Rejected... Not Dejected

The news I've been hesitating to post about is that, just before Christmas, our latest planning application was rejected. The grounds were simple - the new house would 'dominate' the barn, and will be 'detrimentally prominent' in the landscape. They're points that we dispute, particularly as the design has gone through a number of revisions to fit in with the constraints imposed by the Planning and Conservation departments and the Environment Agency. It's hard not to feel that they'd much rather we didn't live here at all. Certainly it's difficult to imagine any design that would fit all of the demands of the powers that be without being a messy compromise. Is that what informs architecture in the UK?

So now we'll go through our plans and decide if the reasons for our choice of design are sound and defensible. If they are, we'll appeal. Regardless, we'll do what we can to take on board the constraints we face and see if a useful alternative design can be reached.

Watch this space.