Be Patient if You Want to Secure Planning Permission

If planning permission for your project is required then it is important to adopt a strategy to give it the best possible chance of securing approval. Any failings in a planning application will be spotted by the planners so a proper strategy will save you time and money in the end.

All planning departments have various guidelines which are very useful in setting the scene and if you work with us to help you figure out what it is you want we will illustrate the plans with proper scaled drawings.

Next, we will help to assess the outline scheme to see if it is likely to be approved or meet problems. Your planning department will have a great deal of published information. Any precedents that can support your case would be useful; perhaps neighbours have done something similar. Recent planning applications and approvals can be reviewed at the planners’ offices and also usually on-line.

A pre-application submission to the planners is usually a good idea to get informal feedback on the proposals before the drawings are finalised and submitted. Any changes required to the scheme are best done now. This is where patience is needed to ensure you get the best chance of success. If possible problems are identified, we can help to figure out what to do about them. Don’t just hope that the planning department won't notice. It might be that the design can be modified, or we may be able to argue your case and get the planners on your side. If you don't do this research now, you may end up with a refusal and a long delay while you get back on track.

Making sure your application is submitted as fully and professionally as you can is very important. Clear, concise and well presented drawings and written documents which present your proposals in as good a light as possible is our forte. If there are any concerns that your application may be refused for a particular reason it is usually best to tackle this directly by acknowledging the difficulty on the drawings and the written documents and then demonstrate the logic why it is not a problem. We would also make sure that all supporting documents are provided in conjunction with any number of specialists or consultants, from ecology specialists to planning consultants.

Planners need eight weeks to determine an application, and following the above advice will make this even longer, but rushing to get the application lodged without a proper strategy would probably make it even longer.