Pattiesmuir Poppyfields Blog

The One with the NMVs

Wed, 19 Apr 2023 15:47:45 GMT

19 April 2023

Readers of the History section of this blog (“There Was Once a Hamlet”) will know that, after a to and fro of communication with Fife Planning Department, the planning application submitted by Broomhall Estate for 8 dwellings was approved at the Fife’s West Area Planning Committee meeting on the 29 ^th June 2017.

There are three plots of land associated with the development and, as Pattiesmuir is designated a conservation area, the design, materials, and scale of the buildings are required to comply with the relevant policies of the Dunfermline and West Fife Local Plan. Broomhall Estate had been granted planning permission for cottage style dwellings to be built with the traditional features of the roadside cottages in the Conservation village. (All illustrations reproduced with permission.)

Plot A, in particular, has three dwellings side by side along the length of the street.

The drawings indicated a ridge height of 5.9m, wooden sash and case windows, conservation rooflights and clay roof pantiles.

You may be wondering why, then, the illustrations on the recently removed advertising signage looked like this:

The reason is that Fife Planning staff have approved a series of Non-Material Variations – or NMVs for short.

What is a Non-Material Variation?

Handily Fife Council publishes an explanation on the Fife.gov.uk website. Just follow the NMV Explained button at the bottom of this blog.

Once planning permission has been granted, there can be instances where the proposed approved scheme may require to be amended by the applicant for any number of practical or design reasons. Section 64 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 allows a Planning Authority to “vary any planning permissions granted by them, if it appears to them that the variation sought is not material”. Such variations if minor in nature can be dealt with by submitting a request for a non-material variation (NMV). A non-material variation essentially means that the amendments proposed will not significantly change the scheme that was originally granted planning permission. Alterations that qualify as a non material variation are therefore by definition minor changes.

Of course, if a number of NMVs are submitted it is likely that the variation between the original plans and the final NMV is very much “material”.

The community reviewed these NMVs and found the following:

The drawings associated with the original June 2017 approval for plots 1, 2 and 3 indicate a ridge height of 5.9m .
NMV3, which was approved by Fife Council on 18/10/21, sought to increase the ridge height of Plots 4,5 & 6 by 400mm from 6.5m to 6.9m .
This new 6.9m ridge height seems to have been adopted for all plots, despite not having been subject to any application or review for plots 1, 2 and 3
NMV4, which was approved on 20/06/22, sought a 300mm increase in eaves height for all plots. An increase in ridge height was not requested, but this 300mm appears to have been added to the ridge height too, resulting in a new ridge height for all plots of 7.2m .
It is suspected that this point has been missed by the Fife Council Planning Team, as it wasn’t specifically mentioned in the NMV request; there is a small dimension line shown on the drawings, which would be easy to miss.

Most of the existing buildings of our historic hamlet have significantly lower roof heights than the development now proposed. The ridge heights range from 4.2m to 5.0m . These compare with the ridge height of 7.2m now being implemented for the development.

In addition:

The variations have changed the dwellings from “cottages” to houses which are modern and bland.
Most of the “Conservation Area” features have been removed, presumably to make them easier and cheaper to build and to increase the sale price.
These two-storey, slab sided houses are out of character with the historical nature of our hamlet.

To view the “visualisations” submitted to Fife Planning follow the NMV Visualisations link at the bottom of this blog and look at the last 11 documents on the list:

The response from Fife Planning Department

When the community challenged Fife Planning Department directly on the NMVs concerning ridge height and building appearance the response was:

“My judgement has been that the non-material variation applications that have been determined do not substantially change the description of the proposal and are acceptable for the reasons set out in each Report of Handling”

and that

“The recommendation to approve the NMVs has been counter signed by a Service Manager and they have agreed with the recommendation for approval” .

In essence then the representation made directly to the Planning Team was rejected on the basis that their recommendation had been approved by the ‘Service Manager’.

One has to ask: "Were the Planning Team’s original review of the NMVs, and our complaint given full and proper consideration?"

The community then took the remaining option open to them and submitted a Corporate Complaint to Fife Council.

