Planning Appraisals

Understanding if your ideas stand any chance of planning success is fundamental to your decision to move forward. A formal planning appraisal can help you decide.

The UK planning system is complicated, relying on interpretation of planning policy, and planning case law that is often contradictory. A formal planning appraisal can help avoid abortive costs by providing you with frank and honest advice.

Appraising your site will involve, firstly, listening to you. An understanding of your objectives, where they began, and how they have evolved is central to a meaningful appraisal.

Only once this has been achieved will the appraisal work begin.

This will commence with a review of relevant site constraints and opportunities. Including an initial assessment of locational sustainability, topography, tree cover, drainage, ecology and heritage issues and other site-specific factors. A visit to the site may also be required.

Moving onto the Local Planning Authority’s Development Plan, relevant land-use policies will be sought out, considered and interrogated to find likely areas of conflict or support.

The planning history of the site will then be identified from Council records. This is important to established local attitudes to any previous proposals or development and will often unearth particular issues requiring consideration.

An honest and professional opinion as to the chances of receiving planning permission will then be provided and, if appropriate, a high-level development strategy will be offered. The strategy will include recommendations for initial technical surveys e.g. ecological, transport, drainage etc which are essential to moving onto the next stage.

A planning appraisal will also include a recommendation as to whether to move forward to a formal ‘pre-application’ with the Local Planning Authority, which can provide additional reassurance, or to move straight towards the submission of a planning application.