Applying for planning
It’s time to pull your planning application together and submit your proposal. But what happens once you’ve clicked submit? Planning consultant Ken Dijksman sets out the process step-by-step
The first part of this beginner’s guide to planning [in last month’s magazine] looked in detail at understanding the planning system and the different types of planning applications. I explained how, before entering into the process, it’s vital to try and make sense of how it all works, as well as making sure the right application is chosen that best suits your project.
Once you have chosen your designer, and have begun formulating ideas as to how you want your extension or self-build to look and function, the next step is to work out what surveys you might need. This may include site surveys, ecology surveys and TPO surveys, for instance
— as well as specialist consultants you may need to bring on board. Once you’ve brought this all together you can look to submit your application — but what happens next? Here, I outline what you can expect at each stage of the process.
Surveys and specialists
Before you submit your planning application there are some detailed matters to attend to, namely forms, surveys and briefs to pull together.
1 A SITE SURVEY
At the outset you will need a measured survey of the existing site or property as the plans you submit need to be absolutely accurate and to scale.
2 THE DESIGN
I would strongly recommend avoiding trying to produce the plans yourself, unless you’re competent in computeraided design (CAD). On that note, in my experience, CAD drawings are essential and the use of hand-drawn plans alone should be avoided. So, I will assume you have found someone to design your extension or new home, and you’ve worked together
to come up with a design that you like, can afford, and that can be built.
3 SPECIALIST SURVEYS
Some surveys need to be done before you can submit an application. For instance, you may need to provide technical evidence that you can satisfy foul and surface water drainage, and this may need onsite investigations filtration tests prior to submission of the application.you need to think whether any trees or protected species (such as bats) are affected.you may have to undertake a flood risk survey, too. So, you may need to employ specialist consultants to deal with these issues.
These consultant-led reports should be commissioned at the outset, so the design of the house or extension take into account any of these technical matters. But there is no point in instructing people to provide a report in support of a scheme if it is contrary to their professional advice.
It perhaps should go without saying but you need to have a fully functioning site with safe access in and out and good visibility splays (sightlines). Because visibility splays are different in different locations, you need to talk to your architect and perhaps a highways consultant.
How much does a planning application cost?
Making a planning application is a risky business, and it becomes riskier the less you’re prepared to spend.this is because accurate survey drawings and correct technical information don’t come cheap, but they are a prerequisite to both getting permission and being able to build what you get permission for. Cutting corners might save you a few pounds on getting consent, but if it transpires there are errors which mean it can’t be built or developed this could be much more expensive longer term.
As well as the fee to pay for the application itself, there are other costs to factor in. It’s difficult to quote numbers but your average specialist consultant’s report is normally a couple of thousand pounds, and planning drawings for a new house are unlikely to be less than £3,000 and can stretch to £10,000+ for a large new house.you are unlikely to make a planning application for a single dwelling for less than £25,000. An application for a modest domestic extension will be a lot less, around £2,000-£3,000.
What do I need to include in my application?
The planning application (for an extension or single house) is submitted online and will consist of: Application forms.
Site plans: as existing and as proposed. Floorplans and elevations of the house, as existing and as proposed (this includes full drawings of any house you intend to demolish and replace).
Drainage information: in a town this may be very simple; in a rural area (in the absence of mains drains, for instance) you may need to demonstrate precisely and technically how you will deal with foul water drainage on site.
Design & Access Statement (not usually required for householder applications but can be useful in some instances): this explains the rationale behind the design and siting of the new house and it describes the policies that apply and how it complies with them.
POSSIBLE SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
Tree survey showing root protection zones
If you’re demolishing any buildings that may contain bats or removing trees and developing ground that may have ecological value you will likely need an ecological survey.
Community Infrastructure Levy forms. CIL is a tax on each square metre of new development, it only kicks in if you build 100m² or more
of net additional floor area and it can generally be avoided on a new build if you obtain self-build exemption. This means filling in various forms and following the process to the letter; there is no flexibility and no discretion. If you commence the development in any way prior to obtaining written confirmation of self-build exemption and prior to serving formal notice of your intention to commence development, this exemption will be lost.
What happens next?
Once you have gathered together all you need there will be a general order of events that follow... 1
THE SUBMISSION The application is uploaded (usually by your architect or your planning agent) onto the Planning Portal.you pay the fee online and the application is sent to your local planning authority — which is typically your local council, unitary authority or perhaps national park. At the moment, it’s likely to sit in a queue for a week or two because they’re extremely busy.
2 REGISTRATION
The registration team will then check your submission for errors – for instance, where architects fail to marry up windows in elevations and on floorplans – and they often spot them. If it’s all okay they issue a registration letter which tells you the target determination date for the application. The registration letter usually includes the name of the case officer and their number and email address, too. If it’s not okay you’ll get an email explaining what corrections or additional documents are needed. this is not a rejection of the application as such, this is about procedure, so the solution is to supply those missing documents as soon as you can and the completed application can then be registered, and allocated to a planning officer.
