I'm not sure whether anyone out there can give me some advice. I'm guessing it'll start with - Go & see a Solicitor - but if I could have afforded that, I probably would have !
I live in an area which suffered severe flooding last year. My house was built 100 years ago - 50 yards from a minor 'ditch'. In the 1980's & 1990's the planners allowed development in between our house & the ditch on the flood-plain. Two massive 4 bed properties. The one nearest the ditch has a Planning Restriction not to build within 5m of the watercourse. The one between that & us has no restriction & there is a farm field entrance between their property & us - so - no Party Wall issues. The two houses were built with hollow 'beam & block' floors. When the ditch over-tops onto the flood plain the water is forced cross the field by the 'footprint' of the houses & our house goes under water.
The two house holders have two options. 1) fill in the floors which is expensive & disruptive to them 2) build flood defence walls ( if planning approved in the one case) - less expensive / disruptive to them - to deflect the water & 'hope' it doesn't go under & come up inside their floors - again. The deflection is inevitably going to have a catastrophic effect on us.
I've done some research & come up with Home Brewery PLC v William Davis & Co., ....it fit's our situation, but this only seems to be peritnant WHEN we've flooded, not before.
The Planning Authority state that the wall in the un-restricted property is "Permitted Development" irrespective of it's impact on us. I am fighting the case re. the Planning Application from the party nearest to the ditch via the E.A. & Planners.
I guess my query really is.....am I likely to be able to seek an injunction to restrict the building of the wall on the property with Permitted Development rights ? I know I'm the Bad Guy in this, but we're in the 'country' & my quaint 'little' house was here first by several decades & the impact of the houses is bad enough, never mind having to live next door to somewhere the Queen Mary could dock.