03/04/2026
Planning: In a bizarrely hard fought application our clients received their planning consent yesterday after protracted negotiations with the council. There’s a recent pattern of applications requiring post-submission engagement and drawing changes well after the 8week minor app determination period and date has passed. In this case, there was no site visit nor correspondence with the case officer until week 13. At that point the comments on design were basic and were borderline overreaching. Planners cannot refuse a design if they don’t like it. So when asked to justify the design amendments requested, after a round of boundary height reduction amends (to an already 2.5month delayed application) we requested, quite robustly, the council to provide justification in planning policy for the further amendments being requested. Knowing that these change requests are not policy, stated in the LA’s own design guides (because that really would be planners dictating design!), we pushed back again and again through emails. Based on our rebuttal, had they gone onto refuse, they would have had little chance at appeal and would likely have incurred costs. Turns out with a little Hail Mary, the local authority backtracked and our client’s patience was rewarded a shade under 3months after their determination date should have been. 🤯 Of course the planners got the EOT in the end though so the planning records show everything determined “on time”…
