Planning Objections

[^woody^]

66% unsuccessful then going by statistics.

 

[wessex101]

Does that mean you have had a lot of planning refusals or were you dealing with appeals on others' refusals ? I can't understand how a lot of people seem to regard planning appeals as the norm which isn't the case in my experience.

I have found refusals and appeals have become far more common for me. I don't see how any professional designer can go through their career without getting a fair few refusals and successful appeals unless they are only working on very small projects or have very conservative design tastes. I will always be honest with the client and discuss the options of a design that is likely to approved, a design that is likely to be refused but a good chance of getting through at appeal and occasionally a design that they want but I have advised them against it as it would be unlikely to even be upheld at appeal. Also with a qualification....in my experience it is difficult to accurately predict the outcome. Often applications I thought were contentious sail through and those I thought were uncontentious are refused (all of which were subsequently approved on re-submission or upheld on appeal).

Mind you I see a lot of ugly and badly designed extensions and new builds that have possibly been designed just to get an easy Planning approval rather than provide a successful development for the client. So maybe some designers just go for an easy life rather than architectural integrity.

 

[Nakajo]

Well, 'being able to win them more often than not' implies a success rate better than 50%


I agree that they're impossible to predict; I've lost one on appeal that I really thought I'd get, and, most recently, had a scheme approved at Planning that the Pre-app process indicated would have to go to appeal unless we radically scaled back the design.

 

[Leofric]

Does it matter?

A lot of appeals means a lot of refusals. The object is to obtain permission to start with I would have thought.

 

[Leofric]

I don't see how any professional designer can go through their career without getting a fair few refusals and successful appeals unless they are only working on very small projects or have very conservative design tastes.

So maybe some designers just go for an easy life rather than architectural integrity.

Or maybe some designers can work on small and large projects and obtain planning permission for schemes with architectural integrity without having to go to appeal

 

[Nakajo]

And that's a perfectly valid approach, but some developers are keen to maximise the development potential of their site. The fact that appeals can be won seems to me to be a vindication of that approach.

 

[Leofric]

And that's a perfectly valid approach, but some developers are keen to maximise the development potential of their site. The fact that appeals can be won seems to me to be a vindication of that approach.

I would say all developers are keen to maximise the development potential of their sites ,but they prefer to do it without going to appeal if possible, obviously. Maybe I have been lucky in the people I have worked for ,all I was saying was that planning appeals were a rare occurrence in my experience.
Regards

 

[-AndyH-]

Appeals can be both costly and lengthy - neither of which are in a developer's interests.

If it's a major planning application, then you're easily looking at spending 6 figures on an appeal and waiting 9-12 months (especially for a hearing or enquiry).

Clearly if you can work with a LPA to overcome their objections, then this would clearly be a preferred route for anyone.