Your Home and Planning Permission p7

SECTION 13: THINGS TO CHECK

Before carrying out any work you are advised to check the following:

Legal Position

If you are in any doubt, check your legal position and if necessary, consult a solicitor to ensure that there are no restrictions on the land or the type of work you wish to do (e.g. legal title, restrictive covenants, rights-of-way, a direction which has previously removed permitted development rights etc).

Also, if the existing building is not lawful, permitted development rights will not apply.

Planning History

The original planning permission granted for your house may have a condition attached restricting or prohibiting the kind of work you wish to carry out.

If in doubt, check with the Council’s Planning Department.

Road Requirements

The work you are carrying out must not cause danger by obstructing the view of people using a public road or which impact on the means of access to an existing road.

It is advisable to discuss this with the DfI Roads Northern Division office via telephone on 0300 200 7899 or via email at dfiroads.northern@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk.

Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas

Listed Building Consent may be needed for the work you want to do if you live in a listed building.

The Council’s Planning Department will be able to advise.

If you live in a Conservation Area and wish to carry out any external alterations, it is advisable to discuss these with the Council’s Planning Department.

Historic Monuments

Work proposed in or near any archaeological site or historic monument may need special permission, or certain precautions may be advisable.

For advice, please contact the Historic Environment Division within the Department for Communities on 028 9081 9226 or email historicenvironmentenquiries@communities-ni.gov.uk.

SECTION 14: OTHER APPROVALS YOU MAY REQUIRE

As well as planning permission and Listed Building Consent there are other approvals and consents which may be needed.

Building Regulations

The Council’s Building Control Service assesses plans to make sure they comply with Building Regulations.

Whether your proposed development requires planning permission or not, you will likely be required to submit plans to Building Control.

As work progresses on site, Building Control officers will inspect it at key stages.

The Council’s Planning Department will also check that the plans you submit to Building Control have the benefit of planning approval.

You can find out more information at on the Building Control section, via email at building@midandeastantrim.gov.uk or, depending on your area, at the contact details below.

Ballymena
4 Wellington Court
Ballymena
BT43 6EQ
T: 028 2563 3346

Carrickfergus
11 Antrim Street
Carrickfergus
BT38 7DG
T: 028 9335 8347

Development affecting roads

When you apply for planning permission your application may be required to be considered by Department for Infrastructure (DfI) Roads.

Even if you do not need planning permission but wish to make or alter an access to a road or do any work to a road or a footpath, you may need the permission of DfI Roads.

This includes running a cable across or under a public footpath from a property to an electric vehicle.

If in any doubt, check with the DfI Roads Northern Division office via telephone on 0300 200 7899 or via email at dfiroads.northern@infrastructure-ni.gov.uk

Water Fittings Regulations

The consent of Northern Ireland Water may be needed for your plumbing and drainage proposals.

For further advice please contact Northern Ireland Water.

Wastewater Disposal

Should you intend to discharge or dispose of treated wastewater from the proposed development using a septic tank or wastewater treatment works, you will need a discharge consent from the Water Management Unit (WMU) of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) within the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA).

Ideally an application should be made either prior to or alongside the planning process, as there is no guarantee that consent will be granted.

If in any doubt, check with WMU via telephone on 0300 200 7850 or through the DEARA NI website.

SECTION 15: ENFORCEMENT

A breach of planning control occurs when building works or a material change of use of land or a building takes place without planning consent.

In most cases, it is not an offence to undertake development without consent, but the Council has powers to require these breaches to be put right.

Council can do this by requiring changes to be made to the development, by requiring removal of the development, or by giving the development approval if considered acceptable.

The Council places great importance on the protection and enhancement of the Borough’s natural and built environments through the planning process.

Compliance with, and respect for that process are both essential and expected, and the Council will not condone willful breaches of planning control.

As enforcement is a discretionary power, enforcement action will always need to be commensurate with the breach to which it relates.

Every effort will be made to resolve inadvertent or minor breaches through discussion and retrospective planning applications.

More serious breaches, including those considered to be willful and those which cannot be easily remedied by negotiation, are likely to result in formal enforcement action.

The Council will not hesitate to be firm and robust in its response in appropriate circumstances, including legal recourse.

Please refer to the Council’s Enforcement Strategy on the Council’s Planning webpage for more information as to how Council deals with complaints about alleged breaches of planning control.

SECTION 16: CONTACT THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT

You can contact the Council’s Planning Department in the following ways:

Telephone: 028 2563 3500

Email: planning@midandeastantrim.gov.uk

In person: Ardeevin
80 Galgorm Road
Ballymena
BT42 1AB