Well, it appears that the most frustrating rule on our council is that we need planning permission if it is to go closer than 2 metres to the boundary. So, that in itself appears to be enough to mean that permission will be necessary.

Our train of thought was that if we can get to the stage of having the plans all done, then getting someone round with a mini-digger to dig the foundations isn't hard and it will be useful in planning the rest of the garden, being able to see how it all fits in. Coupled with the fact that whatever comes out of the garage footings, will be used to fill the air-raid shelter that we have and it would be nice to get that done too fairly soon.

So thats why I'm curious about getting it that far. The big costs start when we buy large quantities of bricks/blocks and need a builder to lay them, am I right? I know it's not the conventional approach, but compared to just sitting there and waiting until we have the money to do the whole job, we thought we could make a start. There are other preparatory things we can get done that way too, things that rely on the garage being started.

markk - You sound so positive!! LOL.