Planning and Development Management

Question 1

What is a planning appraisal and how is it used

Answer 1

A planning appraisal is an assessment of the development potential of a site based on planning policy and other considerations.

Question 2

How does it fit within the development process?

Answer 2

The planning appraisal will be undertaken during the earliest stage. As it guides the instruction to the architect on which basis to draft a scheme.

Question 3

What is development management and why do we have it?

Answer 3

Development management is the process of pro-actively managing development in a local area to achieve the local planning vision and objectives. We have it to ensure development is delivered in accordance with policy during its development life cycle, from project planning through to construction completion and project exit.

Question 4

What is development control?

Answer 4

Development control deals with the correct use of the land, the appearance of the proposed building and the effect that the development will have on the general environment and neighbouring properties

Question 5

Who are the key stakeholders in development management?

Answer 5

The Local Authority
The developer
Site specific stakeholders
Contractors of the developer
Local community

Question 6

Tell me about your understanding of the key principles and processes used to determine the need for planning consent.

Answer 6

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Question 7

How do you go about undertaking pre-application consultation and why?

Answer 7

You can apply directly to the Local Planning Authority to request a pre-application meeting for a fee. You can then present any extent of details about the scheme you are proposing to the planning officers and wider team. This helps to ensure that the Council’s views can be incorporated into design from an early stage, and help to gain feedback on the likelihood of obtaining planning to ensure that when you are submitting, you have a good chance of securing permission

Question 8

What is the process involved in obtaining appropriate planning permission?

Answer 8

Pre-application advice

Application and validation - Validation is the process undertaken by the Council to check that new planning applications are complete and include all relevant supporting information

Consultation and publicity - letters are sent to neighbours to notify them of the proposals. Specialists are consulted where appropriate

Site visit - if required the planning officer will go to site and make an inspection

Recommendation - the planning officer will make a recommendation on the application - taking into account planning policy, consultation responses and public representations

Decision:
If going to committee - elected councillors will make the final decision, being informed by the planning officers recommendation

Or it can be decided under delegated powers, which usually happens for smaller applications, - officer is given ‘delegated powers’ to decide on behalf of the LPA

Type of outcome:

Approve
Approved subject to conditions or a legal agreement, or be refused

If an application is approved, it is likely there will be conditions attached to the permission

1. pre-commencement conditions
2. requiring action prior to occupation or the development opening
3. Controlling how the development is used once it is completed (hours of use)

Question 9

What information is required in support of a planning submission and where is this defined?

Answer 9

All applications need supporting documentation, known as ‘requirements’. These requirements vary according to the type and scale of application.

Use two documents - National Validation Requirements:

• Plans and drawings
• Ownership certificate and agricultural land declaration
• DAS
• Fire Statement

-Environmental Statement for EIA applications
Outline application - needs plan indicating where access points to the development are going to be

The LA will also set their own Local Validation Requirements which sets out the reports and assessments that may be required as part of the application process

Question 10

Tell me about the site/building surveys you are familliar with

Answer 10

Ground condition surveys
Ecological surveys
Local transport surveys
Asbestos survey
Topographical survey
Flood Risk survey

Question 11

Where would you source information on one of these surveys?

Answer 11

.

Question 12

How do you analyse environmental features and issues?

Answer 12

I take specialist advice from an ecologist as that is outside my area of expertise.

Question 13

How long does it take to obtain a planning decision?

Answer 13

Planning decisions on householder and other minor applications are usually completed within 8 weeks. Major applications may take 13 weeks to decide or longer

Question 14

How are planning decisions made and by whom?

Answer 14

Officer makes recommendation in accordance with the local development plan, consultation responses and public representations

Decision can then either go to committee or delegated powers

Question 15

What will be the main issues in determining if planning consent is granted?

Answer 15

Accordance with the local development plan.

This can include:

Accordance with site allocation
Affordable housing
Heritage impact
Townscape impact
Transport/traffic impact (parking)
Design
Cumulative impact

Question 16

How can interested parties get involved in planning determination?

Answer 16

Formal period of public consultation - anyone can respond. Minimum of 21 days.

Statutory consultees - LPA required to consult them

Question 17

When and why would an application by ‘called-in’ by the Secretary of State and what does this mean?

Answer 17

The secretary of state will normally only do this if the application conflicts with national policy in important ways, or is nationally significant.

Question 18

What is a Judicial Review, and what are the key timescales and risks?

