Building plans

Section 7 of the Building Standards Act prohibits the erection, without approval of the relevant local authority, of any building for which plans and specifications are required to be drawn and submitted.

The approval must be granted if the requirements of the act and other relevant legislation have been complied with and must be refused if the local authority is satisfied that the building will be erected in a manner or will be of a nature and appearance that (a) the area in which it is to be erected will probably or in fact be disfigured; (b) it will probably or in fact be unsightly or objectionable; (c) it will probably or in fact derogate from the value of adjoining or neighbouring properties and (d) it will probably or in fact be dangerous to life or property.

The refusal is mandatory also where the local authority is in doubt whether the plans do comply with the legislation.

A mere possibility of one of the factors eventuating is not sufficient to justify a refusal; a probability must exist; this is so because the matters referred to in the section are matters of opinion on which many reasonable people may disagree.

The mere fact that people in an offending building may be able to look into and over an adjoining property, that the building may materially interfere with previous access to light and warmth and impose itself in an intrusive and unattractive manner on other properties, does not necessarily result in a drop in the market value of those properties.

Source : Eversheds , October 2009

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