Guide to Planning Applications

1. Where to apply

You’ll need permission for significant extension and remodelling projects, and you can apply either through your local authority or online through www.planningportal.gov.uk

Anyone can apply but in most cases it’s either the homeowner or a designer who will manage the application. It costs £172 to submit an application in England.

2. Planning permission advice

In order to decide whether your proposal has a realistic chance of success, consider engaging the local authority in pre-application advice. This is, in many ways, ‘planning permission-lite’, requiring the submission of a sketched scheme, forms and written documents to outline your intentions.

Local authorities vary, with some charging £100-£200, while others offer it for free. Their response gives you a good, non-binding indication as to your chances of success and if amendments are needed before submission.

3. Be prepared

Your pre-application advice highlights any special reports that you may need to compile, such as an ecological survey. However, in the majority of cases, you will have to submit an application form, an ownership certificate, a location plan, before and after elevations and floorplans. The strict criteria will be listed in your local authority’s validation requirements, which can be found online. You will probably also have to submit a design and access statement, explaining the thinking behind the proposed scheme and justification for it.

Tips for application success

• Study local policies before you draw up your scheme. Most clearly specify what the planners look for in terms of size, scale and materials.

• Use the pre-application stage to talk to the local authority about your scheme, and amend it in line with their suggestions before formally submitting.

• Keep up to date with progress. By phoning the local planning office at key points of the process, particularly after the end of the consultation period, you can sense whether the proposed scheme is likely to be approved. If not, withdraw and resubmit it for free.

4. Planning permission progress

Once submitted, your local authority’s planning department will validate the application to check all required documentation and fees have been supplied. Councils have a target to respond to applications within eight weeks; approximately 90% of decisions are made within this time. During this, statutory consultees are notified, including the highways department, parish council, and your neighbours, and are invited to respond if they are unhappy.

Generally, planning decisions are made in one of two ways: either by the local planning committee if they are particularly controversial, usually in the case of new houses or larger housing developments, or, in the case of most householder projects, delegated to ?a planning officer to decide.

5. Take note of conditions

If you’re lucky to receive an approval for your plans, be sure to make note of the conditions attached. Most approved applications come with notes, such as requiring the local authority to approve the exterior materials before commencement of work.

You’ll need to formally apply to discharge these conditions and receive a letter to confirm so, as failure to do this will invalidate your approval. ?You may need to tweak your design after gaining approval, for which you have two options: either use the minor amendments route, which is designed for issues like new window positions, or submit a new planning application.

The minor amendment route costs £28 and takes 28 days to decide, while another full planning application would take eight weeks but is free if applied for within a year of the original.

To make a decision on which applications to approve, your local authority will take into account what are known as ‘material considerations’, which can include (but are not limited to):

• Overlooking/loss of privacy

• Loss of light/overshadowing

• Parking

• Highway safety

• Traffic

• Noise

• Impact on listed building and Conservation Area

• Layout and density of building

• Design, appearance and materials

• Government policy

• Disabled access

• Proposals in the development plan

• Previous planning decisions

• Nature conservation

While neighbours are consulted and invited to comment, together with parish councils, only objections based on material considerations are taken into account. If the neighbours do not object and the officers recommend approval, they usually grant planning permission for a householder application using delegated powers.

If there are objections or the application is called into a committee by one of the local councillors, the decision will be made by a majority vote by the local planning committee. At the planning meeting, you or your agent have an opportunity to address the planning committee.

Rejected planning application?

If permission has not been granted, look carefully at the reasons why. If it is because your scheme is in breach of local planning policy, then you will need to redraw it. If you don’t believe it is, you will have a more serious case for appealing the decision.

By Real Homes.