PLANNING PERMISSION PROCESS EXPLAINED

Want your project to sail smoothly through the planning process? Our step-by-step guide sets out the route to success

- SIMON RIX

Navigating the planning permission process can be daunting, but with my experience as a planning consultant, I've guided countless self-builders, custom home creators and extension enthusiasts successfully through the process. Many clients, when they first sit across from me, hold a mixture of excitement and trepidation. They've got these fantastic designs or just a set of visions of their dream home, but they're unsure how to translate them into bricks and mortar without falling foul of the planning system. So let me break it down, step by step, and hopefully shed some light.

PLANNING APPRAISAL

First, I always advise people to start with some kind of planning appraisal. Some people pay for the council's pre-application advice service, but this can often be a somewhat superficial opinion from a junior officer, and it's usually not worth the time it takes or the money it costs. I have come to this view after years of experience and because I've got consent for clients where their pre-app said 'no', and also lots of people come to me after a refusal following a positive pre-app. So when the pre-app says 'we don't commit to sticking to this view', they are right. For that reason, I recommend we begin with a quick and free red-amber-green assessment, and if it's an amber then I can conduct a full and detailed planning appraisal myself. This involves a meticulous examination of a site, the development options available and the relevant planning policies.