Valid grounds for an objection?

Uncle Pierre

Hi all. Quick one to seek opinions/advice from people here who know more about this sort of thing than I do.

A neighbour at my home place has applied for planning permission for some large glasshouses for a horticultural business, within about 150 metres of the back of where my parents live. They'd be approximately six metres tall. My parents are concerned they'd obscure what's currently an unobstructed view from their patio area across to the mountains in the distance - it's a view they're very fond of.

I don't think myself that potential loss of a scenic view is valid grounds for an objection, but would like to be sure as possible before having to tell them that - what does anybody here think?

By the way, don't think there'd be any other valid grounds for objection either, as the neighbour already other buildings of this type in the immediate area, where potential loss of view for anybody wasn't an issue.

Thanks.

DOCARCH

Worth a punt, if you feel inclined to put in an observation, but as you allude to, nobody has a right to a view.

I do see a lots of observations with much more obscure/petty reasons for objection!

Uncle Pierre

Thanks. They might put one in all right. Question I have to ask myself is whether or not I tell them it probably has little to no chance of making a difference!

DOCARCH

The only thing I would suggest to people that an observation does, no matter how trivial, is it may make the planner look at the application a little more thoroughly. Even if the reasons stated in the observation are not really valid, the planner does have to consider them and determine if they are valid or not valid.

If often think that if the planner is very busy/has a lot of files on their desk, and there is an application with no observations/the proposal looks reasonable, they sometimes pass over the application quickly (and grant it), whereas if there is an observation (no matter the grounds), they (have to) look a little closer.

Mellor

150m away is pretty far, even at 6m high. They’ll obscure only about 2 degrees of view. I say it has very little chance in itself, but might trigger a closer look as mentioned above

sydthebeat

the "observation" that you put in doesn't necessarily have to be dressed up as an 'objection'

you can suggest you have reservation in regards to the visual impact the proposed development will have on the existing dwelling, and you can request that profiles be erected on site in order to adequately measure the visual impact of the proposed development.

Uncle Pierre

Thanks both. By the way, saying 150 metres away was a typo in my original post. They'd actually only be about 50 metres away. Please excuse the accidental 1 that made it seem three times as far!

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119765981#Comment_119765981

still, any two storey house on that site would be more than 6 meters high

MacDanger

Something like this has the potential to sour the relationship between your parents and this neighbour.

It might be worth your while considering what resolution your parents would like - e.g. glasshouses not built at all? moved a bit in a particular direction? slightly lower? etc. - and based on this, consider talking to the neighbour and seeing if you can agree some sort of compromise

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119766068#Comment_119766068

That's true. But my parents, and particularly my mother, wouldn't want a development of two storey houses built there either!

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119770168#Comment_119770168

understandable, but still, 'not wanting' a development there is no grounds for objection.

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119766098#Comment_119766098

Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of. We've always gotten on well with the neighbour. Bit peeved off with him though that he didn't at least do the neighbourly thing of coming to talk to my parents first about what he was planning. Instead, the first they knew of it was when the site notice went up.

Don't think any of the compromises you suggest would be a runner. The field where these things would be erected is quite compact and the plans show he's trying to fit in as many as possible, so not much scope to move them around. They need to be that height because of the exact nature of the business (don't want to state too much here for fear of identifying ourselves and him), and the other ones he already has in the area are that height.

And while one option might be to just reduce the number of glasshouses and only erect them at the end of the field that wouldn't obscure the view, I know enough about the man to know his view would be "I'm not going to scale back on the opportunity to expand my business by x amount just so that Mr and Mrs Neighbour can sit outside and look at the mountain during the summer".

Unfortunately, it has potential to get messy all right.

HotSwap

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058267158/valid-grounds-for-an-objection

Glare? Any airports nearby?

Uncle Pierre

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119772850#Comment_119772850

We're talking rural County Wexford here. No nearby airports that I know of! 😄