Calling all the heroes

One of the major things that has been going on in our lives is that in September 2010 we became involved in the mother of all planning wrangles. We planned to extended home when my mother in law moved in with us – sounds simple doesn’t it. Yeh we thought so too.

The struggle that ensued with the local Council however could only be described as one hell of a mud fight and although I wanted to jump into the ring and slog it out fight our corner my husband took a different tack. Singlehandedly he unleashed staggering levels of patience, resilience, insight, diplomacy and an amazing ability to absorb planning and policy law to a degree that now perfectly explain why he spent every waking hour in front of his computer. What ensued was our cloud with silver lining.

Despite incompetent  hesitant local Council Planner and a small number of obstructive concerned ‘nimby’ neighbours and ‘co-opted hangers on’ we finally got our planning permission. We now only require a building warrant.  (Note to husband – send more positive vibes to the local Council Department).

I’ll be honest. Despite all the wranglings there was never a time when we felt like throwing in the towel. Well we couldn’t really.  We had made a commitment to care for Peter’s Mum and so lack of space dictated that we really had to fight this.  However as far as the neighbours went this didn’t seem to figure in things.  The noise from Hewlett Packard printers going full bung in our neighbourhood churning out letters of objection was quite deafening. I understand that the paper trail on our application is now so huge that the Council are currently considering building another Archive Centre in Inverness. (Good luck chaps on getting the planning permission for that one then).

Yes I guess I do sound a tad bitter – however quite a few realisations took form as we inched through this process. For one it really made me question the role of public engagement in decision making processes.  OK there were lots of public objections to our application but the system, we quickly realised, really wasn’t geared up to deal with them, or us (and clearly didn’t).  It made me question whether it banks on people being too selfish, lazy or dare I say it stupid. Had we not been driven, aware and vocal enough then shocking inaccuracies would have been accepted as fact. Certainly the system gives a nod to engagement, but when they actually have to deal with said engagement you just become one of those ‘difficult’ people they want to go away a problem. The plus side to all of this is that it really was a ‘throw in the towel’ situation or ‘be prepared to turn into a superhero’.  My husband chose the latter – I just didn’t have time to make him the costume.

I'm gonna need more than just the Superhero Gloves!

So I guess we are now at the good bit; the stage of being able to think about the creative stuff. I love the creative bit and I’m focussing on this because that way I don’t have to think about the fact that walls need to be knocked down, leaving enormous holes, and stairs etc moved. I don’t have to think about the fact that the house will be full of workmen and that my husband will probably be working such long hours that he’ll be sleeping in his hard hat. Then take into account “Project Hair” and we could be looking at significantly more grey than I’d factored in. No I will not think of the disruption of building.

What I want to think about are things like this……

Who couldn't smile sliding down these stairs of a morning!

So although work hasn’t yet started I have begun to accept that, despite all that’s going on in my life, there will be a period of disruption development. However not only will this give us more space but we will also have a home that meets the needs of all of us.

Of course the other bonus of this is that I will also have a new kitchen space. I say ‘I’ because this is generally my area in the house.  Our kitchen is lovely but small – add the whole family crammed into the kitchen – then add two cats (sounds like a recipe doesn’t it) but let me tell you if you’re the gal trying to get the cooking done it’s enough to tip you over the edge make the task a bit more complicated.

So although the future holds upheaval I’m also looking forward to it. Do you think we should invite the neighbours in to see it when it’s finished?