Planning at last....

Whoop Whoop we finally have planning permission (again). It's taken a bit of verbal prodding to encourage the planning department to finish the job, but we actually now have a green for go. We have quite a few conditions to meet before we can actually start work, including a mining survey and yet another bat survey. The mining investigation is required by the coal authority as the area is riddled with mines, including some unrecorded ones at shallow depth. Damn those miners. The batty bat survey has us banging our heads against a wall as we had a survey last year by a bat expert who said that over the course of his three surveys at the barns since 2005, he has not found any evidence of roosting bats and the barns have become so increasingly decrepit that even bats wouldn't want to live in them anyway because they are so draughty. Bah and double Bah. However, despite all the conditions, we have actually been allowed to make all the changes we requested which is a very welcome positive note. 

Still no planning........

I think we're in a different time zone where       t i m e          g o e s         v e r y       s l o w l y. 

There has been a bit of movement as the planning department are pushing back on the  coal authority consultation. The story goes that for the first planning permission obtained  no mining assessment was required. When the planning permission was renewed, the coal authority wanted a mining assessment, but waived this due to the previous non requirement. They put a condition on a subsequent planning renewal to force a mining assessment, so now they want us to have one. It doesn't seem to matter that there is no change to the footprint of the building and the buildings themselves will barely change too. However, we believe the planning officer is not happy with this and has been trying to get it overturned on our behalf. Fingers crossed that we won't have to pay for bore hole investigation..........and that we get a (favourable) planning decision very soon.

No planning yet.....

 ........apparently due to Derbyshire Wildlife Trust not responding to their consultation letter. You would think that the independent bat and bird survey we paid for would provide the info they need.  We've had a slightly cynical thought that it's possibly a tactical delaying ploy on behalf of the planning department, but it's difficult to complain in case you p**s the planner off. Sigh. 

storage container delivery

We have some physical progress because we now have a storage container on site. What fun we will have filling it with all our stuff! Seriously though, it's a big relief to have a storage solution that won't cost an arm and a leg. Behind the scenes, a lot of progress has been made on firming up the budget with estimates from suppliers of MVHR, solar PV, pellet boilers, windows, tiles, kitchens, and building work (weather tight, 1st and 2nd fix), not to mention the issue of financing the whole damn thing. We have had some good fortune about the possibility of getting cable broadband as it can be done by the buiilder when the sewage drains are installed down the lane. Hoorah. It's all busy, busy!

Planning news

At last we have some planning news. Not planning consent just yet, but at least the planner has been on site with our architect who answered his queries as they went round. Happily, he hasn't found anything that he has taken an immediate objection to and is going to follow up this visit with a comparison with the original planning consent. However, he has asked for a further 2 week extension which is actually nearly 3 weeks so we are looking at the end of October for a decision. Why does everything take so long? 

Grand Designs Live

We didn't bump into Kevin or any of the other TV presenters although you would have thought they would have been at the door to meet and greet. I mean, how rude.  Anyway, armed with our free tickets (yes, I did say free - the subscription to Self Build and Design magazine has paid for itself with all the free tickets we have had), we headed into battle with the crowds. Our first mission was to make an appointment with an expert for a free 30 minute consultation. We saw David Bryden for project manager advice and he was excellent. He didn't spend the time trying to sell us his service, but listened to our story and gave some really useful advice. I hate it when the "expert" is obviously touting for work, and not really interested in what you have actually said. The window man we saw was really helpful too. We are pretty sure that the local supplier used by our builder is the same company so it was great to see and touch the windows. We were really surprised at how PVC windows could actually look like wooden windows. We were thinking that it was a bit of a shame that we would probably have to go for plastic windows to cut down on costs, but now we are not bothered about it, so that was another result for Grand Design Live.

We talked to solar pv people, biomass boiler people, sauna people (how I'd love a sauna), home cinema people and well, generally ended up with information overload. Most of the stands are sending more information so we will hit a deluge of email shortly. All in all, it was a very useful trip, although we didn't  have time (or energy) to look at kitchens or bathrooms.

Digging for gold

From this......

No, I meant digging for bricks. We still have no news on the planning decision so are continuing with clearing the site. This might imply that I have been doing the ground clearing but this would be a bit of an exaggeration, although I do get down and dirty on occasion! I usually provide support service such as lunch, trips to the tip and being in charge of domestic duties.

.......to this.

This week the focus has moved to the bonfire site which used to be the muck heap when the barns were a livery stable, and before that a general farm shed. This conclusion was reached in a 'time team' sort of way by the debris removed from the pile. Underneath all the nettles, ash and horse manure was the roof of the building, loads of concrete, assorted farm debris and a lot of bricks. The manure and ash have been dug out and piled at the bottom of the garden waiting for a time when we can build some raised vegetable beds. The rest of the pile was split into a giant heap of rubble, a smaller heap of bricks to recycle, and a selection of bins and trugs with assorted plastic bags, twine, engine parts, glass and rubber hoses. I had a go at cleaning up some of the bricks by hacking at the mortar with an old axe, and found that as the bricks got cleaner, I definitely got much dirtier. There's a load of them and I think  it will take me for ever.  Incidentally, this part of the building will eventually be the garage. Sometimes it's hard to remember why we are doing all this......

Burn baby burn

Still waiting for planning permission but in the meantime we are still clearing the way for building. It's been a two pronged attack with the ivy covered outbuildings having a 'haircut' and some of the self seeded trees removed from the front of the buildings. This made for a few days of back breaking work, mostly completed by others :), but I joined in with the burning part, allowing my inner pyromaniac to come out for a bit. You can see the progress below of the ivy removal

And now for the bonfire....

Summer residents are packing up to go

The barns have been a veritable nursery for birds this summer as they probably have been for all time. We had an ecological check earlier this year for bats and owls and fortunately the barns are far too draughty for bats! However, this will be the last summer that any birds will be nesting indoors  (hopefully!) so I thought I would try and photo some of the feathered activity. Our neighbours had said that swallows came every year and I was really fortunate with timing for one nest of swallows. The first nest fledged before I even found it as it is very unnerving to be inside a smallish room with swallows diving in at high speed, but the second one was in a different building and could be seen from the doorway. I set up the camera on a tripod with a remote shutter release (a birthday treat) and sat in the courtyard and waited. As soon as a parent bird flew into the barn I started snapping away and well, see the results.....