The Plan Making Manual - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

The Limehouse idea is a good one that about half the planning teams in the country are quite used to using anyway. When I started this thread I was trying to get across the fact that when you use the online version you simply do not get a proper sense of the totality of the Manual. The Limehouse software allows constituent parts to be updated when needed but because you can create a full PDF whenever there is a new version you have the best of both worlds. all registered users can be automatically informed of the new version published. I hope to be attending a seminar on PPS12 etc in Wigan later this month at which we are promised one of the Manual's authors will be present. I hope he is reading this thread and has some good news for us.

FAO Patricia Curmi - Any progress on converting the Plan-Making Manual to PDF format? If this could be done then it would be much appreciated!

Over the last month and a half there have been several updates to the "Manual" but it now seems even more labynthine than ever, there are far too many links on pages which appear to take you out of the "manual" to pages which seem to be related to the old PPS12 or are they, its like something out of Kafka. We need a quick and easy to use source of guidance, because there are other demands on our time believe it or not. PAS really should make this a top priority

I have just received the monthly update email - telling me that 3 new sections have been added. Fine - I can see those. A lot of good and helpful material. But my attention has been drawn by Mike's comment to the fact that there have been several other changes to existing sections - I wasn't aware of those. How was I supposed to be? Searching the document I do indeed find several sections which have been amended since June 4th -eg. the transitionary arrangements section (which was previously either incomprehensible, or just plain wrong). So how do I know which parts have changed since June 4th? I read each part of the Manual fully when it was launched in early June - I, like most professionals, need to know exactly what all the guidance states. Now I have no certainty about which bits have changed, without following again every link to check the latest date, to see if amendments have been made (and then read again in detail, to see what is different). Until now I had been relying on the anticipated monthly update to provide me with the details of changes - but I now realise that the update is not exhaustive, and only appears to relate to additions: it is worthless as a comprehensive guide to changes (unless I'm missing something). From being difficult to use I now find the manual - as an on-line version - impossible to use with any confidence.

David. You might be interested to know that, when you look at the intro page which shows the various sections of the manual, you might see a more recent date than when you last looked, but when you click on the link the date at the botttom of the page is different. I commented on this to PAS this morning and they have speedily replied as follows: "Mike, In response to your question: 'Why does the previous page that links to this one say it has been updated on July 14th, whereas just above this comments box it says June 4th?' I would like to explain that dates on the links to a page are automatically updated whenever an admistrator opens that page. I opened all pages in the manual to carry out various checks and admin jobs - without changing any of the content of the pages. For your reference, the date at the bottom of every page is the one relevant to when content was last updated. Hope this helps." That is the question is'nt it?

Mike, I think the obvious answer to this is - no, it doesn't help, at all! My main concern is regarding (and knowing about) those sections where the content HAS been changed. For example on transitional arrangements, navigating to the actual section shows that it was actually updated on 11th June - from the earlier version on 4th June (which I had previously read). Short of making this journey on every link, I currently have no way of knowing (that I'm aware of) whether any individual section has been updated.

It would really help if the dates on the intro page showed the last update date, rather than when an administrator has been in and made no changes, as this had really confused me as well. I would also echo other comments about the need for a printable version.

Hello all, thanks for your feedback. In response to your comments about checking for changes to the manual, we’ve now made it easier to check for any major updates to the contents of a page by introducing a ‘change log’ http://www.pas.gov.uk/pas/core/page.do?pageId=83606 Here, you can find a list of all significant changes to any page within the manual since its launch on 4 June, including new content and FAQs, amendments and removal of content. As the change log shows, so far there have been very few changes to the manual’s content. As I mentioned before, the ‘last updated’ date given at the bottom of each page is the reference you should use. Apologies for any confusion caused by the different date shown on links to pages. You can also check our FAQ section for answers to any general or policy-related questions http://www.pas.gov.uk/pas/core/page.do?pageId=77676