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Nudging planners along?


Alan Ambrose

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Hi,

 

I'm interested in what kind of turnaround times people are getting with their local planning department? Also, how you nudge them along? Also, whether they generally keep to any of their quoted deadlines?

 

I have a local planner who told me on 5th Oct that his response to our pre-app was 'already drafted and would be with me shortly'. And then he said that again on the 19th Oct. Guess what?

 

This is for a plot in East Suffolk that already has permission for a dwelling - we want to just vary the design. A neighbour has had an application for a new dwelling in since February with no apparent planning activity since May ...

 

TIA, Alan

 

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It’s all a lottery. Safe to say that it’s a slow process with missed dates at every point going by my experience so far. Presumably they won’t take calls and this is all via email? In my case I emailed and politely asked for an update and when to expect a decision. Planner replied quickly and said another week (so a week beyond the planned date) They missed that due to wanting more information. In the end they were 3 weeks over due but that was only 11 weeks from beginning to end for a full planning application. This is in Scotland so the process is different. 

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>>> Presumably they won’t take calls and this is all via email?

 

Both - I have had the odd reply by email, often it is just ignored. Same with the phone - once I got through, otherwise I leave a message which is ignored.

 

11 weeks !!! It would be quicker for me to move to Scotland :)

 

Alan

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46 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

This is for a plot in East Suffolk that already has permission for a dwelling - we want to just vary the design.

 

I was in that position. Still took us over a year to get to get PP. 

 

Typical response times back in 2007 for us were around 4-6 weeks. eg You send them a set of plans and 4-6 weeks later they said no and gave brief reasons why.  We would make changes and send in new plans, repeat. On one occasion we heard nothing then was told the  conservation officer had quit and they had to recruit another one before we would get a reply! 

 

PS: I've since heard that the Planning Officer in my area isnt even full time now. He's shared with two other councils.

Edited by Temp
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7 minutes ago, Canski said:

It took them 6 weeks to validate my application and they have just requested a contribution to affordable housing 2 days before the consultation end date.

 

 

Have they told you how much?

 

Back in 2014/5 the Government wanted to exempt small developments but councils went to court and won. The government was given the right to appeal in 2015 but I don't think they have done anything about it. Some councils charge 6 figure sume on large houses. Think the average is/was £15,000.

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The off-site affordable housing contribution would therefore be: £12,797 (for the net gain of one dwelling)    ( I am knocking one over to build 2)

 

A shit sandwich softened with .... ( from the planning officer) ..The positive thing in this regard is that I am looking at a positive decision (without prejudice) with this application.

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47 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

>>> Presumably they won’t take calls and this is all via email?

 

Both - I have had the odd reply by email, often it is just ignored. Same with the phone - once I got through, otherwise I leave a message which is ignored.

 

11 weeks !!! It would be quicker for me to move to Scotland :)

 

Alan


Yeah well we started the process in March and won’t get the final warrant until December. We also put the offer in on the plot last August so we are 14 months into this without starting the build. The planning application has been one of the quickest bits so far. 

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>>> The planning application has been one of the quickest bits so far.

 

:) :) :) 

 

Oh I see - I only put my first offer in (don't ask) for the land on 2nd Feb and have yet to exchange contracts (don't ask). My pre-app went in on 20th September.

 

And around here, you're likely to get only a vague single paragraph response to your pre-app.

 

Alan

 

 

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