Planning Officer visit

[CaleyThistle]

Hi All,
We have proposal for a kitchen extension with the planning department at the moment and I'm just wondering if it's normal for a Planning Officer to visit the property as part of their assessment?
The reason I ask is that the planning people have asked us, via our architect, to leave our back gate unlocked so they can nosy round the back of our house.
They tried to gain access a few weeks ago but our back gate was locked (Duh! We keep it locked because we don't want people to have access willi nilli!)
My OH is working lates this week and can be in to let them in, but I'm still a bit 'hmmm' about it all. What exactly do they need to see...?

It's normal. It's to see what the character of the area is, the relationship between your house and neighbours and make sure the plans are accurate.

it's all part of the planning process and is completely normal. They need to make sure your plans match what's actually there and that your neighbour's aren't impacted. onoy takes a few mins

Yes we always do a site visit otherwise we've no way of knowing how the extension would fit with your house in design terms and how it would relate to your neighbours' houses as another thing we assess is impact on your neighbours' amenities, e.g overshadowing etc.

Normal and necessary

I would use Google maps myself! Thanks all - they are coming round next week.

Sadly Google maps doesn't show you if your house is situated 4ft higher than your neighbour, and they can stand in your garden to see what effect the extension would have.

Yes inconvenient having to leave a gate unlocked, but the sooner they come round the sooner you can get your planning through.

Also I know someone who submitted a planning application for an extension, but failed to show they already had a conservatory on their plans so the visit flagged that up.

Goggle maps isn't a live camera above your house