The wait continues...Part 6 of Liz Hutton's journey to restore a derelict chapel in Wales

I have had countless opportunities to think my boss and TW Managing Partner Vikki Herbert is one of the best people I’ve ever worked for. That is until she suggested, almost a year ago to the day, that I write a blog charting the progress of our Chapel renovation. ‘People will be interested’ she said, and in fairness it felt like a great opportunity to engage with some LinkedIn contacts. Six months in she told me: ‘it’s good for our clients to see the planning struggles you’re having and how long these things really take’. I made some vaguely disgruntled noises, but tapped away intent on being the Carrie Bradshaw/ Sarah Beeny crossover I’ve always aimed for and confident that planning would be swiftly granted. 12 months later and I hid under my desk to try and avoid the reality of being asked for my latest blog post and telling everyone we are STILL waiting on planning permission. I’m very much hoping there is a modicum of interest remaining from my network. If anyone is still following along (hi Mum!), we remain hopeful of an Easter planning miracle so we can get started with the conversion and renovation works.

By way of brief background, the initial expected planning deadline has long since expired. After some chasing, we have been approached by the planning authority with a request for an ‘extension’ until mid-April. It is usual that if your planning authority does not ask you for an extension and the permission is later refused, you have a reasonable case to claim back your application fee. It’s hard to understand what real utility there is in battling over extensions of time, as much as it might feel like there is scope for fighting back by not granting the extension. I said to the planning officer this week (who very kindly takes my calls), that I’d much sooner they just make every effort to attend to pushing the process forward than arguing with me over application fees and bureaucratic intricacies.

It’s a hard balance to strike between respecting the process that exists to protect us all from unscrupulous developers or those intent on demolishing assets of historical value, and feeling an entitlement to want to proceed because we know we’ll do the build with the care and attention the Chapel deserves. Of course it’s not realistic for everyone to be taken at their word, and that is why stringent planning regulation and conditions have to exist and we have to wait our turn as matters get decided. As far as possible, we continue to stay positive and hopeful that it will all be worth it in the end. 

More Chapel updates to come in due course. If you would like to follow along, please do so on Instagram@crickhowellchapel.

Read parts one, two, three, four and five of my journey.