Any change in planners outlook due to Covid enforced needs in family home??

Blub123

Anyone here work in planning offices or indeed have recent experience??...currently have a detached 2 storey garage to the rear of the house... Looking to do a refurbishment and turn it into a home office with bathroom , strictly personal use so as to allow both myself and wife to work from home.. Ideally looking to connect it to the main house to make it more functional.
This would be a change of use and traditionally probably would have had difficulty in obtaining planning permission.(especially given the preference to connect to the main house).
Anybody know if there has been a softening of planning decision makers around such projects with the advent of working from home becoming a necessity etc.

Thanks

BryanF

‘Traditionally’ Why do you say this?

How far is the garage from house?

Connecting garage / proposed home office/bed, to The main house for ancillary use of the family/ main house, would not be difficult from a a planning perspective. You may get the standard line that it shouldn’t be for sale or rent, but that’s not what you’ve intimated in your post.

Gumbo

Blub123 wrote: »

Anyone here work in planning offices or indeed have recent experience??...currently have a detached 2 storey garage to the rear of the house... Looking to do a refurbishment and turn it into a home office with bathroom , strictly personal use so as to allow both myself and wife to work from home.. Ideally looking to connect it to the main house to make it more functional.
This would be a change of use and traditionally probably would have had difficulty in obtaining planning permission.(especially given the preference to connect to the main house).
Anybody know if there has been a softening of planning decision makers around such projects with the advent of working from home becoming a necessity etc.

Thanks

I do t see any issues with what you’ve posted, either pre-COVID, during COVID or after. It’s a pretty standard application.

If I’m reading you right, you want to build an extension to the rear that will join the main house and the garage? Once it’s done tastefully you should be ok.

Otherwise, you may not need planning to simply convert some of the garage to home office use ancillary to the main dwelling. I’m assuming home office, desk, pc etc no members of the public turning up and no particular noisily works going on.

therightangle

Blub123 wrote: »

...currently have a detached 2 storey garage to the rear of the house... Looking to do a refurbishment and turn it into a home office....

Ive had recent experience of a fire officer not liking a habitable room above a detached garage, with the stairs not being protected/separated from GF garage. If you are approaching planners it might be worth bearing in mind.

If you are converting the entire anyway, (no garage left below) then you shouldnt have this particular problem as you have removed the fire risk. No garage left then though, unless you just convert FF and fire protect the stairs.

Blub123

Gumbo wrote: »

I do t see any issues with what you’ve posted, either pre-COVID, during COVID or after. It’s a pretty standard application.

If I’m reading you right, you want to build an extension to the rear that will join the main house and the garage? Once it’s done tastefully you should be ok.

Otherwise, you may not need planning to simply convert some of the garage to home office use ancillary to the main dwelling. I’m assuming home office, desk, pc etc no members of the public turning up and no particular noisily works going on.

... My apologies as should of highlighted the fact that my understanding is I may run foul of the living space/ Green space percentage requirement with respect of the entire site size if the garage is connected to the main house

Blub123

BryanF wrote: »

‘Traditionally’ Why do you say this?

How far is the garage from house?

10 foot