One of our planning conditions was for the NNDC to approve our choice of brick. Having seen them on a house built recently and our builder having put together a sample panel (bricks, coursed flint and whitish mortar with chalk bits) we applied for permission to use Bovingdon Berry Multi bricks. We asked the council planning department for a quick decision and received permission on Friday – a week after requesting permission. As we are having a brick plinth around the house the nice thing with these bricks is that we can get special plinth bricks to finish off the top of the plinth.
It has been really helpful to have the sample panel built as it gave us a very good idea of how things will look. The panel was built inside our old garage block hence the wall behind.
I just feel that the council planners could be more efficient when dealing with planning conditions such as brick choice. The NNDC Design Guide refers to the use of Red bricks but locally produced bricks are no longer available. It then states there are a number of suitable alternatives. If known, then why not publish them and state that you can use any brick on the list or if the brick you desire is not listed then you must ask for permission. It would save everyone time and effort. I understand that different bricks are suited to different areas but in today’s world it would be easy to manage any complexity by listing which bricks may be used in which areas, towns or villages. That’s where databases and websites come to the fore.
Nice panel. I like the flintwork. Good to see smaller flints being used.
Great site just pored my first footing today !!