Obtaining planning consent for a development requires careful preparation. Depending on the proposal, there are a few steps involved to ensure the best possible chance of approval.

Design for Policy

Each council has their own planning policies for the design, scale and appearance of developments. These are additional to national guidelines such as the NDSS, and depend heavily on local character. We know these inside out, and will lead the design process accordingly.

Site Specific Design

At the start of each project, we thoroughly analyse the site and its surroundings. We examine applications that have been approved nearby to see the size of style of developments the council are approving, as well as researching factors that may have impact on the design process, such as Listed Buildings, soil types, and the 45-degree rule.

The Council’s Consultants

The council will discuss applications with internal consultants such as Highways, Ecology and Arboriculture. These consultants will assess the application, and will provide feedback to the planning officer to assist them with their decision.

All proposals must adhere to site constraints in relation to these. For instance, new footings / foundations are only permitted in 20% of the root areas of high-grade trees. If a proposal fails to meet criteria, it will be refused.

As previous, we know which policies and consultants will be addressed in any application we work on, and will produce designs to appease these consultants. This ensures that our applications will stand the best chance of approval, and is one of the reasons for our 90%+ success rate on Householder applications.

The Planning Process After Submission

The planning process usually takes around 8 to 16 weeks for approval, depending on the council and the scale of the proposal.

During this time, if the officer doesn’t quite like certain elements of the design, we can engage with them to revise it. These negotiations can range changing roof designs through to internal replanning.

At this stage, our 3D model becomes very useful. We can quickly update the design and produce visuals to illustrate changes, which allows us to effectively communicate ideas with both the officer, and you as the client. This ensures that all parties are happy with the progression of the application.

We turn around designs amendments within 2 days of receiving comments from the council, which means the application is never held up our end.

We also produce material elevations, which again effectively communicate the exact aesthetic of the proposal, allowing you and the council to know exactly what the end product will look like.