Planning permission - Did you appeal and win ?

[mummydear]

Earlier in the year our planning permission got refsued. The planning officers at the Council recommended it for permission but when it went to commitee the local councilors ( who know nothing about planning , but thats another story ) refused it !!

We are now appealing and should have a site visit by the planning inpsectorate at the end of the month.

The planning officers at the council have not submitted any objections to the appeal and we are banking on the fact that the planning officers recommended it but it was the councillors that finally refused it. NOt really takning anything for granted but have been told by various people in building/planning trade that we have a good chance of winning in these circumstances.

Anyone been throught the appeal procedure and how did it turn out for you ?

bump

you need to look at the grounds for refusal and address them in your appeal - a slight alteration to you plans could make all the difference.

The appeal was submitted in June , we paid for someone to do it for us .

well if you paid an expert to do the appeal for you, presumably they have addressed the reasons for refusal and looked at ways to mitigate them.

Planning can ony be refused on specific grounds, so if you can overcome the objections you should win.

(I used to deal with plannng applications in a commercial capacity many moons ago)

What has bugged me is that the local planning officers , who have the expertise and knowledge recommended it for approval on say grounds A,B,C but then when it went to commitee the councillors, who are only after votes in my opionion said it didn't comply with grounds A, B, C !!!

So who are the experts , just wonderring whether in these circumstances planning inspectroarte agree withe the local planning officers in majority of cases.

anyone else been through planning appeal process ?

I worked for an architect in london who got almost all his appeals approved. It really makes a difference how you word the appeal. If you have a good architect handling it, it soudns like you should prevail.

I was a planner and I would say that your chances of winning the appeal are much much higher if the professional planners at the Council had recommended permission. They are apolitical and have no "votes" vested interest. Also they are qualified and experienced in assessing planning policy. It's not a dead cert - occasionally we had appeals where there was a recommendation for permission or a neutral recommendation where the Inspector agreed with the Councillors. But it is pretty rare in my experience.
The frustrating thing was when I'd recommend permission, it would be refused at Committee, and then I'd have to write a reason for refusal based on the Committee member's ramblings on the night!

But at least we had a policy of not making the smae planner who'd made a positive recommendation represent the Council at the subsequent appeal!
Is it a written reps appeal or will there be an informal hearing?
Agree that you should look at the reason for refusal and then refer to the officer's report to see where they have discussed the planning policies relevant to the case for hints as to how to put your proposal into context with local policy.

It is a written appeal. The appeal that was subm itted on our behalf is really good, in my ley opinion.

I have had a look on line to our local councils response and they have not obejceted at all or do not appear to have made any further comment on the grounds that the councillors turned it down. Its a bit difficult really as they thought it was OK.

Agrre with you Pooks that it must be frustrated saying one thing then having to re write it because of some coucillors objections and bascially going back on your expert opinion. I really don't know how this can happen , surely it must chnage in the future that the planning officers wros if final , as it is all about votes at the end of the day with councillors.

This process has really got my back up about certain coucnillors in our area !!!

I suppose that on some levels it is good to have a committee of elected members making a decision - simply because otherwise the Chief Planner would have disproportionate power/could be corruption and so on. And normally Councillors do make decisions with hefty weight on the officer's recommendation (apart from on telecoms masts where there is general agreement that planners will recommend on planning issues and Members will always refuse where I work because such a political hot potato they prefer to leave the nasty work of granting permission to the appeal Inspector). In our local authority we ALWAYS contest appeals regardless of whether planners have recommended permission or not because the Inspectorate have the ability to grant costs. But it does turn into a bit of a pointless exercise in debating skills, particularly in hearings, if you're basically defending an appeal where a colleague has recommended permission.