Planning Permission Palaver

Corruption? Hypocrisy? Incompetence? Stupidity? Lacking Common Sense?

Are people being unduly had over? Are councils living in the real world? Do they even know what they are talking about?

Treated Fairly? It is true that we need some sort of planning control, to stop inconsiderate people building skyscrapers in their back gardens and negatively impacting neighbours, however, considering what we are charged, are the public being treated fairly and even sensibly? Or are councils just taking our money and making life more difficult for the ordinary people, as they so often do?

Setback! There are many instances we have heard about of ordinary people having planning permission denied, on what most people would consider to be unreasonable and unfair, even ridiculous grounds. At such times, this means that applicants have all the hassle of appealing. This often involves considerable extra expense and also means their plans and timetables are considerably setback. In such cases, you would like to think there are just and valid reasons, however, all too often, this is not seen to be the case. We decided to put Bexley Council to the test, to see what happens! Before we do, the paragraph below, is a short diversion to Dartford, and just one such example!

The Real World! A friend of mine applied for planning permission to park his car on his front garden. Dartford Council told him he couldn't have it because there wasn't enough room to turn round on his front garden, therefore, he couldn't drive both in and out in a forward direction. Well, who can? Those who live in mansions perhaps, but for the rest of us, living in the real world, we have to reverse in and drive out, or vice versa. That's what ordinary people do, everywhere.

Common Sense! When he told them he felt it would be much safer when getting his young children in and out of the car and that he really wanted to get his vehicle off the busy main road, they told him they like vehicles parked on the road, because it acts as traffic calming. Never mind all the broken wing mirrors! And what about the broken kids? After a lengthy and considerable ordeal, involving three different appeals, significant cost, wasted time, grief and anguish, my friend eventually got his planning permission, when an adjudicator had to drive all the way down from Bristol, a distance of 150 miles plus, to ask why nobody at Dartford Council appeared to be applying any common sense!

Which Is It? When I was trying to sort out our pavement-parking problems in Plantation Road, I was told by Linda Jackson of Bexley Council that, despite paying road tax, motorists actually have no right to park on the road and that council's prefer people to park off road. Well, it would be nice, wouldn't it! If only it were that easy! Mind you, when talking about cars being in the way of a fire engine, because we were also being told we were 'not allowed' to park on our exceptionally wide pavements, she also said the firemen would just tow them all out of the way!" Yes, of course they would, while the house is burning down! Why didn't I think of that?

Back To Bexley: Another friend of mine wanted to make an alteration to a roof window setup, which was starting to leak, and which some other properties had already done. He was incensed when Bexley Council told him it would cost him £260, for a pre-application assessment, and he would have to provide the architect's drawings, for which he was quoted £1600, just to find out if he even needed planning permission.

Back To Our Plot: Due to a shortage of funds, and other priorities, the rear garden of our end-of-terrace property has been unfenced and overgrown for many years; in fact, since around the early nineties, when the wall fell down (no, not the one in Berlin). We managed clear the garden and put some hard core down around 15 years ago, with a view to perhaps laying some type 1, and providing a bit more parking (as you wouldn't believe the trouble we were having with Bexley Council over trying to park sensibly in our own road). However, even this was thwarted due to a shortage of funds. The ongoing battle to keep nature at bay has meant spraying with weedkiller, every so often.

Issues: As well as being a bit of an eyesore for neighbours, it has also meant we have had no external storage and the garden has been unusable for anyone wishing to sit in it. It has also meant we have had some security issues and occasional fly-tipping on the garden. The lack of secure garage storage has meant having my motorbike by the back door, cycles in the lounge, an electronics' workshop in the back half of the lounge, kayak in the studio and a constant ongoing game of Chinese puzzle over many years, to say nothing of storage boxes, fishing gear and other stuff, that it would be nice just be able to put in a garage (if we had one). Being a gigging musician and doing occasional PA hire, there is also equipment that needs to be securely stored. With a view to trying to correct all of this, when eventually able, we applied to Bexley Council for planning permission to build a decent sized garage on our derelict garden, maximising potential, and erect a perimeter wall with a sliding gate. Not unreasonable, you would think. In fact, the guy who did the drawings, said it shouldn't be a problem at all! However, given our past experiences with Bexley Council, we should have known better!

Quite Enough! A nice young lady came down to investigate our planning application and take some photos. She was a trainee planner and said she hadn't been in the job that long. She said she wasn't quite sure of the situation and said she would have to go back and report to her boss, who despite me paying a considerable amount of money for the service, didn't bother to accompany her, or come down himself. The application fee for the Council was £613. Perhaps it wasn't quite enough!

Loads Of Money! There is expert personal help available, in the form of pre-application service, meaning someone will actually come along, have a look and give you some advice, but it costs an extra £260. That would mean an outgoing to the Council of £873. The drawing of the plans and the submission on my behalf, has cost £680, so, at the moment, we have had to pay £1293! If we had to add another £260, it would mean an outlay of £1553.00. Loads of money!

