@Ekona
I reckon Dan is about right ... the midlands is a bit bigger though, say from Milton Keynes to Nottingham
... and by the way @brillomaster, it's everyone else that talks funny (sic), not we Northerners
Not from here but from work ... I'm almost 72 so thought it was time for a rest ... I'll probably do bits of design (construction) as long as I can but I don't enjoy the project management side of things nor the 9 to 5 anymore so it's time to go
Just noticed my old property is for sale with an asking price of £285,000.00 ... I moved in the day that Elvis died (1977) having spent a year building it with my own hands (did everything except the plastering and putting the roof tiles on) ... I built it for a total cost of £14K including the cost of the land (I had to sell the E-Type to pay some bills) and sold it 4 years later for £40K and bought the house I live in now for £32K which left enough money to buy a few toys including a 5 series BMW ...
How things change with time ...
As Lexx said for Planning Ebized is the local expert, and it's Ioneabe for Building Control and little old me for Structural and Architectural matters ...
Yes I'd consider an appeal too in which case I can put you in touch a colleague who will deal with this.