Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

RE: Caravan in aonb

2025-01-07T08:16:53Z

Ted thank you very much. I appreciate the effort you go to - please carry on. Richard

RE: Caravan in aonb

2025-01-06T15:49:31Z

Ted Slevin:

the majority of the site’s users are enforcement officers and planning department staff, who will always err on the side of denial when it comes to anything you propose.

Hello Ted - your advice is sound but you are being rude. If you continue to paint enforcement officers as pantomime villains intent on stopping anyone achieve anything I'm afraid I will step in. It's just not true, and I won't allow this disrepect. Richard PAS.

RE: Press Ad savings - Use QR code?

2024-07-03T13:37:23Z

Hans Bray:

As a 2 tier county council (there are 21 of us) we spend less - Surrey CCs rounded up average spend for the last few years (exc covid year) is about £14k pa

Can I check what this means? Does it mean that 21 of you spend £14k/ea on average (=£294k) or that the county council by itself spends £14k? (or something else I have recently returned from holiday and I'm not sure my brain is working yet)

RE: Press Ad savings - Use QR code?

2024-07-02T10:01:39Z

I don't want to read too much into it, but I have been asked just the other day how much of a difference a change to the press notice requirement would make to councils.

I don't have any modern data - does anyone fancy sharing their annual cost with me? I can then scale it up to make some sort of national estimate.

RE: Publishing (or not) of public comments

2024-05-10T08:51:20Z

"PAS guidance is in favour of not publishing comments"

Hi Liz

I haven't gone back to check the exact wording but my memory is that we said comments from private individuals are probably not worth the extra work in publishing. Stat cons / amenity groups etc are worth it.

As an aside, have you noticed any AI or bot-type things starting to happen in consultations?

Richard

RE: Brown field site reverting to green belt?

2023-11-30T16:10:31Z

Hi Neil - welcome to the world of planning.

You won't get detailed advice here - planning ends up being quite specific and that is why a good local agent is a good idea. If I've understood correctly you are talking about "previously developed land" (PDL) in green belt. This is a common topic.

If you want to read around your subject you should start with the national policy on green belt you will want to look at 145 and 147-51. You will also need to look at your councils relevant planning policy. Then see if there is a planning portal history thing on the council's website to see if there is planning history, and understand the site's constraints. Then you need to understand who owns the land and what their attitude is towards development. Ditto your ward councillors.

Then approach your council for some planning advice. Not all councils offer it, and sometimes it isn't especially helpful, but it is a good first step. You might want to explain why you want to develop, and what sort of benefits the development will generate (remembering the language of paras 147-151). They should tell you what their policy position means in practice, and give you a sense of your chances. [you might be able to skip this if your refusal already has reasons for refusal]

Yes it sounds like a palaver. Thats why there is a place for good planning agents!

HTH

Richard

RE: Query regarding using the DLUHC digital planning fund for a new IT syst

2023-11-08T11:16:58Z

Hi Michael

I haven't gone back to check definitively, but I think procuring new ICT was expressly outside the scope of the digital planning fund.

HTH Richard

RE: Missing update notifications from gov.uk

2023-10-12T14:55:00Z

I have an answer - I don't think you're going to like it

"To answer your question about updates to the NPPF on the .gov.uk website – as the website is only a collection page of links, it only registers as updated if a new link is added to new guidance. This hasn’t been done in two years hence why the page hasn’t been updated since June 2021. Some of the linked guidance will have been updated in that time but you would need to subscribe for email alerts individually and directly on the guidance pages you are interested in. You could equally subscribe at a topic level, though this will increase the scope of the content included."

I've made the point that this is slightly silly from a users perspective, but I suspect I'm going to get an answer back along the lines of "but this is how .ogv.uk works".

Richard

RE: Missing update notifications from gov.uk

2023-09-19T10:09:21Z

Hello Richard W

I still get daily emails on my preferences (which are planning and building).

Is the problem that updates to NPPG are not being flagged as being part of that policy area? (or even not being flagged as updates?)

RE: Voter ID and Neighbourhood Plans

2023-06-07T15:42:01Z

Blimey.

I had totally missed this. Photo ID needed for a neighbourhood plan referendum but not a town & parish council election.

Sounds like a tricky message to deliver!

RE: Planning portals - comments/objections

2023-05-11T08:57:31Z

Jane Watson:

Hi We only redact signatures, telephone numbers and email addresses as names and postal addresses are not sensitive personal information.

This is true. But is it a targeted and proportionate way to consult on a planning application to have respondents' personal data on the internet (possibly for ever)?

page 25 of our guide is the bit that deals with consultation, but don't skip the opening chapters that cover principles.

RE: Planning portals - comments/objections

2023-05-09T08:14:06Z

Hi Marie, welcome.

We published a guide to planning and the GDPR a while ago. You won't find a definitive "do this, don't do that" but what you will find is a helpful set of principles. And, importantly, a reminder to do what your privacy notice says you will do.

FWIW I really doubt publishing complainants details is necessary, but I'm also clear that councils struggle to change the way they have always done things.

RE: Community fund schemes generated through solar farm applications

2023-04-26T17:24:23Z

Hi Roger,

This isn't an answer to your question, but it is highly relevant that there is a "community benefit" consultation out for energy NSIPs just now.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/community-benefits-for-electricity-transmission-network-infrastructure

Closes in about a month and asks lots of questions about how this should work. It promises further guidance by the end of the year.

HTH

Richard

RE: Legal Framework for Examining Plans

2023-01-13T12:13:03Z

These are very good questions.

We are doing a series of in-person roadshows to support the NPPF consultation and hope to have a tame inspector with us. This is precisely the sort of issue we want to kick around so that your consultation response can point out the unforseen consequences (etc) in it.

We don't have all the details yet - I reckon our bulletin will be out next week.

RE: Supreme Court ruling on drop-in permissions etc

2022-11-03T13:36:37Z

Simon Ricketts is quick of the mark, and adds a Kate Bush pun to boot

https://simonicity.com/2022/11/02/running-down-that-hillside/

RE: Planning fee refund

2022-10-17T08:19:18Z

This is one of those cases where it might be legally sound but is an appalling lack of customer care.

Are you not up for the risk of a non-determination appeal?

Is there any reason / conversation for the lack of progress towards a decision?

Nutrient neutrality advice

2022-01-17T09:10:07Z

Just to flag that we have a new page in our "environment" section setting out some initial work on nutrient neutrality. If you came along in July 2021 there is nothing new (yet) but it was tricky for people to find where it was before.

https://local.gov.uk/pas/topics/environment/nutrient-neutrality-and-planning-system

We are working on a few things as follow up, including

* a planner's guide to nutrient neutrality (I'm going to start calling it NN)

* a template "local validation guide" for NN

* A MOU for groups working together to improve the nutrient position of a catchment

* Possibly a simple guide to solutions - "what works and how much does it cost?"

Any thoughts, advice or signposts to good work very gratefully received.

Anyone _not_ using UPRNs to identify properties?

2021-12-02T15:10:00Z

I've been asked a slightly confusing question about the "VFM" of using UPRNs, and whether I knew anyone who had recently moved to them.

I'd thought that everyone already used them, and had done for years. Have I just led a sheltered life? Anyone a recent convert?

Moving this post

2021-06-22T15:32:56Z

Lots of eagle eyes in the enforcement forum

Is anyone looking at your IFS / data on developer contributions?

2021-05-10T13:40:21Z

We are doing a quick review of last years events and outcomes.

Genuine question: have you noticed anyone reading your IFS? Have you noticed any real world examples of people hoovering up the IFS data and using it in some way? (apart from property week that is)