Planning Consultancy

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Registering Planning Objections

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Do you object to your neighbour’s application for planning permission, and are you unsure how best to make your case?

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Is there a planning proposal in your area that will affect you, and against which you want to make a protest that will have real impact? Do you want to become an important third party in a planning appeal? These are all areas in which we specialise.

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Objecting to Planning Applications

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The first step in objecting to a planning application occurs when the local authorities notifies those neighbours it believes will be affected by the development. This depends on the judgement of planning officers, so even if you think that you should be notified of a development in your area, you might not be informed straight away.

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If you want to find out about planning applications in your area, you can look at your local council's website. They will have information relating to planning applications that have been received, and will usually also have any comments and objections that have already been made. The information should also be accessible in your local council's planning department.

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To object, write to the Planning Department of your local authority and quote the planning application number. There will often be a comments section on the local authority's website where you can do this, otherwise post or email is fine. The local authority will request comments within a time limit, usually twenty one days, however in practice it is often possible to object to a planning application after this time limit has expired but before planning permission has been issued. It is generally best to make your objections known as soon as possible.

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What Not To Include When Objecting To Planning Applications

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When objecting to planning applications, there are several common mistakes that you should avoid even if the objection seems fairly straightforward. Even if you decide you don't need a planning consultant to help with a challenging planning application objection, these are the most important common mistakes to avoid when you write to the Planning Department.

 

• Don't start a petition.

  • Petitions do not carry any weight when objecting to planning applications.

  • Objections that are copy pasted or very similar to each other will be ignored in a similar way.

  • Attempting to use raw numbers to object to a planning application will only waste your time and energy.

  • Instead of a petition ensure that everyone objecting uses their own words to describe the reasons that a development should not go ahead.

• Don't include information about the applicant, even if you believe that it's relevant.

  • The identity, beliefs, political views, possible motivation or past actions of an applicant are not considered relevant to a planning application.

  • In addition, the more information you include about an applicant, the greater the chance of including something that the council might consider libellous or offensive.

  • If your comment is considered libellous or offensive then it cannot be taken into account or published by the council.

• Don't include speculation on future events.

  • The local authority will ignore speculation on further future development of the site.

  • Only details relating to the current proposed development will be considered.

  • Should a future development prove to be problematic, you will have the opportunity to object at that stage.

• Don't include concerns about the effect of the development on nearby house or other property prices.

  • Some concerns that coincidentally will also reduce nearby property prices – for example, increased noise or loss of privacy – will be taken into account. However, these are not problems because of the loss of value, but in their own right.

  • There are many perfectly valid reasons for a property development to decrease nearby property prices – in the case of housing, a simple increase in supply might ease pressure on the local housing market.

  • Concerns about the effect of the development on property values will be ignored.

 

What you might want to include is highly dependent on many factors, including the specifics of your local authority's planning policy. To find out, free of obligation, whether the aid of a planning solicitor would be genuinely beneficial to your case, contact us as soon as possible.

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How We Can Help You with Your Planning Objection

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If you would like to object a planning decision, EN-PLAN can help you with a wide range of planning application objections by making a case for challenging the proposed development. This includes highlighting where mistakes or malpractice has occurred.

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To ensure that your Planning Objection carries the maximum weight, you need expert legal help from planning law specialists. We can tell you how to object to ensure the best outcome for you.

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En-Plan Consultants look forward to answering any questions you may have as part of a free no obligation consultation to begin the planning and development process.

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