3 THE CONSULTATION PERIOD
The first thing the local planning authority does is consult the parish or town council, immediate neighbours and various internal experts (relevant to the contents of your application) such as the tree officer, the council ecologist, the highways officer, the drainage officer and possibly the conservation officer who will consider the Heritage Impact of what you’re proposing. This consultation period lasts 21 days, and usually red or yellow site notices are put up on the site to draw attention to the application. It’s highly likely that some of these internal and external consultations will not receive responses within that period. There is no point in getting hot under the collar about this, the case officer will not be in a position to make any judgments until those consultations have been received — you just have to be patient.
It’s particularly important that there are no technical grounds for refusal of your application because it may mean you have to withdraw and then resubmit with more information. As an example, you may have failed to provide adequate information about ecology, impact on trees, the provision of a safe access, or foul/surface water drainage provision. Some planning officers will allow you to extend the time period beyond the initial weeks to enable you to deal with concerns raised. This is called an ‘extension of time’ and I would always recommend agreeing to it — as it’s better to have a slow approval than a quick refusal.
4 NEGOTIATIONS
In the unlikely event that all the consultations have been received once the 21-day period is over, the planning officer will then metaphorically pick up the file and look at the scheme. I recommend you don’t harass them or hassle them for an immediate response, they are ridiculously busy and yours of is one of many applications in front of them. Planning officers are under a lot of implicit pressure to refuse things, it is a well-known principle in planning that no planning officer ever got into trouble for saying no.
If the case officer has any concerns about the height, the design and materials the siting, or whatever, my advice is work with them not against them. They hold pretty much all the cards and it’s better to get a planning approval for close to what you want than to be left with nothing. Once you have a permission you can then review the situation and perhaps decide to reapply and argue the toss about the issues you have compromised on.
5 THE DECISION
So you may have worked with your planning officer to ensure potential issues (such as overlooking or overshadowing
neighbouring properties, or adjusting the position of the access to ensure it is safe) have been avoided; now comes the decision. Most small-scale applications, including single houses, are determined under delegated powers. This means they do not go to a planning committee; rather, they are dealt with by the planning officers. Only if the planning officers want to approve something against the wishes of significant numbers of neighbours (or perhaps the parish or town council) will the application end up being put to the planning committee.
Local authorities have different rules for these procedures, but planning committees are made up of local councillors and they are therefore subject to political pressures that don’t tend to influence planning officers. This can be unhelpful if people are opposing your application, or helpful if you have pals on the committee.
If your application goes to a planning committee, you’ll normally have the opportunity to speak, and so too will those who object to your proposal. However, there is nothing stopping you talking to members of the planning committee in the weeks before the meeting and explaining your side of things. They won’t be interested in your personal circumstances; this is about the planning impact your proposal, so things like overshadowing, overlooking, parking and design tend to feature heavily.
Quite a few applications go to planning committee having been recommended for approval but are then refused by the committee for often political reasons. In these circumstances it is often worth going back to negotiate an approval or if necessary, submitting a planning appeal, because the planning officers were convinced it was acceptable.
6 PLANNING CONDITIONS
If approved, the Planning Decision Notice will contain planning conditions that need to be dealt with before you can start development. These may require an agreement to be reached on the external materials used, or – a common one – further drainage details (even though they’ve already submitted them). It is vitally important that you do not start the development before discharging the pre-commencement conditions and submitting the necessary information if the conditions state that no development shall commence until that information is agreed. If you start the development without clearing the pre-commencement conditions it will be unlawful which could lead to all sorts of problems further on down the line.
Submitting details to discharge conditions is another formal process which normally takes as long as the planning application itself. So when you are discussing your application with the case officer try and agree as many details
as possible during the consideration of the application to avoid the need for pre-commencement conditions. The planners are obliged to show you pre-commencement conditions for your agreement before issuing their decision so try and change those conditions to ones that need clearing prior to occupation, or prior to construction above slab level. This will enable you to get on with your build in parallel with sorting out those details.
7 AND A REFUSAL?
If, despite your best efforts, the council are going to refuse your application, it’s very important to remember that you can withdraw your application at any point prior to the issuing of that refusal notice. My advice would be to keep in touch with the planning officer and request in writing that you are notified of the recommendation before the decision is made. The last thing you want is a refusal landing unexpectedly in your inbox. I would also generally advocate that you withdraw your application rather than get a refusal. This will allow you to resubmit your application once you’ve tried to deal with the planning officer’s concerns.
If the LPA’S objections are against the principal of the development you might need to go to appeal — this takes between nine months and a year. You will need professional planning advice to decide whether or not to appeal and if so, to do a proper job. The planning or technical advice you are looking for should provide you with an understanding of the likelihood of winning the appeal. In other words, you need to know just how contrary to policy your proposal is and how problematic technical issues might be.
As an example, there is no point in going to appeal if you have a blind and dangerous access which would be hazardous to additional traffic movements. Equally there is rarely any point in going to appeal if the land floods and you have no way of solving that problem.very often planning policies are quite black-andwhite, building a house in the middle of a field in the middle of nowhere is very unlikely to be successful however long you bang your head against a brick wall. On the other hand if a refusal is wholly subjective because the planning officer doesn’t like the style of your new home but it’s similar to ones in the vicinity it’s probably worth going to appeal.