Road To Nowhere! There is a back alley at the rear of this property which the Council say is classed as a 'private road'. It's overgrown and nobody uses it, except my neighbour, who was parking his car(s) there (as can be seen in the above photos). The property is also located in low-lying land adjacent to the tidal stretches of the river Thames, which is consequently considered as a 'flood zone'. So, despite paying out £1293, and being told by the architect, "It shouldn't be a problem", apparently, these two things are enough of a problem for us to, so far, find the road to nowhere!

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Bexley Council's Reasoning

Bexley Council's Reasons: Relevant text from Bexley Council's planning permission refusal letter...

1 The wall/fence and gate, by reason of their location and height, along with the proposed structure at the rear of the garden would obstruct visibility of a vehicle entering Plantation Road from the private road. As such they are contrary to Paragraph 116 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2024), Policy T4 of the London Plan (2021) and Policies SP10, DP23 and DP24 of the Local Plan (2023), all of which seek to ensure highway safety

2 In the absence of a Flood Risk Assessment, the application fails to demonstrate that the proposal would not increase the risk of flooding. As such, the application is contrary to the National Planning Policy Framework (paragraph 181) and Policy DP32 of the Bexley Local Plan (2023)

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Point 1: The Back Alley: Yes, we do have a back alley at the bottom of the garden, and it is wide enough for a car. Nobody actually drives down it, as it is overgrown. It has, in recent times, been used at the Plantation Road end for parking by my nextdoor neighbour who, at the time of the Council's visit, had two cars parked on it, one of which was SORN. The Council say that our construction would "obstruct visibility of a vehicle entering Plantation Road from the private road." I think they mean my neighbour's car (and he has just moved).

It's Everywhere! However, Plantation Road is a quiet little no-through road. Living in the real world, it's a fact of life that there are many examples of this 'obstructed visibility" everywhere. Places that are in fact far, far busier with both traffic and pedestrians, such as Crayford High Street. People are expected to cope, use their common sense and drive sensibly. Yes, we can actually do that! When we're 'allowed' to!

Point 2: Flood Risk: Slade Green is in a flood zone and parts of did flood in 1953 due to North Sea flood that apparently killed over 307 people in eastern England and around 2,500 people overall, including the Netherlands and Belgium. The flood occurred due to a combination a rapid moving low-pressure weather system, resultant high winds and a high spring tide, which breached sea defences and embankments. It was also at a time previous to the reinforcing of the Thames embankment and the building of the Thames and Dartford Creek Barriers. According to a resident living here at the time, the water came up as far as the Corner Pin pub, but still 250 metres short of this property.

Too Much To Ask? As a 'mere' member of the public, it should not be not my responsibility to manage water supply, drainage, flood prevention and infrastructure. We pay very significant amounts of to water companies and the council, supposedly to manage and deal with exactly these things. Is it too much to ask that they do what we actually pay them to do? Of course it is!

All Gone! I personally also pay the Environment Agency and Paddle UK annually, for my fishing and kayaking (which granted, may come in handy to get to the shops in the event of an unlikely flood). I expect drains and flood defences to be properly managed and sufficient and I expect councils not to keep building all over flood plain and valuable playing fields, such as the Howbury fields (pictured right), over 70,000 square metres of prime playing field, all gone!

Natural Drainage: The Howbury playing fields were a much-loved facility, used and cherished by the community; a massive area of natural drainage that Bexley Council decided to build all over AGAINST the majority wishes of the people that live here. They built more houses, caused more congestion, and gave us more problems. They took away facilities, amenities and depleted natural drainage. No wonder they're so worried about my back garden.

Hypocrisy! You can't help feeling that our social-management system is riddled with hypocrisy. Hypocrisy from those in charge, who do just what they like when it suits them, and don't listen to, or consider the public (that is the people paying their wages). And they still think they're entitled to give the little people an unnecessarily hard time, taking our money and making life difficult when we just want to get on with our lives.

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Positive And Proactive Manner?

Really? Page two of Bexley Council’s refusal letter states…

“In dealing with this planning application, Bexley Council has worked with the applicant in a positive and proactive manner, in accordance with the requirements of paragraphs 186 & 187 of the National Planning Policy Framework, to seek solutions to problems where practicable.”

No Comment! However, so far, the above statement is not true! In this instance, they have not, as yet, worked with me in any way to find solutions, yet alone in a positive and proactive manner. I did subsequently phone the nice young lady, our Trainee Planner, on the 02/07/25 to clarify a few things, and point out the existing precedents and some of the blatant hypocrisy. She simply said she could not comment on anything that was already there and suggested I email Development Control. Following her guidance, this I did on Wed 02/07/2025 12:00. So far, apart from an automated response, as of lunchtime 04/07/25, I have had no reply from my email to Development Control and no reply from the email I sent on Tue 01/07/25 14:31, to the Environment Agency, regarding the flood risk assessment.

Help At Last? As of mid afternoon, 04/07/25 I have now had an email back from the nice young lady, who herself responded to the email she suggested I send to Development Control. She thanked me for my patience and said she would forward it to the relevant department. Are they actually all the same department, one wonders?

