Discharge of LBC Conditions

Over the last nine months I have had a lot of dealings with the District Council on planning matters.  I thought I would avoid a lot of hassle by appointing an architect, but he seems to have been surprised and annoyed by their attitude as well.  When the Council granted Listed Building Consent for the internal work I did not particularly like the look of the conditions, which said that I had to get their approval for all sorts of details before doing the work. This is done by submitting another application to discharge the conditions, and it seems that they can take almost as long discharging the conditions as giving the LBC in the first place!  I would have hoped that I simply had to tell them of the exact details, but it seems that they actually APPROVE fine detail like the EXACT type of woodburning stove, or the type of the extractor fan (vent?), even though they had pictures of "something like this" in the original application. Personally I think that they are exceeding their brief and making unnecessary work for themselves plus delay and stress for people like me.  What they don't seem to appreciate is that there are lead times on purchases and, for reclaimed materials, you must buy it when you find it, not wait for approval, so I have already bought or ordered a good number of expensive items in anticipation of approval.

I wouldn't really mind if they were consistent and operated to a set of clear rules.  As it is, those of us who try to play the game seem to be penalized by having to go with their timescales and capricious decisions; in contrary fashion, 200 yards away there is a sizeable development taking place on a listed pub in a conservation area, with scaffolding and hoarding on the busy pavement, and they have not even made any applications at all, let alone got approval - no planning permission, no Building Control and no LBC.  Why are they not being stopped forthwith?

Anyway, the good news is that we have just found out (via the planning website) that the application to discharge the conditions has now been "permitted" so at last we can do all everything in the LBC application submitted in January.  I am very glad about this as we have already done the door, ordered an expensive window, bought a woodburner and a decorative arch with mantel, and are about to complete laying the limestone flags in the kitchen on the limecrete floor.  It's nice to be legal...

To balance the equation, I have met a Building Control Officer who is most pragmatic, helpful and (frankly) non-threatening, giving advice on how to meet or interpret the rules.  I can work with this sort of person!