Council Planners :0(
Discussion
Is it just me ?
I want a simple second storey extension - only two small rooms built on top of the existing single storey extension but I'm in the greenbelt.
I talk to the planner and she agreed in principal to it but said ought to use the householder pre planning advice.
I did this - they are supposed to take 3 weeks to reply.
Despite calling and emailing after dragging her feet for 5+ weeks she admitted she's too busy and is only working on Planning Applications - yet it was her who insisted I started the process !
So I submitted an application online.
Why does it take the Planning Portal 3 days to pass an Email to the council ?
Still it's now submitted - only it isn't...
I call and after a week I'm told it's fine and in the system and has an Application number.
I keep checking but it's not coming up online so I contact the Planner - after two weeks she says she hasn't seen it and there's a backlog - how is this my problem - they have 8 weeks ?
Almost 3 weeks later she's finally told me it ISN'T registered as she wants more info - specifically drawings of the one elevation that isn't affected by the extension - ie will not change, nor can the extension be seen from that side.
Surely this can't be right ?
I've spoken to my architect and he says to play along as they hold all the cards but this woman has cost me in excess of 8 weeks already.
I want a simple second storey extension - only two small rooms built on top of the existing single storey extension but I'm in the greenbelt.
I talk to the planner and she agreed in principal to it but said ought to use the householder pre planning advice.
I did this - they are supposed to take 3 weeks to reply.
Despite calling and emailing after dragging her feet for 5+ weeks she admitted she's too busy and is only working on Planning Applications - yet it was her who insisted I started the process !
So I submitted an application online.
Why does it take the Planning Portal 3 days to pass an Email to the council ?
Still it's now submitted - only it isn't...
I call and after a week I'm told it's fine and in the system and has an Application number.
I keep checking but it's not coming up online so I contact the Planner - after two weeks she says she hasn't seen it and there's a backlog - how is this my problem - they have 8 weeks ?
Almost 3 weeks later she's finally told me it ISN'T registered as she wants more info - specifically drawings of the one elevation that isn't affected by the extension - ie will not change, nor can the extension be seen from that side.
Surely this can't be right ?
I've spoken to my architect and he says to play along as they hold all the cards but this woman has cost me in excess of 8 weeks already.
Now she's taking the pi$$ - I submitted what she requested.
I followed that up with a call - voicemail
I followed that up with an Email - no reply
I've now found she's gone on holiday today and still hasn't validated my application, nor told me why.
So I've gone over her head - possibly not the best idea but FFS !!!!!
I've spoken to her manager and Emailed him everything - hopefully at least I'll get an answer.
I followed that up with a call - voicemail
I followed that up with an Email - no reply
I've now found she's gone on holiday today and still hasn't validated my application, nor told me why.
So I've gone over her head - possibly not the best idea but FFS !!!!!
I've spoken to her manager and Emailed him everything - hopefully at least I'll get an answer.
Escort3500 said:
What a stupid comment.
Yes, your experience was p**s poor, and probably similar to some other councils, but there are others that provide a pretty good service despite budget cuts and reduced staffing levels.
Please name one.Yes, your experience was p**s poor, and probably similar to some other councils, but there are others that provide a pretty good service despite budget cuts and reduced staffing levels.
I'd happily abolish all councils.
If my workload dictates I work late - I work late.
If to hit a target date I have to work at weekends - so be it.
If it means I don't go on holiday - I don't go on holiday.
They have no concept of customer care / loyalty nor competition as they don't have either and my god it shows.
Escort3500 said:
"In the year ending March 2014, district level planning authorities:
decided 426,500 planning applications, an increase of 2% compared to the figure for the year to March 2013
granted 349,400 permissions, up 2% from the figure for the year to March 2013
granted 88% of decisions, an increase of 1% compared to the previous year
decided 70% of major applications in 13 weeks
decided 70% of minor applications and 83% of others in 8 weeks compared with 68% and 81% respectively in the previous year
made 8% more residential decisions compared to the previous year, with major residential decisions up by 31%
(Source:DCLG)
So they were less bad than before.decided 426,500 planning applications, an increase of 2% compared to the figure for the year to March 2013
granted 349,400 permissions, up 2% from the figure for the year to March 2013
granted 88% of decisions, an increase of 1% compared to the previous year
decided 70% of major applications in 13 weeks
decided 70% of minor applications and 83% of others in 8 weeks compared with 68% and 81% respectively in the previous year
made 8% more residential decisions compared to the previous year, with major residential decisions up by 31%
(Source:DCLG)
"decided 70% of minor applications in 8 weeks" - why wasn't this 100% ? They have 8 weeks to shuffle a few bits of paper around.
If it was privatized to multiple companies - in the same way building control is - it would be magnitudes better.
My application could have been approved inside an hour - it meets the regs and affects no one.
They have sent out Neighbour consultations today - to neighbours who are 200m+ away and can't even see the house - they couldn't raise a valid issue if they wanted to (which they don't)
Escort3500 said:
You clearly don't understand the process fully. Council's have a legal obligation to consult neighbours, parish/town councils and quite often other parties before determining a planning application, irrespective of the scale of the proposal
And how do you know that the neighbours in the example you refer to can't raise a valid issue? They might live 200m away but they are entitled to comment if they think it affects them, even if it may not be valid in planning terms. How do you know that they don't want to? It's only your view that "it affects no-one" and "meets the regs" ( I assume you mean planning policies).
If the system was privatised it might be better, but it wouldn't do away with the consultation process (and the delays that entails) without a change in legislation. The planning system is a democratic process whoever administers it.
No I do and it needs changing.And how do you know that the neighbours in the example you refer to can't raise a valid issue? They might live 200m away but they are entitled to comment if they think it affects them, even if it may not be valid in planning terms. How do you know that they don't want to? It's only your view that "it affects no-one" and "meets the regs" ( I assume you mean planning policies).
If the system was privatised it might be better, but it wouldn't do away with the consultation process (and the delays that entails) without a change in legislation. The planning system is a democratic process whoever administers it.
As I've talked to the neighbours and could get letters of support if that would speed it up. But even if I hadn't, how could it affect them ? A small single storey extension of 1 bedroom and bathroom, on a 2 acre residential curtilage, that they can't see, can't be seen from the road and is at least 200m from their land plus I'm actually reducing the size of the house as I'm having to demolish more area downstairs to get a smaller area upstairs.
It would speed up the entire process on a previous application a numpty wanted to wait for a reply from Severn Trent about affecting their sewers in the area - there weren't any adopted sewers for 2 miles ! I don't know of any successful companies that take weeks to return phone calls and much of the delay is before they register the application - about 8 weeks in my case.
jules_s said:
I'd wager 99.9% of applications that don't get registered are lacking in content
If a planning application is put in and ticks all of the registrars tick boxes it get registered as valid
Mine was registered as valid - I spoke to the Council and got the Planning Number.If a planning application is put in and ticks all of the registrars tick boxes it get registered as valid
But then took 2 weeks to get to the Planner, who said it wasn't.
jules_s said:
If it has a planning number its registered. And the clock ticks.
Sounds to me like your officer is spouting BS
The problem is if I open with "That's BS you've got 6 weeks left so extract your finger from your arse and get on with it"Sounds to me like your officer is spouting BS
Do you think I'm going to get an Approval or Refusal ?
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