Planning

Having arrived and got settled in the next step was to determine how far the whole planning process had got. So on the first Saturday we went to the Mairie – it’s only open Tuesday and Saturday mornings for a couple of hours. There we had the good fortune to meet with the Maire himself and attempted to discover from him what stage our request for a Permis de Construire had got to.

He had reviewed it and passed it on to the next stage – the DDE in Lannemezan. As far as he was concerned it was all OK except for one detail which he described but I simply could not understand. We were rescued from the impasse by the arrival of a lady who also lives in the village – she’s French but has taught in England for a number of years and has an English husband. She resolved the matter which is that the Maire would like us to retain the wooden trellis work at the top of the barn wall facing on to the road. We indicated that this would not be a problem as far as we are concerned.

So far so good and we were feeling quite positive. But he then told us that it would be the end of August before the Permis could be granted. Further we absolutely must not touch the fabric of the building at all. Not even repairs can be contemplated. Everything has to be left strictly alone. This is most unwelcome news, not least as I had agreed with the roofer that he would start on the house in July.

So we paid a visit to said roofer and told him the sad news. He was quite sanguine about this alteration, having had experience in France, and therefore accepting it as ‘normal’. I also spoke with the architect who, by contrast, got very fired up. He stated that the Permis ought to come through in July at the latest if all was well with the submission and that of course we can carry out repairs, it is alterations we cannot undertake. He agreed to ‘phone the DDE and find out exactly what progress had been made. But when he ‘phoned the person dealing with the submission was on holiday and once again the process stretched out. I finally heard from the architect only after I arrived back in England that the submission is regarded as complete and that all being well the Permis will be granted as at the end of July.

Subsequently I’ve received a letter from the DDE repeating this message – that is that I have “autorisation tacite” as from the end of July. There is however, a but to this. In a subsequent paragraph which I cannot fully understand there is a statement that as there is a referral to an external body – this relates to the septic tank – it may be that planning might not be actually given. If therefore I proceed with the works it could be that I’ll have to undo them under what appear to be some severe penalties. Obviously I shall have to clarify this and will call on the services of number one son who studied French at university.

Despite these caveats I do feel that we have made some progress – the submission is not going to be referred back which would have put the whole process back to the beginning, i.e. another three months from a re-submission. So it could well be that I do achieve a roof on the house with walls repaired and the ground floor sorted out prior to the onset of the winter. We keep our fingers crossed on that score.