. Despite the building already existing and a pre-app suggesting it was capable of officer support the conclusion was (perhaps given it was not ye olde barn) it was perhaps better knocked over. Despite the head scratching support of two councillors anything from a prominent boiler flue to a one size should fit all approach to housing policy the council simply hollered no, no, no! The government it is true has made some beneficial changes to the NPFF and continue to tinker. For our part and with a nod to the late, great Orange Juice we think we should just ‘rip up and start again.’