It will be 21 weeks on Thursday since I submitted a planning
application to make some changes to my house. It was once a village
post office, shop, petrol station and garage, and I believe a small
coach company operated from here until the 60s. My aim is to
reinstate the the original cottage (with some improvements) and get rid
of the various extensions that have accreted over time.

There seems to be a sticking point over my wish to extend my porch from
a 1x1.2 metre flat roofed box erected in about 1960 to one which is
less of a squeeze.

I believe the man from highways has objected to this as he "feels" that
the extra width will obstruct the view up the road from th driveway. As
far as I'm aware, if you take a point 2.4metres back from the
"carriageway" (which I assume is demarkated by the dashed white lines)
then so long as the changes make no difference on an unclassified road,
there should be no problem. As it happens, the proposed changes make no
difference as the sightlines (which are very good from that point) are
limited by neighbouring buildings. I have however been informed by the
planning officer that the measurement should be taken from the edge of
the "highway" boundary. This does make a difference as the highway
boundary is a bit closer to my house than the carriageway boundary. In
this case the new porch will be a limiting factor, but we are in the
order of centimetres difference.

I have asked for site visits, offered to redesign if necessary (which
will doubtless entail another consultation period). After 21weeks I'm
getting a tad impatient. It seems a lot is hanging on whether the
measurement should be from the "higway" or the "carriageway". Anyone
know?


LGF