Daily Mail Article

[Nigeyboy]

Just found this story on the Mail website - hope its not one of our own SGL members. 

[paulastro]

I should think if it was dark green he may have got away with it.  I wouldn't mind it overlooking my garden - as long as I was allowed to use it as well 😊.

[WanderingEye]

Yes, seems a bit harsh..

Mind you if I had one I would go for the green one.. 👍

[tooth_dr]

Typical dramatic daily mail, it's not a 12 ft high dome, 12 foot high in total.  I'm glad I dont have neighbours like that.

' Melvyn Thurlbourn put the 12ft high dome on top of his shed in  Cambridgeshire '

 

[Stu]

Why not paint it matt green?

[DaveS]

Should have gone through planning in the first place, as I did when I was first considering something similar, usually there is a pre-planning clinic to see if you're going to need planning.

But even so it looks like he's fallen foul of the sort of neighbour who just objects to everything. Needing sunglasses forsooth, pure tosh.

[Alan White]

I think because it is so close to the boundary line amongst other things that it falls foul.
Alsos sounds like the LA officer concerned is not Astronomy minded either.
The poor soul who owns the dome should have considered planning before building of course.
 

[Mr Spock]

A lesson to be learned about getting the proper permissions and having an acceptable build plan.

[WanderingEye]

And why when any things like this are reported in the press, do they call it astrology.... 😡😡 so annoying...

[Davey-T]

2 minutes ago, Mr Spock said:

A lesson to be learned about getting the proper permissions and having an acceptable build plan.

Yep, get planning permission and you can erect all sorts of eyesores and housing estates on the Green Belt 

Dave

[Nigeyboy]

Flamin busy body neighbour - while I agree a green dome would have been a little less obtrusive, I do feel some people have too much time on their hands and complain about pretty much anything and everything!!

[Hallingskies]

I wonder how many trivial copycat complaints this will spawn?  The Mail just loves spreading misery...

[carastro]

Poor devil.  the best thing he can do is covert it into a ROR as it was just the white dome that was the problem.

Looking at the photo of the dome from next door's garden, my own dome looks exactly the same view for next door and is a white Skyshed POD dome so not fibre glass.  I did not get permission to put it up as I was told by Altair Astro who sold it to me that you don't need planning permission for a POD because it is classed as a temporary structure apparently.

BUT as it is right up against next door's fence, I took the precaution of talking to the neighbours, and making a virtual picture of what it would look like.  Their reply was, "Well every-one has their hobbies, but we appreciate you asking us first".

So hopefully even if they move and new people come there with it already being there, it will be OK.  It's been there since 2010. 

Carole 

[Dave Lloyd]

If the Sun glare is objectionable it's expected someone would complain. I don't think though these complaints are all handled in the same way. I've read about peoples complaints about glare from rooftop solar panels which are ignored.

[JamesF]

Our dealings with the planning people over our barn conversion have left me with very little respect for them, I have to say.  They have often been wilfully unpleasant, inconsistent and unhelpful and whilst I hesitate to call them deceitful I am unable to find another explanation that fits the facts.  Given that I'm contributing to their wages through my council tax, paying them to make the planning application and paying them (probably multiple times) to discharge the conditions they set on the grant of consent their utterly negative attitude is quite galling.  So, I'm quite prepared to believe the ignorant attitude of the planning department in this instance.

That said, what the chap in question constructed does appear to contravene the planning regulations in that it's too high for a structure that close to his boundary to qualify as permitted development.  These things can happen as genuine mistakes however, and I think an honest offer to put things right (as appears to have been made) should be ample to resolve this case.

Though it may be the intent of the Daily Fail, the complainant comes across as a prize pillock.  I wonder if there isn't some previous "bad blood" there of which this is merely the latest instalment.

James

[JamesF]

30 minutes ago, carastro said:

Looking at the photo of the dome from next door's garden, my own dome looks exactly the same view for next door and is a white Skyshed POD dome so not fibre glass.  I did not get permission to put it up as I was told by Altair Astro who sold it to me that you don't need planning permission for a POD because it is classed as a temporary structure apparently.

It's entirely possible that was true at the time, but I don't believe it is now.  Applicants, planners and the courts seem to have argued over the meaning of "temporary" quite regularly and last time I looked into it I think case law was that any structure in place for more than four weeks need not be considered temporary merely because it could be moved or removed without trace, for example.

James

[carastro]

If the council complain about the POD I will sell it and replace it with a ROR.  But so long as no one complains I will leave it as it is as rather too much faff to change it unless I have to.  

