Top tips to beat the planning odds

We’ve pulled together a list of strategies our clients at Nimbus? Maps are using to beat the planning odds, securing better consents, in less time, for less money.

The planning process is still a challenge for many developers, delays are the norm, overruns on time and budget are a given, and not a single planning application comes without a lot of stress these days.

In our post-pandemic working world, planners are even more inaccessible now than they have ever been.?Most are working from home, many are locums and often not even based in the local authority they serve, and the planning departments are hugely understaffed. Gone are the days you could have a chat with an officer in person or over the phone as they are now only contactable by email and many say they don’t want to travel because they don’t get paid mileage!

Here are some tried and tested techniques our Nimbus Maps’ clients are using to beat the system:

Pulling together comprehensive planning comps

Many of us are familiar with market comparables, both residential or commercial comps, used in our negotiations or valuations.?But some of us are not so familiar with planning comps.

Fundamentally the same concept, but the principle here is to get a list of every planning application of a similar type of scheme in the local authority and see what succeeded and what failed.

Like with market comps, if you go into a negotiation, you want to put your best foot forward for the argument you want to make, so compile a list of granted applications of a similar type to use as your “comps list”.

Send a copy to the planning officer or bring to your pre-app to help you start the inevitable negotiation.?They will also be pleased that you have done a lot of the hard work in trawling through previous applications so will speed up their time and the ultimate application.

You can even go so far as to get comps from neighbouring local authorities because if the application went to appeal then they may use these.

Picking a winning architect or planning consultant

Picking the right adviser with a history of winning applications in a particular local authority, for a development of the size and type you are looking to implement, could be hugely beneficial, could save you huge amounts of time and money.

With it being harder to speak to the planers, getting your “power team” together who have either a live application or recently been successful in a particular area for a particular type of scheme could significantly improve your chances of success and save substantial amounts of time and money.

To do this you simply need to pull together a list of all these similar applications and who the architect and/or planning consultant was and to see if they were successful or unsuccessful.

Once you’ve shortlisted a couple, pick up the phone to the agent on the application to speak to them about your ideas and see how they have fared.

Pick the “friendliest” planning officer

We’re all human and some of us look at things more positively than others.?Remember your favourite teacher? Those involved in any form of litigation which makes its way before a judge will definitely know what I mean.

It’s the same with planning officers.?Some will be more receptive to change and your plans despite the underlying policy being the same.?It’s all about how you read and apply it, just like the law in fact.

Look for similar, successful applications and drill through to the planning officer. Ask to speak to them directly about your application or write to them directly.?Getting your application in front of your best officer starts you on a good footing.

Get yourself fully au fait with permitted development rights ?

If your application falls remotely in any of the permitted development classes, eg Class E or Class MA, you have a significant advantage when it comes to implementation of any changes to the uses or development.

The more familiar you are with the options, and sometimes it involves a double step, the better your chances are of taking some of the control away from the local planning authority.?These control means more of an even playing field.

It is a mine field and we have done many many webinars on the subject with experts in this field, most of which you can watch on demand on our website at your leisure.?We are always bringing the latest developments and experiences to new webinars so look out for news on the website too.

At Nimbus Maps we have built a planning export, which allows you to literally get all the above information for any type of application, anywhere, downloaded into ?Excel.?Simply apply a few filters and/or put into the right order and everything because so transparent and useful, it’s never been seen before in this way

It is one of most powerful, but often overlooked unique features of Nimbus Maps and the team would be very happy to show how it works live in action on a demo.