Sunday, November 05, 2006

Working in woodland sheds - part 3

[taken from Smallwoods Association magazinefor more details, see previous posts].

"Last autumn, Cedric Hoptroff decided to move house, which meant moving further away from his wood. He therefore decided to build a shed in the wood so that he could keep essential tools on site. He emailed the local planning authority to say that he owns Brookfield Wood in Great Brickhill Parish and would like to have some secure storage for tools for use in the wood. He wrote that he wanted to build a small brick or block shed with a door, but no windows, and a tiled roof. It would be about 2.5 by 2m and about 2m hight to the ridge. He expected it to stand on a 200mm-thick concrete base or alternatively have 500mm deep foundations.

"He wanted to know whether he needed to a) apply for planning permission, and/or b) seek building regulations approval. 'After an inordinately long time I received the following reply - 'I can confirm that planning permission would not be required to build a shed of the specified dimensions, provided that the height is under 3m. You will appreciate that this is only an informed view of officers and that it does not constitute a formal determination under the Town and Country Planning Act. In addition, it relates only to the Planning Act and not Building Regulations'.'

"He therefore emailed the Building Regs people, saying that he would like to have some secure storage for tools for use in the wood, outlining the details he'd sent AVDC. He mentioned that the AVDC Planning Department had informed him that he did not need to apply for planning permission for the shed. It appears, he wrote, that it is also exempt from building regulations control as a building in Class VI (1) of Schedule 2 of the Building Regulations 2000 (at least). He wanted to know if they could confirm this.

"'Within 36 hours I had a reply saying simply that the proposed work was exempt from building control without specifying on which provision(s) of the Building Regulations the opinion was based. In the event, the shed was built to rather different design but it is on the same footprint and less than 3m hight so I should be alright.

'My wood is in an Area of Attractive Landscape which is a local designation in the Aylesbury Vale Local Plan; it is not a nationally recognised designation. It is not in Green Belt, though in my opinion, that should not make any difference. A shed such as I have built should be allowed under the exemption for buildings for forestry purposes.'>

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