Carole 

[barkis]

When I built my domed Obs. Years ago, it was visible to surrounding dwellings. It's final dome material was 16 guage galvanised metal. A poor choice rely, as it was a trifle too heavy, although easy to rotate by hand on it's support ring. It was 12ft in diameter, sat on a square brick walled construction. It did reflect Sunlight too, but all I ever Got from folks were Questions of curiosity. An explanation of what it was for, met with only question like, how far can you see in there,?  A number were invited to call anytime the skies were suitable for observations. They always left  with that sense of wonder after seeing star clusters, the moon and planets whenever they were accessible.   Eventually, a local radio lady arrived one night, asking for an opportunity to see what telescopic viewing of the night sky was like. Fortunately, that night was a particularly good one, and M42 was almost on the local meridian. The sight through my 12"f6 Newt. brought gasps of amazement from her..  She left after some other gems fed her eyes. 

She did give an account of her visit on local radio about a week later.

I never received one complaint regarding the Obs. though, I took the dome down eventually, and transformed it into a ROR Obs. With a warm room.  It certainly wasn't as attractive looking as the OP's dome, so it's a shame that one malcontent had to complain. Seems a rather petty attitude to me. I just hope it doesn't destroy his enthusiasm.

Ron.

PS.   Whilst dismantling the dome superstructure, I almost cut my left arm off with an angle grinder I was using to cut through the metalwork.   Fortunately, the grinder was running down as I had released the switch.  However, it caught the inside of my left forearm, and ploughed a 6" furrow into the flesh of my arm.  The scar is there for life.  A quick visit to A & E started the repair of the damage. Several Iodine soaked dressings did a good job on it.  To be sure, those rotary machines can wreak havoc if you drop your guard.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Davey-T]

Perhaps he could paint it with camouflage paint 

Dave

[tomato]

30 minutes ago, carastro said:

If the council complain about the POD I will sell it and replace it with a ROR.  But so long as no one complains I will leave it as it is as rather too much faff to change it unless I have to.  

Carole 

+1 for this approach, if my newly erected (Matt green, thanks to rain spoiling the paint job) dome gets objections, a ROR will be duly constructed and the dome will go on the classifieds.

And if they don’t like that, I’ll go back to setting up and taking down (with unnecessary noise)  in my backyard.

[Alien 13]

Never understood why a homeowner has the right to complain about what a neighbor is doing, if he wanted to build a 50 story block of flats on his property that would be fine with me...............

Alan

[DaveS]

But you don't need planning permission to floodlight your, and everybody elses, garden like Wembley Stadium

[Chris]

35 minutes ago, barkis said:

When I built my domed Obs. Years ago, it was visible to surrounding dwellings. It's final dome material was 16 guage galvanised metal. A poor choice rely, as it was a trifle too heavy, although easy to rotate by hand on it's support ring. It was 12ft in diameter, sat on a square brick walled construction. It did reflect Sunlight too, but all I ever Got from folks were Questions of curiosity. An explanation of what it was for, met with only question like, how far can you see in there,?  A number were invited to call anytime the skies were suitable for observations. They always left  with that sense of wonder after seeing star clusters, the moon and planets whenever they were accessible.   Eventually, a local radio lady arrived one night, asking for an opportunity to see what telescopic viewing of the night sky was like. Fortunately, that night was a particularly good one, and M42 was almost on the local meridian. The sight through my 12"f6 Newt. brought gasps of amazement from her..  She left after some other gems fed her eyes. 

She did give an account of her visit on local radio about a week later.

I never received one complaint regarding the Obs. though, I took the dome down eventually, and transformed it into a ROR Obs. With a warm room.  It certainly wasn't as attractive looking as the OP's dome, so it's a shame that one malcontent had to complain. Seems a rather petty attitude to me. I just hope it doesn't destroy his enthusiasm.

Ron.

PS.   Whilst dismantling the dome superstructure, I almost cut my left arm off with an angle grinder I was using to cut through the metalwork.   Fortunately, the grinder was running down as I had released the switch.  However, it caught the inside of my left forearm, and ploughed a 6" furrow into the flesh of my arm.  The scar is there for life.  A quick visit to A & E started the repair of the damage. Several Iodine soaked dressings did a good job on it.  To be sure, those rotary machines can wreak havoc if you drop your guard.

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazement and terror all in one post! 

[JamesF]

49 minutes ago, carastro said:

If the council complain about the POD I will sell it and replace it with a ROR.  But so long as no one complains I will leave it as it is as rather too much faff to change it unless I have to. 

I think in your case it may not even be an issue, Carole.  There is some sort of time limit on these things as far as I recall.

James

[carastro]

Yes I wondered about that but didn't know how to word it.  

Carole