ANOTHER COUNCIL RANT!

Here is a photo of my house. The brown building you can barely see on the right is my very old, falling-to-pieces garage. We assumed when we bought this house that replacing this old garage with a new model the same size would be a breeze. But of course I should have factored in East Renfrewshire council's policy of making as much money as possible doing very little or preferably nothing. First of all I was surprised to hear I needed planning permission at all given the starting point is a house with a 10ft by 18ft garage and the end point is also a house with a 10ft by 18ft garage in exactly the same position - simply of a better quality - surely the council would prefer people to look after their buildings thus keeping the price of property high by maintaining its desirability? So I need planning permission and the price of them rubber-stamping something that I am told they won't even look at is £145... or so I thought. When the council looked at the map, they discovered we were not midway up the street but on the corner with a neighbour on just one side. Why does that make a difference you may ask. Well according to the money-grabbing, anything-for-an-easy-buck council, if I have open land on one side rather than a neighbour who can be notified of the change of one garage for another, they need to put a public advert in the local paper so people can complain if they so desire, and the cost of that ad is supposedly an extra £95. So to replace a garage with a garage costs an absurd £240 before you even look at building a garage! Daylight robbery!