Airfield Planning Permission

[Kingdom]

Ladies & Gents,
This is my first time posting on this forum so I'm not sure if there will be anyone out there with answers to my request !

I fly a 2 seat Blade 582 2 stroke born in 2002 and earlier this year I purchased a 9.5 acre. Unfortunately out of all my neighbours there was one ‘Serial Objector’ who reported me to the local planning department before I even got to fly out of the field and I was forced to apply for planning permission. Having applied for permission to use the field for the ‘private flying’ of my aircraft and my ‘Serial Objector’ neighbour making a whole series of false statements about my intended ‘real’ purpose – e.g. she claimed that I was proposing to setup a commercial enterprise, the Planner has come back with a heap of further questions which would make you think that I was setting up a Regional Airport !!!
As some of the questions are very technical I was wondering if there are any Previous Planning Answer Examples from which I could copy or draw information from?

E.g.
In Point 2, I’m asked to "provide maps indicating the airfield traffic pattern (approach & take off zones in all wind directions). The map should cover a distance of 2 Km out from the edge of the proposed airfield and should indicate zones or arcs of noise and visual impact beneath the patterns. The Criteria fro calculating the impact zones should be provided".

In Point 3, I’m asked to provide "Scaled cross-section drawings indicating the airfield traffic pattern (approach & take off) in terms of altitude and flying angle. The map should cover a distance of 500m out from the edge of the proposed airfield".

If you don't know the answers to those questions but know someone who would, I would be grateful if you could put me in contact with them.

Thank you,
James

[Trevor Harvey]

I can't answer your questions as such but I would be inclined to contact the planning department and ask them to make a site visit at a time to suit them, to explain your intended operations. If you only reply to their demands they may think you are trying to hide something.
Perhaps a photograph from the overhead with circuit patterns drawn in with approx heights added might help.
Attack being the best form of defence and all that

[RichardMaxted]

Send them your circuit diagram.

Under any noise regs that they care to quote your aircraft will simply not register at normal circuit height. Therefore you do not have a zone of noise. The same would apply to visual intrusion.

You may also ask them to quantify both their requirements for noise and visual intrusion and to specify the manner in which you would be able to reach compliance with any measuring metric they require.

Councils are not allowed to ask for unspecific information as that allows them to move goalposts. They must provide you with that part of the planning guidance they are using to determine that a determination of these impacts is required. Don't forget that they cannot use normal environmental regulations as airfields and flying are exempt from these under the ANO. The CAA are the regulators for aircraft noise not the council.

Get in touch with the CAA, they are pretty good at providing back up information.

Above all remember that all regulators have a duty of proportionality and getting the local MP involved early by a question about the authority over reaching themselves puts down a marker in the MP mind that this may blow up into something big.

[ChampChump]

Over on the Flyer forum, there are a couple of long threads on the subject from a very determined chap who is battling some minor, but troublesome issues. 'Proposed Air Strip' leads you to one of them. It's definitely worth a read.

[Adrian Hatton]

I secured full planning for change of use on our strip in 2013 without any problems or objections.

Please feel free to give me a call on zero seven 885460270 anytime if you fancy a chat about how we made it work here.

Adrian

[John Price]

Hi James,

Don't forget the 28 day rule.

As I remember!

Providing that you don't change the primary use of the field. ie if its a grass paddock it has to stay a grass paddock.
You can operate out of the field for 28 days in any calendar year without planning permission or restriction.
These can be in one block or split up into, say, one day every two weeks etc.
Thus, depending on how much you fly, you may not need planning permission at all.
The Flying Farmers Association are a good source of information for all this sort of stuff.

There was an article in the technical press, about this some time back.

Google '28 day rule airstrips' and there's a lot of info available.

John.

[rogcal]

and when you finally do get your planning permission expect a letter from either the Valuation Office Agency (VOR) or the Local Authorities Non-domestic rate (NDR) team.

I escaped a revaluation of my domestic property when the strip and hangar were approved but they are now after me for business rates even though I run no kind of business.

It appears there is legislation that allows the LA to pursue you for business rates even when no commercial use is being made of the strip or hangar.

Good luck.

p.s. go for the 28 day rule and keep a good log of all you're movements and use that to counter any claims of nuisance made by the objector. All it takes is for the majority of your movements not to coincide with the objectors log/complaints and you've got them by the short and curlies.

[mbarnard]

The 28 day advice is sound - I have operated a strip on that basis for 13 years now, but have been blessed with the good fortune of no adverse neighbour comment. For the reasons stated by others I'd stay away from obtaining a Certificate of Lawful Use due to the risk of rating. Could you invite your neighbour for a flight to help smooth the waters?
On the noise issue, you might consider the approach taken by HS2 who have produced noise maps based on time-weighted exposure and which appear to lessen the noise impact of a passing high speed express train. The point is that even if you were to operate for say 40 days a year, and do a single departure and approach each time, the time-weighted footprint at your neighbour's property of a max 1 minute take-off and climb-out to 500 AGL at full power and a 1 minute approach at low power setting would hardly make a jot of difference over the ambient noise level whether weighted over a whole day (the noise effect on the day of the flight) or over say 9 days (the average period between flights).
The reason I refer to 500 AGL is this is the height all aircraft are permitted to operate under the ANO without (outside of regulated airspace) restriction.
Hope helpful!

[rogcal]

An update on the subject of being rated for business rates.

They (the Valuation Office Agency) have advised me that they do not intend to take the matter any further and will advise the Non Domestic Rates department of the District Council accordingly.

The reason stated was that my hangar is of a simple construction i.e. dirt floor, open on one side, no services connected (an extension lead from the house suffices).

[r_w_walker]

Hi ,
I am the chap with the long threads on the Flyer forums. I have posts on here as well.
I am now in the process of waiting for the planning inspector to set a date for another hearing for my fourth appeal.

So far I have commissioned, a noise report, an archaeological report, and two bird reports.

The only reason outstanding for refusal is on the grounds that I might disturb protected bird species.

Three previous planning inspectors have ruled out all other grounds for refusal, noise, pollution, archeology etc,etc.

The planning authority can not prove any bird species will be affected.

Unfortunately I can not prove they will not be affected.

At the hearing my ecologist and their ecologist will be answering questions from the planning inspector.

Outcome will depend on the inspectors judgement.

I will be posting the result on these forums and on the Flyer forum.

Bob. http://www.southmoorfarm.co.uk