But when it comes to getting what they want, it seems some villagers in Mobberley are big on forward planning.
For the village at the end of Manchester Airport's second runway is among the worst places for planning cheats.
In this month's parish newsletter, villagers are warned to play by Macclesfield Borough Council's rules - or face the consequences.
"We are so fed up with people flouting the planning legislation that we have to take a fairly tough line," said Clr Jamie Macrae, parish council chairman.
"We are committed to supporting those who want to develop properly, but not at the expense of people who consistently fail to follow the rules."
At a recent meeting of Knutsford's planning committee, it emerged that the amount of unauthorised development in Mobberley had now become an increasing problem.
To combat the problem, villagers now seeking retrospective planning permission from borough councillors will face a hostile response from the parish council.
Mobberley is one of the largest parishes in England and its parish council deals with more than 100 planning applications every year.
An increasing number are retrospective planning applications, where a villager has already started - and sometimes completed - the work before getting the go-ahead. "How many retrospective buildings do you see knocked down?" said Clr Macrae.
"This is planning through the back door."
Parish councillors believe planning consultants could be partly to blame.
"There are an awful lot of people,clever people, giving advice on planning and they seem to be saying: 'Just try it on'," said Clr Barbara Cooper.
"We do feel that we have to try and do what we can now to stop this problem increasing in the future."
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