The new process for obtaining advice regarding an application is to now submit a Pre Enquiry Application Form, the timescale is 6-8 weeks and the fee is £54.

The drawings do not need to be done by an architect at this stage, they can be sketches drawn by yourselves, providing you advise of the dimensions, you can by all means submit more than one idea and label them in order of preference.

A request can be made on the application for the case officer to visit the site, however this is purely at the discretion of the case officer.

The form can be found on our website.'

It is the phrase 'purely at the discretion of the case officer' that is a worry. I will reserve judgement and see what happens.

If I could build a 'grand design' I would but money and time are not on my side. Huff Houses are fantastic but too expensive and, although, there are 2 just about to be built in a very protected area of Polzeath in Cornwall, I very much doubt Harrogate council is ready for such a great design.

I really like the designs from the rural office for architecture

Here is a great project they did that has had praise from various media publications

The cost of the build is £80 thousand and is quite cheap to run, it is called New Barn, Pantybara

Going back to the £41 thousand affordable 'Barnhaus' I emailed the winning architect, Ed Green from the Pentan Partnership, who stated that in AONB areas can struggle with houses that don't fit in.

That must be why all the houses look so boring in Nidderdale. I can pick a handful that are stand out, just a handful.

He replied;

'Your main challenge is in relation to the AONB status of the area

Generally a project needs to be either for someone ‘working’ the land or exceptional in quality in order to gain approval within an AONB. However, as you noted, national planning policy has changed over the last 18months, and local authorities are now required to allocate land for self-build in particular, giving you a bit more wriggle room'

I really love the house below called 'Hoo House'

As Kevin McCloud described it so expressively;

'If you want a template for a modern three-bedroomed chalet house then this is it. 

It was affordable, imaginative and inventive without being capricious. It was designed by Jerry Tate, who had a lot to do with the Eden Project. He takes a pragmatic approach with builds and is focused on an ergonomic use of space. If only the majority of building projects costing three or four times more than this across the country displayed an ounce of the invention this did you could feel more positive about the future'

It is spacious and delightful inside and the outside roof slopes are genius in their execution