Jump to content

Just f*(&ing talk to me


Recommended Posts

Why do Cornwall County Council planning department refuse to talk to people about submitting a planning application?

And why is the information on their website so piss poor?

And why are they using the sh1tty planning portal system?

 

Am I frustrated? You bet.

 

And having submitted an application to be told that files that were uploadable to the planning portal are not acceptable just makes it all so much friggin worse.

 

Thank you for listening 🙂

 

I'm off to change files to PDF, and spend unnecessary money on a map they already have.

 

Fvckwits!

  • Like 1
  • Confused 1
  • Sad 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, BotusBuild said:

Why do Cornwall County Council planning department refuse to talk to people about submitting a planning application?

And why is the information on their website so piss poor?

And why are they using the sh1tty planning portal system?

 

Am I frustrated? You bet.

 

And having submitted an application to be told that files that were uploadable to the planning portal are not acceptable just makes it all so much friggin worse.

 

Thank you for listening 🙂

 

I'm off to change files to PDF, and spend unnecessary money on a map they already have.

 

Fvckwits!

Get used to it, it called a planning system, you will get asked for worse. COVID made things worse as it gave them an excuse to communicate even less.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well my build was just 1 mile from the Cornish border in Devon (Torridge District Council) and I was told then it was a shame I was NOT in Cornwall as they were far better than Devon. Torridge Planners were slated by the appeal board for not abiding by their own policies and they could not overrule the Ecology report on bat protection as they were not qualified enough 🙄 (and it took four attempts to get planning). It appears these problems and delays are the new normal unfortunately.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sympathetic - I even paid for an optional face-to-face meeting only to have my LPA renege, change their policy and not give me my money back. Lovely, eh.

 

Sometimes I see it as an exercise to wear down applicants - that and the crazy slow response time. How else are you going to keep the rate of building down and preserve the wealth of the ruling classes?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank for the feedback. It helps to know I'm not alone (although I suspected as much anyway from other posts).

 

I'd love to see how all these "vote" promised new homes are ever going to get built when this is what we are all up against.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Part of this is ‘we’re too expensive / precious / (insert your own adjective) to deal with you as a human, talk to our computer instead’ thing that is wildly prevalent these days.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 hours ago, DevilDamo said:

What issues are/were you having?

They want an OS based location map even thought the planning portal allow you to provide easting and northings only

1:500 scale location plan - they already have one

Elevation drawings with scale bar - they have all the elevation drawing with actual proposed measurements on them

Similarly scaled floor plans

To be able to measure we need PDF instead of JPG files

Ecology report assessment check list - not asked for on the planning portal

We don't have a record on system for "your site". If they had bothered to read the extensive accompanying document I put together they would have all the information about the current build being done.

 

I just hate that I am having to reproduce or further annotate stuff that they already have in front of them.

 

And if I could go and physically talk to them it could be sorted in under an hour.

 

Muppets!

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, BotusBuild said:

I'd love to see how all these "vote" promised new homes are ever going to get built when this is what we are all up against.

backhanders? 🤷‍♂️

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, BotusBuild said:

They want an OS based location map even thought the planning portal allow you to provide easting and northings only

1:500 scale location plan - they already have one

Elevation drawings with scale bar - they have all the elevation drawing with actual proposed measurements on them

Similarly scaled floor plans

To be able to measure we need PDF instead of JPG files

Ecology report assessment check list - not asked for on the planning portal

We don't have a record on system for "your site". If they had bothered to read the extensive accompanying document I put together they would have all the information about the current build being done.

 

I just hate that I am having to reproduce or further annotate stuff that they already have in front of them.

 

And if I could go and physically talk to them it could be sorted in under an hour.

 

Muppets!

My bco came out about a year ago to look at my staircase ( a pointless excercise ) . He said they had never received a soil sample report ! . I sent it 11 yrs ago and made sure I kept the email thread from a previous bco accepting it . Sent that to new bco - never replied ( believe they are meant to have 5 weeks to respond ? ) . Planning and bc are a joke . Record all conversations ( assume you ever get a face to face ) . Keep copies of everything as they’ll deny you did it . They are useless twats .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, ToughButterCup said:

 

Because everyone in Local Government (and elsewhere) is being instructed to more with less. 

 

Absolutely local authorities have been and still are bring gutted. Funding has gone and they don't have the resources 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have some experience in this arena, for about 10 years or so I worked drawing plans for extensions etc in the Wiltshire council area.  I am retired now, the pandemic basically put an end to my work in that arena.  Therefore my experiences could be out of date a tad.  I might add, however, that I did do a couple of planning jobs late last year into this as a favour to an acquaintance back in Wiltshire.  Both, I thought, would have issues getting through the planning process but both went through relatively easily.

 

So my take on the original post!

 

Scale bars and pdf - I  understand completely the LA view, why is it even an issue to the OP? 

OS based location map instead of Eastings and Northings - again seems perfectly fine to me.

 

There is usually/always guidance as to what is expected in a planning application, was this not the case for the OP?

 

It strikes me that the other issues are fairly minor, and anyone who does this for a living would not really baulk at the response from the LA.

 

Having said all that, there were certain members of the planning team that I always prayed that I wouldn't get for one of my jobs.   I knew that if they were the officer assigned to the job it would not be that straightforward.  I had one job that was accepted and rejected four times in one week.  I put that down to being overworked as she was a fairly senior planning officer.  Didn't make it any easier to sort out but I sort of understood.

 

At the end of the day, it isn't a job that I would hanker after tbh, but there you go, someone has to do it.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@mjc55, thank you for your observations, and I accept your comments.

To be clear, the advice and guidance on the Cornwall website is very poor. You go round in circles trying to find a webpage that contains all you need to know about what you need to submit, and in what format. Believe me, if I had known it all had to be in PDF, I would have done so. Re-directing you to the planning portal, which itself is better, but still does not restrict what you can submit (it allowed me to upload the JPG files).

When I called to get some help, the ONLY way I could get it was to fork out nearly £300 for the privilege of talking to someone.

 

I'm just trying to keep costs down, but I feel that I HAVE to use an architect to draw me some pictures. FYI - the elevation drawing and floor plans that I provided are all dimensioned, so no need for them use a scale and measure it themselves. All the information is there. This is why I am annoyed.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, bassanclan said:

but if they are not to scale

I can confirm that they are to scale, but you'll have to take my word for that I guess

Link to comment
Share on other sites

All LPAs have a bunch of ‘validation rules’ as does the appeal body (as do some utilities companies). Some LPAs document them well, sometimes they’ll have rules that they don’t bother to tell you about. I get the impression that ‘validation’ is left to a junior, there is no common sense applied, they just run through the rules as automatons. If it says you need a road name, you need a road name. If it says you need a North indication, you need a North indicator. If it says you need a scale bar, you need a scale bar. Etc, etc, etc, etc. Sometimes the rules don’t make any sense and sometimes, some of their regular architects seem to be able to evade the rules. Sometimes the rules apply to one person or application (e.g. heritage impact statement) sometimes they don’t (even for the same plot).

 

By and large it’s just easier to play along. Sometimes when they’re being dumb and annoying, I send them the answer back perfectly politely but with the ‘missing item’ (that actually wasn’t missing) with a big arrow and 24pt bold red text. They probably don’t get the sarcasm, or maybe they do and they don’t care.

 

What’s that phrase - choose your battles?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

thats what your MP is for -get him to tlak to them 

thats what i had to do to get things moving and even then it was slow  for a simple refurbishment of an exsisting building

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...