Hi
We already have permission and have submitted a non material amendment once to add/subtract some windows and move the house slightly further back from original position, this was all approved by local authority.

Since applying for building regulations our building inspector decided that he wanted the whole house to have a domestic sprinkler system as it is away from the road and he deems it too far for a fire engine hose to reach. We reached an agreement with the building inspector that if we moved the garage towards the road and sideways it would allow room for a fire engine to pull straight up to the house and no need for the sprinkler system.

I initially phoned the planning department to discuss this and was advised by the planning officer in charge of our case that a non material amendment would be sufficient. However this planning officer left and a temporary planning officer was put in place and upon him visiting the site on another matter we took it upon ourselves to fully discuss with him the predicament we were in, what we wanted to do and the advice we had received from previous planning officer to which he replied we could ‘try’ a non material amendment.

So in went the non material amendment with exactly the adjustment we had proposed and £195 of our money and it has been rejected immediately on the ground that it isn’t a non material amendment.

Having contacted said planning officer immediately by email he has said he changed his mind and we will have to reapply for permission for the garage only if we want to move it.

We now find ourselves stuck between planning and building department neither who wants to back down or take any responsibility and each think they have more power and authority than the other

Question is should planning officer have given us that advice and let us waste our money and do we have any rights to it back? And how do we deal with a stalemate between the two departments?

Thanks