Tree Houses

[Mikey]

I've been looking into making a kind of tree house for my little girl, she has a very robust log cabin style wendy house but is starting to outgrow it height wise. So I've been planning on building a kind of shed on a platform. (I have a sketch, which I'll upload as soon as I find my cable)

As I start looking into it with a bit more detail, it would appear that since 2008 you've needed planning permission in order to build one. Has anyone come across this and the practicalities of doing so.

[Hazel at the Hill]

I think that you will, Mickey - according to this tree house building mob) but a quick phone call to your council planning dept will tell you for sure, and how much the application will cost, and if it is likely to be granted.

[Florence Fennel]

She's a lucky girl Mikey having a talented dad like you. I wish my dad could have built one for me. Mind you, we didn't even have the tree

[veggiechicken]

This article says PP only needed if more than 3m above ground or roof line 4m above ground.
How to build a tree house in your garden | News - Property News, News from the Countryside and Culture | Houses for sale, properties for sale - Country Life
I guess it depends on what you have in mind.
My treehouse is virtually at ground level on one side but not on the other side because of the slope of the garden.

[VirginVegGrower]

I'd love one, with a viewing platform around the other and a rope bridge between the two. I have the picture in my head. Sadly Mr VVG does not

[Hazel at the Hill]

This article says PP only needed if more than 3m above ground or roof line 4m above ground.

How to build a tree house in your garden | News - Property News, News from the Countryside and Culture | Houses for sale, properties for sale - Country Life
I guess it depends on what you have in mind.
My treehouse is virtually at ground level on one side but not on the other side because of the slope of the garden.

Ha! there's a good reason to check with your local planners! The article I found (with a quick google) says that planning is needed if the tree house is 300mm = 1 ft off the ground, not 3000mm = 3m = 10ft off the ground.

From the aforementioned web site:

Do I need planning permission?
Yes. Any platform or decking over 300mm will need planning permission

[cardiffsteve]

Theres a tree house going spare here..

BBC News - Rhuallt tree house gets planning refusal

[chris]

Ha! there's a good reason to check with your local planners! The article I found (with a quick google) says that planning is needed if the tree house is 300mm = 1 ft off the ground, not 3000mm = 3m = 10ft off the ground.

From the aforementioned web site:

uhoh - parts of my decking are over 1' high. I best back-rake the gravel

[veggiechicken]

Lots of chicken coops will be 1ft above ground!

[Feral007]

Different councils have different rules over here, so prob best to check with your own.

Another thing to consider about the height is how agile is your child, and how agile are her friends? My boys would shin up a slippery pole, and some of their friends the same, but have had some near misses with accidents when their friends were staying on the farm as they were not very savvy about farm safety. My daughter is very energetic and sporty, a lot of her friends are not. You don't want to be phoning parents to ask them to meet you in the emergency room, for xrays on a broken bone.

I liked the idea someone had there with a high and a low side to the house. That would cover the co ordinated and the unco ordinated

[Mikey]

mmmm.....It was my intention to jack it up off the rear wall of our garden (our wall is about a foot inside the boundary), under a huge eucalyptus tree. It won't actually be in a tree, it'll be a shed on stilts really.

I get the feeling that the council would probably reject it as at its peak its likely to be 3.9 metres off the ground, but you are only allowed 4 metres to the peek of a pitched roof.

[veggiechicken]

I think one of the issues is whether it compromises your neighbours' privacy?

[Mikey]

I can understand that VC, in fairness my neighbour has 2 boys both off in college now. A few years ago, one of them spent most of the summer up in his treehouse, as there was a slightly older neighbouring girl who liked to sunbathe in her garden. Boys eh.

I'm quite conscious that I wouldn't want it to overlook my neighbours and would put the verandah on the design facing into our garden. I quite like the idea of growing up, we don't use height enough in gardens. I don't include you in this VC, I think I'd get a nose bleed sat in your treehouse!!

[veggiechicken]

I quite like the idea of growing up, ................. I don't include you in this VC, I think I'd get a nose bleed sat in your treehouse!!

I'm never going to grow up, and I don't think you will either!
Will the height of the tree house intrude on your neighbour's outlook? Just trying to be Devil's Advocate here.......
To lower the overall height, could you rest it on the wall, rather than using supports? I guess you're trying to gain usable head room underneath it?
What about a lower level Tree house with roof and internal steps that lead out onto an open platform at a higher level? That should reduce the height.

[Mikey]

Growing up in that sense wasn't quite what I had in mind!!

To be fair the treehouse would be overshadowed by the eucalyptus by about 30 feet or so, so it shouldn't affect anyones outlook at all.

You are right I want the height so that its possible to stand below it, and so that I can also hang a swing beneath it. Our wall is about 1500 off the floor at present with the neighbours fence behind it more like 1800 of the floor. I hadn't considered putting the platform on the wall as it would overlook our neighbours garden which I didn't think would be fair. You can't see their house mind as they have a lot of trees between us and them.

You know what its like, get the planners out and if they say no its tough. Do it anyway and you need the neighbours to complain to get the council involved, and then you could still apply retrospectively for planning, this could all take quite some time with appeals and the such before you might be forced to take it down, by which time littleun maybe old enough not to want to play in it anyway!!! On the negative you fall out with the neighbours in the process.

Oh, I don't know, it's probably not worth all the hassle.