Planning Application: Late Objection

[M]

Hello,

We applied for Planning permission for a two storey extension on our semi- detached house about eight weeks ago.

After the consultation period was over the council wrote to us saying there had been no objections but he (the planning officer) would not approve the scheme in its current form and so we had to make some major changes to the design.

We only just found out that the planner was happy with the changes but they had received an objection from a neighbour about the 1st floor window which the planner considers to be a valid objection. However, since we are only two working days away from the final decision, it is far too late for us to amend the plans.

My question is: Does anyone have any ideas how we could avoid having to resubmit the planning application and start the whole process off again?

Also are objections received after the consultation period finished valid anyway?

TIA, M

[Robin Cox]

It seems like the planners won't grant permission for the plans you have submitted. If you want permission, you will either have to submit amended plans or appeal against their decision to refuse. I believe that if you withdraw the application while you amend the plans and then resubmit them you won't have to pay a second application fee (BICBW).

Yes - most authorities will accept representations right up until the day the decision is made.

I have attended evening planning meetings where relevant letters and faxes of objection received by the planning office *that same day* are read out.

Robin

[David Boothroyd]

You shouldn't have to resubmit as your current application can be amended. I don't know precisely what you mean by "two working days away from the final decision" - is this the time for the Planning Committee to sit or the notional deadline set by the ODPM for determination of planning applications? There is no reason why, if negotiation is continuing, applications can't be delayed until an agreement has been reached.

Yes, if they raise a material consideration.

(I'm a member of a local authority Planning Applications committee)

[Peter Crosland]

It sounds as though the application is being dealt with by the planning officers under delegated powers. This is quite normal and if you don't make the changes then it will be refused.

As above if you will not amend them then it will be refused.

Objections can, and indeed frequently are, made right up to when the decision is made. Often this is at the planning committee meeting where the matter is being decided. In the same way applicants can submit amendments at the last minute. Objectors have rights just as applicants do. The deadline is not cast in stone since you can ask for it to be deferred pending negotiation over the changes or withdraw the application entirely. In the latter case you can submit an amended application and go through the whole procedure again without paying again. Your best bet is to ask for it to be deferred and negotiate with the planners. If you decide, as applicants often do, that you want is decided as submitted then you will almost certainly lose and have to pay again for an amended application.

[nambucca]

You may not be aware You do get a 2nd bite of the cherry though without paying a new fee So ask for a meeting with the planners .......see what amendments they want .......adjust the drawings and you should get permission

However I am very surprised that if your plans originally met with approval by the planner that just one objection would oust it .........I will bet the objector twisted the arm of your local councillor to bend the planners ear

[Dave Slee]

the planners ear

Well, that's democracy I suppose.....

[M]

I believe it is being dealt with under delegated powers. As I previously stated we have already done major changes as a result of feedback from the planning department.

Maybe my original post was badly worded. It's not a case of not being willing to make changes; we already have. However there was about a two week turnover before we heard anything from the planners. Now we only have about two days.

[I just wish the neighbour in question had told us about their worries and given us a fair chance to make any changes. We did tell them months ago about the extension and asked for comments at that time.]

In that case I wonder why they put an earlier date as a deadline for all comments in the letters and notices that they post?

M

[Peter Crosland]

That is the law. Howver, the planners have to make a decision based on all the information they have and your neighbours have evry right to object at the last minute though it is not ideal. Just because you have made some changes does not mean that your plans will be acceptable. You are just going to have to accept this if you want to get permission.

[M]

I just went down to the planning department to find out more about the objection. I was mistaken about the lateness of the objection. It was actually received weeks ago. It's a pity that no-one told me about it before.

I know that making changes will not automatically make the plans acceptable. However if I am not told what is wrong I can't fix it.

[David]

In article , M writes

They don't have to tell you that there has been an objection, the onus is on you to look in the file, they consider the application, any objections, put their own slant/spin on it and inform you of the decision. Objections do mean though that it will go to committee which is not always the case if there are no objections

My experience is that its in your interest to keep as close to proceedings as possible, don't rely on waiting to be informed and try to keep on good terms with the planning officer, it can pay dividends

[Mike Huskisson]

on you to look in the file,

Not all councils allow you to 'look in the file', particularly if the matter is still undecided.

the case if there are no objections

Not necessarily - depends on your council's delegation arrangements: increasingly these days, to speed things up as the govt wants, less cases are put before committee and you need to check whether the receipt of an objection is enough to trigger a referral to the committee.

[G&M]

They are supposed to. The "Open Government" initiative from the 90s insisted upon it. In any case, even before that you had rights of access to some of the data under the Data Protection Act.

[Mike Huskisson]

The file is not required to be made available to the public, but 'background papers' to a committee report are (these might be as limited as letters of objecton or support received from sources external to the council). If no committee report is written, it follows that there are no 'background papers'. So, for a matter decided under officers' delegation, where there is no committee report, the council is not obliged to show you anything. Many do because it's their policy & practice, but they are not obliged to (until the end of 2004 that is when the law will change).

[G&M]

Somewhere in their office there is a file with your house address on it. You have full rights to see that file ever since the 90s and I have used this right several times. Some councils argue whereas others are helpful. But never have I not seen the file.

[David]

In article , Mike Huskisson writes

Normally there are two files, the actual application and then the working file which will have all the correspondence and case notes in it, whether what you say is true or not I don't know, I have never yet been told I cannot see either of these files and in fact our local council put most of their stuff on their planning portal website, certainly all the objections are on there.

[G&M]

Any council not releasing documents would cause chaos with people doing private searches rather than relying on the council (i.e. useless) one.

[G&M]

The Data Protection Act is something else and does as you say.

There was the "Open Government Initiative" directive several years ago (Blair or Major - not sure) which was supposed to open up relevant public information to you. Amongst other things, this enabled organisations other than local councils to do searches should they wish to.

But from comments by others in the rest of this thread, it appears some councils may have ignored this directive as it wasn't actually supported by an Act of Parliament, though I've never met one that did. But many hospitals have not released information they were expected to and this has been a problem to some.

However the worse offender is probably Alastair Darling's lot at transport who fail even to acknowledge the E route planned from the Suffolk ports down to the West country even though it is on the EU transport plan. This makes most house searches along that route plainly wrong.

Obviously the new Act, and indeed the new European Constitution, will (hopefully) bring the weight of law to bear on those seeking to unnecessarily withhold information.

[David Blundell]

Is that right? I thought the Data Protection Act allows you to see any information held about 'you' (not your property)? And I also thought that full access to info (about anything, apart from certain exemptions) held by public organisatons, inc councils, is brought about only when the Freedom Of Information Act impacts on this in January 2005? Dave.