Life As A Planning Officer | Planning Permission UK

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Chapters:
00:00:00 - Simplifying the Planning Process
00:01:36 - The Experience of a Planning Officer
00:03:09 - The Lengthy Process of Planning Permission in Local Councils
00:04:51 - The Financial Impact of Planning Departments
00:06:24 - Strategies for Submitting Planning Applications
00:07:55 - The Pressure on Council Officers
00:09:38 - The Role and Limitations of Pre-application Advice
00:11:21 - Planning Permission Conditions and Their Importance
00:13:02 - Clearing up the Planning Process

[@edtheqs]

You are giving me such a great in sight in to how this all works from the inside. Thank you so much.

[@PlanningForProfit]

You're welcome.

[@50secs]

Insightful video. Thank you!

[@PlanningForProfit]

Appreciate it!

[@zororat]

Great videos, really appreciate this content, not sure about the background music, a little distracting, but very interesting to have an insight from a planning officer. I too experienced frustration from council and planning. But after 2 grueling years of waiting not knowing if we even had a chance (7 months for the appeal to be decided) We got approval to build! A dream come true, so we can't complain too much.. now waiting on building warrant and off we go.. and they say this is when the really stress starts! 😐

[@PlanningForProfit]

Great to hear Michael. Yes sometimes even if you have a great development from the outset and you get refused, it takes some courage and persistence to pursue an appeal. You're not the first to mention the background music! Will get something better together

[@auddin9968]

Hi Ian, Just wanted to say thank you very for uploading the such an useful video. I am sure a lot of people will be benefited with your great peace of work.

[@PlanningForProfit]

You're welcome A Uddin and thank you for saying so. Do let me know if there are any other areas of planning you are struggling with and I'll see if I can put a video together for it

[@bbyng7316]

He's fab and SO refreshing. I just signed up to do a Masters in Urban Planning partly thx to his wisdom and straightforwardness. He should write a book on his experiences, an Xmas stocking filler that anyone with any planning experience would want to read. It should have a few hilarious cartoons too - rule bending P.D. things e.g. etc. If you value place,you'd want to read it,but humour would be important.

[@ColinWatters]

After a year in pre application advice I was about to give up on our application to build a house, but I decided to ask a planning consultant to review our application. I picked one at random from the phone book and sent him our drawings. Turned out he had previous experience with our plot. He also had a letter that the planners had sent to the previous owner of the plot. This letter directly contradicted everything the planners had been telling me for over a year. They told him one thing and me the exact opposite. As soon as I produced that letter they rolled over and agreed to support my application immediately. By then I had spent a fortune on wasted architects fees, even numerous flights, car hire and hotels to attend meetings with them. If the planning officer had been there when we discovered that letter I probably would have hit him.

[@PlanningForProfit]

Thats a shame that happened. Sometimes officers or Councils give poor advice which puts them in a difficult position. This doesn't happen too often but can sometimes lead to Councils trying to claw back to give better advice that protects their position

[@calvin1966vintage]

It does happen too often. I, like thousands of homeowners , SME and architects have wasted £millions and decades of time accumulatively every year because of the postcode/officer lottery of quantitive tick-box mentality. Planning attracts a mindset that is at odds with qualitative evaluation, creativity, innovation and clarity. The AJ reports again and again how utter frustration is destroying self-builds. I know a number of individuals who wished to build advanced Passiv Haus properties but have given up due to Planning Officers. The excuse of workload and underfunding just doesn't cut it. I would say 'meeting' these officers highlights a toxicity that is the problem, but meeting one is almost impossible. Somewhere in the black box of a LPA is a 'computer that says no' spitting out emails as it sees fit, taking weeks to reply, if ever. Planning - unless you're a £multi-million developer, it's totally broken.

[@annepower3313]

Great video thanks 👍🙏

[@PlanningForProfit]

Hi Anne, you're welcome

[@ssyed7030]

Dear Ian, Thanks. I have received the Ebook.

[@PlanningForProfit]

Hope you enjoy it!

[@JanasZoro]

As architect, i think in general planners have too much power to decide regarding stuff that are not really confident in, like architecture. For this reason sometimes is really hard to deal with.

[@kevintoms9338]

Hi I am planning on building a wooden garage with a flat roof, however the ground runs down hill away from the house. Where is the 2. 5 meter hight taken from. Top of slope or bottom. It will be 1 meter from a road boundary. Thanks

[@MyVisibleLife]

Thanks for this. If I have a scenario question - can I submit it to get your initial thoughts?

