Current planning fuss etc - PO opinion on all this? - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

Fully behind your comments and thoughts. I work for a private practice and deal with a number of planning authorities and over the years I have seen a vast improvement in the service provided by the LPA's. On the rare occasion when there are delays it is due to us making a meaty submission near election time for the Councillors and when dealing with contentious applications. It now seems that the current consultation is seeking to allow extensions that are more likely than not to be harmful without any formal consideration. I am sure that the published statistics will have a quite different view....

One cannot ignore that the planning system operates within a politcal environment. When a Minister speaks it influences the system. It shows Government's views and how they would deal with appeals and call in applications. As I’m not only RTPI but also RICS I fear I am to be vilified for being two of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Being associated as both a planner and an estate agent (on offence meant) my brothers in arms are used car salesmen and bankers (let me check I spelt that with a “b”). Occasionally one feels like a political football with all the ills of society being loaded onto our shoulders. There was once a Monty Python sketch where the “man at the corner-shop” was blamed for the woes of society. After he was dealt with (possibly with a big animated foot and the clip from the first segment of John Philip Sousa's The Liberty Bell) everything is smelling of roses. One day the community will understand that planners don’t build houses, developers do, and releasing land and making things PD isn’t going to make a fundamental change. If you are going to spend £20 - 50K on an extension, and it will need Building Regs so you will have drawings anyway (or you should if you want a contract and don't want ripping off), does £150 (prior to Thursday) make that much difference to your decision process? What does make a difference is ability to borrow money and the cost of the works. Here’s a radical idea, instead of changing PD rights for 3 years, reduce VAT on extensions. There must be a flaw in that logic.... Back to work.

Phillip, I couldn't have put it better myself. I had already raised this thought under a previous discussion that reduction in VAT is the only way to inject some enthusiasm into the building world. The fact remains that 20% is too easy to work out by Joe Bloggs and it is a huge chunk on top of the quoted cost (plus the extras) to obtain a mortgage and bite the bullet. These proposed changes to PD rights will more than likely cause permanent harm and the type of client wanting to do it is likely not to have detailed drawings, apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness or pay a builder the full whack of VAT. These extensions will in my opinion not drive the economy forward. Educating the general public that planning is the harder consent but the easier drawing is hard work, for the male client I describe the planning drawing as the chassis and bodywork and the Building Regs drawing as the engine and dashboard but that doesn't always work! I dealt with a potential client recently who is doing a loft conversion on a million pound house (having looked at various potential house purchases with him), he said that he doesn't need detailed drawings as the LPA have confirmed he doesn't need Planning Permission...sigh. I am sure the builder will go around with his hammer and a bit of 3x2 to sort it!