Planning Permission Challenges
Obtaining planning permission can sometimes be the most challenging obstacle to overcome on a building project with complicated national and local planning policies to navigate, neighbours and local Councillors to placate and Planning officials to negotiate with.
If this is going to be your first encounter with the planning system or its been a while since you last applied to the Council for planning permission, we will attempt to demystify the process for you and start with the background to why development control exists.
The roots of the Town and Country Planning System as it emerged in the immediate post-war years lay in concerns about industrialisation and urbanisation which had been largely unchecked in the previous half-century. The particular concerns were pollution, urban sprawl, and ribbon development.
As a result planning title was granted for all pre-existing uses and buildings by the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, which came into effect on 1 July 1948. Since that date any new "development" has required planning permission.
Although it can sometimes appear to be restrictive for householders and at other times very lenient to large scale development, the planning system aims to encourage positive change in our towns and villages while protecting the things that make local areas attractive. It also balances competing and often conflicting demands so as to make sure that land is used and developed in the community's long-term interest.
Over the years since it was created, the planning system has had to adapt and planning legislation has been amended to allow for modern concerns such as climate change and loss of habitats and ecology. This can only be viewed as a positive thing that will lead to healthier environments for us all to live and work in.
Only a handful of our clients manage to circumvent the planning process because their proposed extensions are small enough to be classed as ‘permitted development’ while the majority of our clients will require planning permission for their new build project.
The planning system relies on both policy and precedent and a successful application relies on a design solution that respects both and responds to the specific site. Therefore the first step for your architect during the early stages of a project will be to carry out research with respect to planning policies and history and establish whether more expert input will be required to support your application. Any small failures at this stage could result in costly consequences and potentially a refused application, hence reliable planning and design advice will be critical for success. Planning decisions can sometimes appear to be arbitrary and mostly will be based on ‘objective’ written national policies and local guidance, but they can also depend on ‘subjective’ unwritten policies within each planning department. This ‘grey ‘ area is where an application can either take advantage of the system to gain more than normally would be expected or it can fall foul of local considerations and be refused.
The more your proposed scheme challenges the planning system, the more risk there will be for a successful outcome. Your architect and/or planning consultant should be able to guide you through the process to ensure that your expectations for the project are achievable under the given planning constraints.
We always recommend our clients take advantage of the ‘pre-app’ enquiry service that most planning departments offer. Your architect will need to prepare a limited level of information, unlike a full planning application, and submit this to the planners for their formal feedback and advice. The planner’s response can then be used to either reinforce the ongoing detailed design or it can highlight issues that require re-design and reconsideration before submitting a full planning application. The ‘pre-app’ enquiry can therefore de-risk the planning process and save time and money.
Once you have positive feedback from the planners, or even negative feedback that you are willing to take on board and ask your architect to re-design, a full planning application can be prepared and submitted along with much more detailed drawings, images and statements.
Often an application will need to be supported by additional reports prepared by expert consultants. This could include inputs from a tree specialist, an ecologist, an archeologist, a highways consultant or a planning consultant.
Following your planning submission, the neighbours and other interested parties will be informed by the Council and invited to make comments which could be in support of your application and not only to object to it. Usually the planning case officer will make a decision, but sometimes, if the site is sensitive or there are more than a few objections, the application will need to be decided by the local Council’s Planning Committee.
If you have trusted your planning consultant or architect’s advice and followed the pre-app process the planning department should recommend an approval, however very occasionally there may be upsets especially if an application meets a lot of valid objection at planning committee.
If your planning application is refused this should not be seen in a completely negative light because accompanying the planner’s decision will be a detailed officer’s report that can be used as a resource to either mount a challenge by appeal (which can be a lengthy process) or, more often advised, to make changes to the proposed design and submit a fresh application that a addresses concerns coming from the planners or from other interested parties.
Once you’ve successfully gained planning approval, unfortunately the process is not quite complete until all planning conditions have been discharged. Often there will be conditions that are either subject to commencement of the build or will restrict final occupation until certain activities have been carried out.
Your architect or planning consultant can advise on these matters and may be able to assist with the discharge process.
If you’d like to talk to us about a project and you have concerns about obtaining planning permission please contact us at: info@koruarchitects.co.uk or call us on: 01273 204065
You can find the sixth chapter of our guide here: 'Choosing The Right Team'