[@nikkion2140]

Council should make it a self-function, slef-financed planning unit.

[@PlanningForProfit]

There are certain things that are fair to go to the general Council pot. But a lot of fees generated just wouldn't be possible without the planning department.

[@GurnamSingh-vx6tj]

Ian, what if the key issue is NIMBY residents?? This was such an informative video btw, many thanks...

[@bobbysaini8826]

If i have a 6 metre rear extension and want to add a conservatory?

[@skylights68]

Hello, can you help and clarify if i am allowed to make internal room layouts to an approved prior approval? The main changes are internal and switching over a window and bi fold doors (straight swap over - not additional) the size of the extension remains the same. Thanks

[@PlanningForProfit]

generally internal works do not require planning permission unless the property is listed. you may need consent to change the windows though

[@albertgraham9097]

Hi this video is very informative can you answer me a question please I have a detached bungalow on a corner site what was given this year retrospective planning to be rendered I asked local planning if I can build a side extension within pd rules and received an email saying it's within the rules and yes i can I then applied for it in a full planning application as I was extending the garage on the other side of the property which they begrudgingly after 22week and having to reduce in size agreed to but insist it's built in a red brick finish which I cannot live with when the rest of the property is in white render there is a huge detached house next door but one that's white render? any opinion on this as to how I can build with render as the planning officer is insisting on brick as she says it's less imposing thanks for any help

[@PlanningForProfit]

Sounds like a position you could challenge. Sounds like the Council are trying to claw back the original materials to the building if you were given retrospective permission to something else. If they are standing firm then you always have a right of appeal (even on a permission!)

[@albertgraham9097]

@@PlanningForProfit Hi thanks for your reply would I be able to revert back to my original permitted development response I received and go ahead with it as it states it can be no more than 1/2 width of original house can't be set forward and max 4 mtrs high and use same materials as on the house or does the planning permission override the pd? The pd email I received regarding this says on it an official document thanks. Ps it's extremely difficult to deal with the local planning as they will not answer a phone call and take weeks over an email response if at all

[@ssyed7030]

Dear Ian, Thanks for the Videos. These are really helpful. I have confirmed my email but did not receive the Book in the email. Please help

[@ssyed7030]

Thanks. I have got the Ebook.

[@PlanningForProfit]

Great

[@pistonslapuk]

Hi there, do you offer paid advice please?

[@lazygardens]

I think I see a self-inflicted injury here: developers and property owners push for lower taxes, cutting off funding to the council and inspectors, so they cut staff and the developers and property owners end up waiting for weeks or months.

[@PlanningForProfit]

That's the planning profession in a nutshell in the public sector. Funding for Councils doesn't seem to be forthcoming and planning departments are drowning

[@nikkion2140]

What qualifications are required for becoming a planning officer?

[@PlanningForProfit]

Most consultancies ask for a degree that is accredited by the RTPI. Diploma, Masters, whatever. Not many people start planning as their first degree which is why they often study a second course that is accredited.

[@AnthonyBestBefore]

Pre-app advice is useless. I went through two (under advise from the council) and they went exactly the opposite direction of what was advised when I submitted for planning...

[@PlanningForProfit]

That story is a common one I'm afraid.

[@jamescassidy3995]

Great information thanks - but for god’s sake’s lose the tinny madly annoying distracting muzak!

[@kendavis5686]

Let's face it, the planning system is utterly useless. Not only is it not fit for purpose but low salaries/incompetent staff (and corruption), and policy that can mean whatever the planners want frustrate and delay development. Get clear on what the issues are?...you must be joking! Most policy is so vague it's impossible to pin down the issues. Buildings are pretty precise things so policy should be clear and concise. This is 50 years of experience talking.

[@PlanningForProfit]

The planning system is in a bad state that is certainly true. But we are where we are and we have to look for opportunities and ways of making it work to our advantage. As a former planning officer myself I considered myself (relatively) competent but I drowned in the mountain of work which meant delays were unavoidable. I as on the verge of nervous breakdowns at times so I take slight issue with planning officers being targeted as the source of the problem. They work in a very difficult system for all involved.

[@terrencelong6436]

After seeing this...the whole thing sounds just like a really convoluted expensive bloody nightmare....it's a wonder anybody bothers building anything....😬

[@PlanningForProfit]

Yes unfortunately so many avoid it because of the planning system. But hopefully with enough guidance people can use the system with more confidence and not be scared away by the crazy bureaucracy