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Bexley Council's Response from Highways

The Highways Team have come back with the following:

I would suggest the applicant move the building and wall into the garden from plantation road, allowing a buffer within their land, or alternatively lessen the width of the building so that it doesn’t go for the full width so that the 2.4x2.4m pedestrian splays can be achieved.

The sliding gate would also have the same issue with lack of visibility – although this was not included in the report. This can be overcome by extending the length of the gate, or providing a suitable fence on either side of the opening portion in lieu of brick pillars and wall

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Not Great Ideas!

Negative Impact! The above suggestions from Bexley Council's Highways' department, significantly negatively impact what we would actually like to do. It means we're expected to do some significant compromising, wasting garden space (which will become dead space), sacrificing on storage space, and sacrificing on security. Plus, the overall finish won't be as neat and tidy. At present, it also looks like there may possibly still be no privacy from the road, due to wall height restrictions. It also means building two lots of wall or fence, as with our idea, the garage was the boundary wall, meaning we only needed to build it once! A much better idea for us!

That Is The Question! Our garden isn't massive, and if the neighbours are happy with our plans, it would nice to be able to make the best of it. The question is, should we have to give up our garden space and compromise on storage space, security and privacy, to pander to Bexley Council's hypocrisy and nonsense, for a blocked back alley that nobody actually drives down, in a quiet dead-end street with just 22 houses and my back garden. Especially when, in the real world this kind of problem exists everywhere, in much busier places. Also, can we find alternative solutions?

Out Of Alignment! As for moving the location of our proposed sliding gate, which would (as proposed) line up with the existing parking pad, it's a rather ridiculous and completely nonsensical idea, as it would then be out of alignment with the parking pad and no longer line up with the vehicle!

LEZ Then ULEZ! Yes, that's my new Renault Trafic van (at the time) which cost over £7,000, after I had to scrap my perfectly good previous Peugeot Expert van (for just £200), for round one - LEZ (The Low Emission Zone) which no one had a vote on. I then had to scrap the one in the picture (for just £292), which was also still a perfectly good van, for round two - ULEZ (The Ultra Low Emission Zone) which, yes, you guessed it, no one had a vote on! No wonder people get so fed up with our local authorities behaving like tyrants! And no wonder it takes so long to get the house and the garden done, when I have to keep finding the money to buy another van!

Better Ideas For Us! Anyway, enough moaning! We have some suggestions of our own. As Bexley Council are complaining about trafic from the back alley, we thought we could simply block vehicle-wide access to the alley with a bollard, as has been done where the alley continues on the opposite side of the road. My neighbour, who has the house at the bottom of garden, says she would prefer vehicles not to be parking in the alley and not to be driving in the alley either, so this could be a good solution.

30mph Wheelspin! As for the sliding gate and exit from my drive, we can site a mirror (or two), install a flashing warning light (or two) and a nice loud audible warning to warn pedestrians and vehicles alike when I open the gate and exit my garden. Something that keeps repeating, "Caution! Vehicle exiting!", or similar! Just in case I happen wheelspin off my drive at 30mph. It will probably pee the neighbours off though! But, let's see what Bexley Council say!

One Set Of Rules?

The Old Community Centre: At the other end of our back alley, or private road, is the site of the old community centre. This site is on the corner of Bridge Road and Slade Green Road, the busy central main arterial road that runs right through the heart of Slade Green.

B.C.'s Own Words! Before we go on, let's remind ourselves of Bexley Council's own words in their planning permission refusal letter...

The wall/fence and gate, by reason of their location and height, along with the proposed structure at the rear of the garden would obstruct visibility of a vehicle entering Plantation Road from the private road

Bexley Council's Fence: Note the height of the fence that Bexley Council have erected around the site of the old community centre, and the fact that the gates exit onto the busy main road. Note also the fact that the fence obstructs visibility for pedestrians approaching the carpark exit and obstructs visibility for vehicles entering Bridge Road from the car park.

What Can We Say?

We Could Say: To quote Bexley Council's own words...

The wall/fence and gate, by reason of their location and height, obstruct visibility of a vehicle entering Bridge Road from the private carpark

When It Suits! Perhaps Bexley Council didn't notice! Or perhaps they don't know what they're doing! Or perhaps they just don't care! Hypocrisy? Of course! It's Bexley Council! They just do what THEY like when it suits them!

Mum's Concern! The same fence, which extends for some distance, also obstructs vision for pedestrians trying to cross the busy road. While I was taking the photos, one young mum told me that because of the fence and the obstructed visibility, she'd told her young daughter she must cross the road much further down, where she could clearly be seen, and clearly see any oncoming traffic. It is a busy road!

Common Sense! Unlike Plantation Road, a quiet little dead-end backstreet, places like Bridge Road and Crayford High Street are very busy locations with high traffic density and high pedestrian footfall. People accept this, because it's the real world we live in and it's practical. We make the best of it. This world is not perfect, and it never will be. However, it can still work with a bit of care and common sense and in millions of places like these, all over the country, it does and it has to!

More Photos of Bexley Council's Fence - Breaking Their Own Rules?

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