A detailed review covering many of the community's other concerns included the conclusion by Fife Planning that:

"Whilst it was reasonable that two of the NMV submitted could be considered non-material variations in the context of the original development, Fife Planning agreed that the extent of cumulative changes approved through a further 3 NMV applications could not be considered non-material and that it was not reasonable to have approved them."

And what, you may well ask, were Fife Planning Department going to do about that?

“As a result of my findings a training session will be held with officers who determine NMV applications to ensure that the parameters and considerations as set out in the NMV guidance are applied consistently”

So that's alright then!

Beware the Telephoto Lens

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 15:02:06 GMT

29 November 2022

A fortnight from Abbey Forth Property Management's first Facebook post passes and they post a photo.

I have recreated the shot above:

Looks lovely doesn’t it – rolling hills in the background, lush pasture in the foreground even if the neighbours seem a bit close.

BUT , if you swing around to the right you get this lovely view with Camdean, the Business Park and Masterton in the background. A little less of the “rural idyll” ...............

If you take a photo from the other side of the A985 of course, you are likely to spoil the shot with the traffic but you do capture the grain dryers on Blackhall Farm.

The problem with all these shots is that they are taken with a telephoto lens and (just as a wide-angle lens distorts reality making small rooms look enormous) a telephoto lens makes near and distant objects seem closer together and more similar in size than they appear in real life.

The reality is that “Poppyfields” Pattiesmuir is:

Just short of 1 kilometer from the line of trees on the ridge in the first photo.
800m from the grain dryers in the farm.
750m from Camdean Estate
160m to the traffic on the A985
and just 15m to the neighbour’s front door

Whoops! We didn’t know that was there. Part II.

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 14:33:17 GMT

27 July 2022

27 ^th July 2022

Today, we’re told, they are going to be digging the pond.

The “pond” is the attenuation pond for surface/rainwater. It will be planted with reeds to absorb the water and allow it to evaporate rather than go directly to the burn.

A neighbour tells me that while excavating the pond behind his house they uncovered a pipe coming from his house towards Brankholm Burn – the contractor “thinks” it is a water pipe (it’s actually from his septic tank) and informs my neighbour by saying he would likely be in trouble with SEPA!!

Inspecting his pipe on the 12 ^th August he noticed the “pond” had a surprising amount of water in it considering it had been such a dry summer.

A visit from SEPA on the 22 ^nd August reports that basin is unstable, slipping and a danger to our neighbour’s pipe. He has also had it confirmed that the hole has been dug in the wrong place!

An update from my neighbour in November – he still doesn’t know what is going to be done about it.

11 ^th January 2023

At last – the hole is filled in.

Whoops! We didn’t know that was there. Part l.

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 14:18:44 GMT

18 July 2022

18 ^th July 2022

And so it begins!

9 am: Large excavator enters the site from the farm track.

11.30 am: Scraping of the site has commenced. But, hang on, there is no Heras fencing around the plot. Our friend (a building site Health and Safety (H & S) consultant) assured us that they have to have the site secured by fencing before any work with an excavator, even just levelling or rubble removal work. Here is the reason why:

12.35: The digger “finds” a Live cable. High voltage. Fully exposed. No safety apparatus. Scottish Power en route. Neighbour’s son says it’s sparking about on the ground – and they started without the plans!!!

15.30: Official notification - IMPORTANT POWER CUT INFORMATION

Your power cut was caused by a blown fuse after 3rd party damage to an underground cable fault. As this was an emergency, we could not notify you in advance.

As you may be aware this did not affect every property in the local area, some of your neighbours may not have been impacted. However, those that were impacted are supplied from the Pattiesmuir Village substation.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused. If your power is not back on please follow the advice at this link (https://bit.ly/38zvSnV) to check your trip switches before calling us on 105.

Contractor told a neighbour he had suggested waiting and delaying a couple of weeks until plans were through - but was told no.

The moral of this story is: if there is a ground survey wait until it is to hand before you start digging. If there isn’t a survey, get one done!

