Once we have everything just right and we have completed any relevant supporting documentation, we are ready to proceed to the next stage and would provide an invoice for the first design stage of the works. If you require planning consent, we will make the application once in receipt of payment, or if you only require building regulation drawings, we will commence the construction details after that is received also.
Frequently Asked Questions
Throughout the design stage, and in some cases during the planning stage, we can make minor amendments to the plans at your request. After the initial plans are received, we expect you to change parts of the plans as this is most likely the first time you have seen your ideas on paper, so it is natural that you may want to make alterations. Once a planning application has been made, we may have to make further changes to the plans at the request of the planning officer. If this is the case, we will work with them and yourself to reach an agreeable compromise.
If an application is approved and you decide to make a change afterwards, if it is a minor change and not a whole new scheme, we may need to submit a non-material amendment application to get this approved by the council if it has any planning related effect on the proposal. Any fees associated with this would be discussed with you before any redesigning or application submissions.
Our fees are generally split into two payments with the first payment requested before we submit your planning application or when you are happy with the design of your plans. This payment will cover the initial survey, production of existing plans and proposed plans, site plans and any additional documentation which would be required, it would also cover our part in managing an application, corresponding with the planners to make any minor amendments, or providing additional information, to hopefully achieve the best outcome.
The second payment, if you request construction details from us, is invoiced before the building regulations application is submitted. Similar to the planning application, any amendments to structural designs that are required to achieve the approval will be made and any minor amendments to layouts that are required can also be done.
Note: Additional fees associated with the planning and building regulations application, are paid directly to the authorities/companies and are not included on our invoices. Additional fees may be applicable if additional information or a major redesign is required.
Whilst Permitted Development Rights will now allow for modest alterations to certain existing properties without permission, providing the design meets certain criteria, larger projects will require the consent of your local authority, and we have six separate planning authorities with 20 minutes of our office have worked extensively with councils such as Cheshire East, Peak Park and Staffordshire Moorlands. Travel 20 minutes further out and there are another four authorities in areas we cover across Stoke, Newcastle and Derbyshire. This gives us an extensive knowledge of their requirements to make applications successful and can produce a wide range of supporting documents to accompany the applications we make. Managing the application from start to finish, liaising with the relevant planning officers, making any required alterations to the plans and providing additional information that may be requested is all part of the service we offer.
Whether your project is a modest extension, a conversion, a new build home, or general internal alterations you will be required to meet the current building regulation standards on your project. We can produce technical plans for the designs we have developed and submit building control applications which makes sure your final plans are fully compliant and ready for builders to accurately quote from. From the structural elements to the insulation values, these plans prove vital for builders to work from ensure the final outcome meets your expectations, built to the highest standard and compliant with all the regulations.
Permitted development allows you to perform certain types of work to existing buildings, and erect new buildings without needing to apply for planning permission. There are certain constraints relating to the size, location and appearance of buildings which must be considered for each specific site.
The permitted development rights come from general planning permissions granted by the Government rather than the local authority. These permitted development rights do not apply to flats, or similar buildings. Commercial and agricultural buildings have different permitted development rights to domestic dwellings and out-buildings.
You may have restricted permitted development rights depending on what kind of area you live in. These areas are called ‘designated areas’ and generally are areas such as:
- Conservation areas
- National parks
- Areas of outstanding beauty or
- World heritage sites
We complete the planning application online and submit this, but you will receive and email requesting payment of the application fee from Planning Portal. Once the payment has been made to the Local Planning Authority, it will then enter validation process where the LPA will check through the application and make sure they have all the information required, and the application is legal. Once validated, the application is assigned to a planning/case officer who will have 8 weeks to make a decision. At present, only smaller applications are likely to be decided with this statutory time frame and any delays to planning decisions is out of our control, although we will always try to keep things running smoothly where we can.
Following the completion of technical drawings, we will request a quote from your local building authority, or independent, for the costs to complete a plan check and subsequently carry out the required visits to your property whilst the works are being completed. The first payment to building control is for the plan check application which you must provide to Building Control for us to send the completed plans in to be assessed. We will then hopefully receive approval for the plans within a few weeks, and you can start to distribute them to builders for quoting.
When your planning application has been decided we will send you the decision notice which is the legal document proving the development will be lawful (if approved). In most cases, we will have received indications from the planner if the application is going to be approved or refused before a decision notice is issued. In the instance where a refusal is being recommended, and we cannot supply additional information or revised designs which will satisfy their concerns, you may be offered the chance to withdraw the application. This can be favourable over a refusal as a refusal could be seen as a bad mark against the property for prospective future buyers.
If you receive an approval, we will ask if you would like to instruct us to begin with stage two, the construction plans. All planning approvals have standard conditions attached, however, some known as pre-commencement or pre-occupation conditions, might be included. It is important to understand the conditions before starting any building works on site.
If you receive a refusal, we will usually have a discussion with yourselves, if we have not already done so, to discuss alternative options. The advantage of receiving a refusal, as opposed to withdrawing the application before a decision is made, are that it allows you to go to appeal, where within 6 months of the decision notice, an independent planning inspector can assess the application and overturn decision where they see it to be appropriate.
If during the planning application, it becomes apparent that no amount of tweaking, or additional information will be sufficient to overcome the obstacles they see, there are several options to explore which may be successful in getting the outcome you desire.
While the application is still undecided, you can request a local councillor to call the application into committee. This will change the decision from delegated powers of the LPA to a committee panel, where all arguments will be put forward to local councillors, and a majority vote will be taken on the application. Some planning authorities have clauses to automatically call applications into committee if they are seen as publicly contentious, but this avenue of approach can be useful when there are personal arguments that can be put across to likeminded individuals, where formal policies may be clouding the judgement of a single delegated planning officer.
If your application is refused, there is a 12-month time period in which you can submit another application, of the same type, for the same or similar proposal, and on the same site, where the application fee is waived. Known as a “free go” it allows us to consolidate our thoughts and come up with a Plan B approach which can be submitted to hopefully address the issues raised in the first application. The level of redesign required would be discussed to see whether we would cover it as a minor change, or whole need a whole redesign.
A refusal also allows you to lodge an appeal within 6 months of the decision. The appeal process has no fee associated with the application; however, it is likely we would need to spend additional time providing more supporting evidence to the proposal, or make small changes. An independent planning inspector from outside your locality will assess our arguments for, and the local authorities’ arguments against the proposed development, along with a personal visit to the site, so they can conclude if the refusal was justified, or if it can be overturned. This process can be lengthy, but it gives you the satisfaction of exploring every possible option with a development to ensure there is nothing else that could be done.
We would advise whether we though withdrawing, a committee meeting, submitting a free go, or an appeal would be suitable for your development, based on the situation for each individual application.
All planning approvals have conditions added to them relating to the approved plans and time constraints for commencing the development. Some applications will have additional pre-commencement conditions, where additional information will need to be submitted in another application prior to work commencing on site. Similarly, a prior-occupation condition would need to be submitted for the same reasons, but before the development is fully completed and in use. Often, we are informed of any additional conditions which will be attached to the approval, and we can try and satisfy them during the initial application, which removes the cost and delay of having to submit additional applications. In some cases, we are not informed until the decision is made, or it may not be possible to produce the information required in a timely manner for it to be included in the original application.