I am a Police Crime Prevention Design Advisor and before everyone runs for cover or questions what on earth is a Police Officer doing on this forum, my question has so far met with "blank looks". I have been consulted on a retrospective planning application which was subsequently refused and is going to appeal. The original planning application was submitted electronically via an agent on behalf of a national company. The applicant is named as an individual on Part 1 of the application and is named again on Certificate A and the Agricultural Holdings Certificate. When I conducted a further site visit i spoke to the named individual who had no knowledge of the application (she did not actually support the application either) and had not been approached prior to the development or since. My question is, how is the electronic signature perceived, is it legitimate or should it be assumed by a national company that their premises manager would support an application in their name? Obviously from a legal aspect I would consider it as a potential fraud/forgery with all that that implies. Any views or anybody had a similar situation. Graham Kelsey