What Estate Agents Say ......... and What they Actually Mean

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 14:56:57 GMT

13th November 2022

This week has seen the much anticipated “launch” of Poppyfields (that were) at Pattiesmuir. With great fanfare (well, two clapping hand emojis) Abbey Forth Sale and Lettings popped a post onto their Facebook page. Reading it through I was reminded of those lists of what estate agents say and what they mean. I am indebted to Jennifer Ebert on the Ideal Home website for some of what follows – the rest are from my own observations.

1. Estate agents say: Easy access to local shops, public transport and motorway links

They mean: Wear ear plugs at all times

You may need those ear plugs – the busy A985 is about 160m from the back fence. There will be a lovely view of the traffic from the Juliet balcony in the master bedroom.

2. Estate agents say: Enclosed rear garden, which is not overlooked

They mean: This house is on wasteland

Plots 7 and 8 are tacked on to the end the hamlet up a narrow dirt track that has to be made up to adoptable standard before anyone can move in.

The view to the north will be the back of a garage or the rather unattractive and misnamed “White Lodge”.

The view to the south is the afore mentioned A985, the view to the east across scrubland towards the deceptively named “Hilton Garden City”, the view to the west obstructed by a neighbour’s garden fence.

The brochure says “a stunning family home in an idyllic rural setting” – I beg to differ on so many levels!

3. Estate agents say: Deceptively spacious

Or in this case “generously proportioned”. A confusing claim: the land was originally planned for a maximum of four properties where there are now to be eight.

I think you can guess how generously proportioned they will be.

4. “Poppyfields is designed to respect the local conservation area whilst reflecting the rural surroundings”.

However, the houses bear no resemblance to the existing historic cottages. Respect will be difficult to achieve with a ridge height nearly 2m higher and an absence of the conservation areas’ character features. Not to mention that much of the rural surroundings have just been destroyed to clear the ground for this development!

5. Estate agents say: Realistically priced

They mean: Astronomically expensive

Well, no, neither phrase appears in the brochure but at £640,000 – someone is having a laugh!

The omissions:

What the brochure doesn’t mention is shared responsibility for:

The maintenance of the foul sewage treatment plant and the SUDS scheme

The road should the council choose not to adopt it.

Oh, and there’s no mention of

The neighbour’s septic tank!

Beware - Inconsiderate Truck Drivers on Farm Track

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 14:33:01 GMT

31st October 2022

Lunchtime 31 ^st October 2022 and my neighbour comes to our door shaken and distressed. It seems she was walking back from Rosyth along the farm track when she was aware of a large vehicle behind her. Looking round she could see it was a delivery truck taking up the whole width of the track. She put up her hand acknowledging the truck and asking for time to walk to where she could safely step to one side. It didn’t work – the truck kept going and she was forced into the hedge to let it pass.

I was quite cross (a bit of an understatement!) and went along to politely ask the driver what the heck he thought he was doing. He didn’t deny it – he thought my neighbour hadn’t heard him and was expecting her to get out of the way. He didn’t want to stop because he was worried about getting stuck in the mud – apparently more important than a pedestrian’s safety.

My neighbour has reported the incident to the police via 101 and I’m pleased to report the call handler took the incident very seriously and she has received a call back from a sympathetic policeman.

The next day a villager reported lots of new signs, and not before time! It is a pity it took an incident for anything to be done about it and it’s a pity the warning is for pedestrians to beware rather than a warning to construction traffic to be careful. Any number of warning notices will not make it safer for walkers.

The Wise Words of Experience

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 13:49:35 GMT

23rd October 2022

An experienced local builder/developer was recently asked why he had not bought the plots at Pattiesmuir when they were for sale. His response is as follows:

“That one would have been a nightmare logistically…… things spread over a few areas, biotreatment plant being away from the other houses meant running drains a fair distance. Couple that with likely endless complaints from residents etc. it would have to have been cheap to wear all the grief that’d come with it”.

He might have added – and then there is the road, a long stretch needing to be brought up to adoptable standard but too narrow to be adopted and uncertainty over ownership. Overhead electricity cables from telegraph poles on residents’ property. Negotiations required on access to neighbours’ septic tank etc. etc.

He continued “Oh aye, that job had heartache written all over it”.

I think our developer will be feeling the truth in those words. There is no substitute for experience when it comes to buying land and developing property.