Case officer away

[Bournbrook]

Hi there

Planning for a self build was validated on 4th December and in that time my architect and I have sent several emails to the assigned case officer and made lots of unanswered phone calls. Today, I eventually got through to someone that told me the officer has been off, but couldnt tell me how long for. I noticed that this officer has not had any cases assigned to them or made any decisions since early December. 
Can anyone tell me if there’s anything I can feasibly do in this situation? Is there a way of requesting another case officer? It would be particularly useful to hear from some one who has done this or has worked in planning, but any input very welcome!

[Temp]

I feel for you. Our Planning Officer went silent for a similar period and we eventually found out he had quit his job. Same happened with the conservation officer a few months later. Literally had to wait for them to hire a new one.

 

I'm afraid I can't suggest any ways to really speed them up other than to write an point out the deadline. 

 

Remember I think your deadline to appeal for non determination is 6 months but from when I don't recall.

[AppleDown]

I feel your pain. Our planning was submitted and validated in August last year. We have the luxury of a planning consultant, but all they were good for was the initial application. We're still waiting on some final details for them to clarify. In October we heard that our Officer was away, then signed off sick - for how long, nobody knew. Then suddenly in Jan we had a question from a tree officer come through. It's a complete shambles.

 

6 months is the deadline for non-determination, in which you can then apply for an appeal. But then that takes another 6 months, and you won't get much info on that throughout the time you're waiting. There is a more recent understanding that if your case hasn't been decided within 26 weeks (6 months), you can get your fee back. But just remember that if you agree to an extension, then this won't be paid. (Seems suggestions are that if they ask you for an extension because they are being slow, refuse.)

 

If the govt are pushing for more housing, then how the LPA will cope is anyone's guess.

[ToughButterCup]

We - facing a similar situation - wrote a polite but firm letter to the HoD and copied the relevant Councillor in to the communication. The Councillor did his bit.

Wyre Borough (our Council)  then outsourced their backlog to a group of Planners (some of them ex- Wyre Borough I understand) who had set up in business working for themselves. 

It wasn't worth taking things any further (a non-determination claim)  because Wyre had taken action to try to reduce the backlog.

[Alan Ambrose]

>>>  an appeal. But then that takes another 6 months

 

Actually another 9 months from the point you submit.

 

You can contact the case officer's boss in an attempt to move things along. Ours delighted is telling us 'to FO' in as many words - so we took both applications to appeal for non-determination. The councillor might be an alternative and more subtle route. I assumed our problem was lack of LPA resources but a councillor I met recently said that the council are swimming in cash due to Sizewell C. It doesn't help progress the matter, but you can check out your LPA's performance in these government tables here:

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-planning-application-statistics

 

You want table P153 for speed of 'non-major' decisions by LPA, and table P154 for 'quality' of decision i.e. % overturned at appeal.

 

 

[kandgmitchell]

36 minutes ago, Alan Ambrose said:

>>>  an appeal. But then that takes another 6 months

 

Actually another 9 months from the point you submit.

 

Or more - I have an appeal that was ready for an Inspector's visit as of last February and we are still waiting "for one to become available"....... 

 

If your application was validated on the 4th December the decision expected date must be around 4th February? Frankly, these days unless you are weeks over that date it's not considered a problem. If it does drag on then a polite call to their team leader may help at least clarify the situation and give some idea as to schedule.  

[Bournbrook]

Thanks all. Looks like we could be in it for the long haul! It does say that about 80% of non-major developments are decided with 8 weeks on the document @Alan Ambrosementioned for my LPA. 
 

we are still waiting on consultee responses form ecology and tree person. Does anyone know if their comments are still uploaded online if the case officer is away? Does the case officer have to physically approve them before them being publicly visible?

[ToughButterCup]

2 hours ago, Bournbrook said:

.... Does anyone know if their comments are still uploaded online if the case officer is away? Does the case officer have to physically approve them before them being publicly visible?

 

I doubt whether the approval process before being uploaded is standardised across all LPA  Content Management Systems ( their Internet 'presence') . So we don't know is the fairest answer to your question.

I have a strong feeling - but no evidence - that LPA Planners are not allowed to vary the content of Consultee responses because the LPA Planner is not qualified to do so. I'm sure that the Planner (or a deputy) could delay uploading the Consultee response - or ask for it to be varied in some way. 

 

@Bournbrook , many of us here have also been through the mill in which your psyche is currently being ground to dust. The only way I worked through this particular test was to over-occupy myself with other projects and indulge myself in too much sport.

[DevilDamo]

If your application was validated on 5th December, your target date was only 2 days ago which isn’t actually that long to be overdue.

 

What were the reasons both you and the architect have inundated the Planning Officer with various emails prior to the target date?

 

If the Planning Officer leaves the Council, your application will be re-allocated to another PO. Another option could be to withdraw and re-submit. If the previous PO is still not taking on applications, yours will be allocated to another. But obviously note the clock starts again. If I was you, I’d just email the Planning team weekly for updates and just sit it out.

Edited February 1 by DevilDamo

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> If I was you, I’d just email the Planning team weekly for updates and just sit it out.

 

Well my neighbour's simple unopposed application took 54 weeks start to finish. My LPA seems to totally ignore the 'agreeing timescale' part past 8 weeks. At what point would you choose another path?

 

>>> But obviously note the clock starts again.

 

I'm sure you know that the law doesn't give the LPA the option of re-starting the clock whenever they feel like it.

Edited February 1 by Alan Ambrose

[Bournbrook]

3 hours ago, DevilDamo said:

 

 

What were the reasons both you and the architect have inundated the Planning Officer with various emails prior to the target date?

 

Inundated is a little strong. I had made several calls as I couldn’t get through and wanted to check with somebody that our application was being dealt with since that officer’s name had not been allocated to any other cases since. The architect was emailing to try to 1) add an ecology report to the application 2) talk about arranging the site visit 3) follow up a week later as there was no repsonse to either of the first 2 emails 

[DevilDamo]

2 hours ago, Alan Ambrose said:

>>> If I was you, I’d just email the Planning team weekly for updates and just sit it out.

 

Well my neighbour's simple unopposed application took 54 weeks start to finish. My LPA seems to totally ignore the 'agreeing timescale' part past 8 weeks. At what point would you choose another path?

 

>>> But obviously note the clock starts again.

 

I'm sure you know that the law doesn't give the LPA the option of re-starting the clock whenever they feel like it.

The law? If the OP submits another application following a withdrawal (as I had implied), then the 8 weeks will start again.

[DevilDamo]

1 hour ago, Bournbrook said:

add an ecology report

Was that not a validation requirement?

[Bournbrook]

48 minutes ago, DevilDamo said:

Was that not a validation requirement?

No. As we are only in the buffer zone of an SPA but we added one in after validation just to avoid potential risk delays if they asked for one

[Alan Ambrose]

>>> If the previous PO is still not taking on applications, yours will be allocated to another. But obviously note the clock starts again.

 

@DevilDamo - Ah, I see, it sounded to me like you were suggesting that the clock starts again if a new planning officer was allocated the case following the absence of the initial one.