Answer 18

A Judicial Review claim is, essentially, a challenge made
against a decision that has been taken by a public body or a body which exercises a public function. In the case in hand it’s a challenge against the decision of the planning authority to grant planning permission.

A Judicial Review claim can be brought up to six weeks
from the date that the grounds for the claim first arose. In the case of planning, that’s six weeks from the date on
the permission

Question 19

What are the different types of planning appeals and when are they used?

Answer 19

Appeal - in respect of a planning decision

Appeal - against any conditions that have been imposed on the consent

Appeal - if the LPA has failed to make a decision within a specified timeframe (usually 8 or 13 weeks depending on the type of application)

Question 20

Tell me about the stages of an appeals process?

Answer 20

Most common form of appeal is through written representations although this can be through informal hearing or public inquiry:

Submit notice of the appeal within relevant time period relating to the application (6 months for major applications)

Written representations may be submitted to the Planning inspectorate by both the LPA and Developer in which their arguments are made

In some cases an informal hearing may be held, so the inspectorate can clarify the issues of the LPA and developer

For complex cases, a public inquiry is held. This is a formal process where evidence is presented and witnesses called to testify. The inspector makes a recommendation to the Secretary if State based on the inquiry’s findings

Following the appeal process (public inquiry, written reps or informal hearing), the INspectorate prepares a report and recommendation for the SoS who then makes the final decision on the appeal.

This decision is then communicated to the parties involved

Question 21

Tell me about the public consultation process for a new development?

Answer 21

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Question 22

What stakeholders need to be considered for a development proposal and how are these managed?

Answer 22

The LPA
The public/local community
Statutory consultees (EA, Historic England, Natural England, HSE)
Site specific stakeholders (Network Rail on Motspur)

Question 23

Tell me about planning policy and procedures relevant to your locality/region of working.

Answer 23

The site’s I review are primarily within the remit of the Greater London Authority, which I understand acts as the strategic authority that sit’s above the LPA that the site’s I’m reviewing sit within. I therefore make sure to make regard to both the London Plan 2021 and the LPA’s local development plan when undertaking desktop planning appraisals of new sites.

Key examples of this would be the GLA’s fast track affordable threshold route which the vast majority of boroughs I work within make regard to and accept.

Question 24

Tell me about your understanding of urban design principles and characteristics and their implications for development appraisals.

Answer 24

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Question 25

Tell me about your understanding of the role of supplementary planning documents, design guides and codes in guiding planning applications and their consideration.

Answer 25

Supplementary planning documents provide supporting advice and guidance to support policies within an LPA’s development plan. They can be site specific or thematic and often expand on the details set out within the development plan. They can be considered a material consideration and should be read in conjunction with the local plan.

Design guides are documents providing guidance on how development can be carried out in accordance with good design practice, often produced by a local authority.

Design codes on the other hand are a set of simple, concise, illustrated design requirements that are visual (what buildings might look like) and where possible, numerical (dimensions or quantity)

The NPPF expects LPAs to develop these guides or codes, in accordance with the National Design Guide and the National Model Design Code.

Question 26

What is a non-material amendment?

Answer 26

Non-material amendments are changes to a planning proposal that are very minor and do not materially alter the size and scale of the building, including its footprint and would not alter the description of the development or the red edge area of the application.

An application for a “non-material amendment” removes the need for an entirely new planning application to be submitted where only a very small change is sought.

Question 27

What does S96A relate to?

Answer 27

A ‘non-material amendment’ would form an update to the existing permission. This is known as an s96a application or an NMA.

Question 28

What does S73 relate to?

Answer 28

The section 73 application process can also be used to make a ‘minor-material amendments’ to a planning permission, that is, amendments ‘…whose scale and nature results in a development which is not substantially different from the one which has been approved’.

Question 29

How can you change a scheme once planning consent is secured?

Answer 29

Either through a S96a or S73 application, depending on the extent of changes you want to make

Question 30

What is a drop in permission?

Answer 30

A drop-in permission is granted following a standalone planning application to alter a discrete part of a wider development that has already been approved under an earlier permission. This option was previously attractive to developers, as it appeared to allow a small area of a wider development to be altered more easily, without requiring updated reports etc. to be prepared in relation to the site as a whole. Drop-in permissions appeared to provide a level of flexibility for developers, especially on larger schemes where development will be built out over several years.

Question 31

What precedent was set in Hillside Parks Ltd (Appellant) v Snowdonia National Park Authority?

Answer 31

In 1967, Merioneth County Council granted planning permission for the development of 401 dwellings (“the 1967 Permission”) on a site in Snowdonia National Park (“the Site”). Between 1967 and 1973, it made seven further grants of planning permission in respect of the Site, each of which departed from the scheme of development authorised by the 1967 Permission.

Gwynedd County Council became the relevant local planning authority in 1974. In 1987, it argued in proceedings brought in the High Court by Landmaster Investments Ltd, which owned the Site at that time, that the 1967 Permission had lapsed (“the 1987 proceedings”). The High Court rejected that argument, deciding that the development authorised by the 1967 Permission could still lawfully be completed at any time.

Snowdonia National Park Authority (“the Authority”) became the relevant local planning authority in 1996. It made eight further grants of planning permission in respect of the Site between 1996 and 2011.

In 2019, Hillside Parks Ltd (“Hillside”), which now owns the Site, brought a claim against the Authority, in order to ascertain whether the scheme of development authorised by the 1967 Permission could still lawfully be completed. The Authority argued that it could not be, as development carried out pursuant to the additional permissions granted after 1967 was inconsistent with it. In particular, roads had been built in areas designated for houses, and houses had been built in areas designated for roads.

Where an application under s96A is not possible, then the developer can amend earlier permission under s73 planning application, however any plans submitted will need to be for the whole site showing how the new permission ‘incorporates the changes into a coherent design for the whole site’ and that the changes are not ‘material’ or ‘inconsistent’ for the whole site and planning permission granted under s73 becomes the main planning permission for the site.

Question 32

What is the NPPF?

Answer 32

The National Planning Policy Framework is planning policy published by the UK government which sets out their key economic, social and environmental planning policy, providing a framework guiding local authorities as to how they should develop their local development plans. This framework should also be applied to planning decisions.

Question 33

What is the London Plan?

Answer 33

The London Plan (2021) is part of the statutory development plan of the GLAwhich sets out strategic planning policies for London. Local Authorities within the GLA must prepare their development plans in ‘general conformity’ with the London Plan, to ensure that development across London is delivered in a joined up manner.

Question 34

What relationship has the GLA with London boroughs?

Answer 34

The GLA provides wider strategic direction for all London Boroughs. The GLA sets these overarching strategic policies which the Local Authorities must then deliver at local level.

Where applications are of significance, they are referred to the GLA for the Mayor’s commentary and review.

When they are involved:

Stage 1 - GLA Consultation - the Mayor acts as statutory consultee and comments on the proposed development. Within 6 weeks GLA officers will evaluate the application against the requirements of the London Plan. A stage 1 response is then written ouitlining any recommended changes to ensure conformity with the london plan

The Local Planning officer will then consider this stage 1 report in their officer report which is presented to the planning committee.

The planning committee will then form their decision

Stage 2 - after decision. application is then referred back to the Mayors team to evaluate. This is called a stage 2 referal. They have 14 days to:

1) allow the decision to stand
2) direct the LPA to refuse if it has been approved. This is binding

If an application is of Potential Strategic Importance (significant impact on implementation of the London Plan), the Mayor can call in the application and act on behalf of the local authority.

Question 35

What does a S106 agreement relate to?

Answer 35

A section 106 agreement is a legal agreement between a developer and local authority upon granting of planning permission, which secures planning obligations for the local area that the developer must deliver (affordable housing, employment and training programmes, site specific highways improvements).

Question 36

what does a S278 agreement relate to?

Answer 36

A Section 278 agreement, is a section of the Highways Act 1980. It allows developers to enter into a legal agreement with the Council, to make alterations and improvements to a public highway, as part of a planning application.

Question 37

What is a statutory consultee?

Answer 37

Statutory consultees: are organisations and bodies, defined by statute, who must be consulted on relevant planning applications. (HSE, Historic England, Local Highways (TFL)

Question 38

What is a non-statutory consultee?

Answer 38

Non-statutory consultees are organisations or bodies, identified in planning policy, technical notes or guidance who should be consulted on relevant planning applications, however developers are not legally required to do so.

Question 39

What is PDR?

Answer 39

Permitted Development Rights allow for changes to be made to buildings and the use of land without needing planning permission. They derive from a general planning permission granted by Parliament, rather than from permission granted by the LPA. Before some PDRs can be used. ‘Prior Approval’ in relation to specified aspects of the development must be obtained from the LPA.

The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2015 - granted PDS. Under the 2015 order, planning permission is not needed for changes in use of building within each sub-class, and for certain changes of use between some of the use classes./

Question 40

Go through updates to PDR legislation

Answer 40

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