Where to start with your planning permit application
Planning permission is needed if you want to make some alterations to your home or property, but it’s not always easy to know where to start.
The first thing you need to do is decide what kind of project you want to take on. You could be thinking about extending your property with a conservatory or maybe building an extension that will give you more living space.
Regardless of what you’re doing, it’s important that the work complies with local planning regulations and meets certain standards. If it doesn’t meet these criteria, then it won’t get approved by council planners – so save yourself some time and money by making sure your plans are up to scratch before starting any construction work!
Sketch out what you want to do to your property
The first thing you need to do is sketch out what you want to do to your property. Make sure you include all the details, dimensions and different views of the job (e.g., a plan or elevation). You can use your local planning portal as inspiration for where to start with this step in the process.
This can be used when talking to architects, building surveyors or architectural technicians at a later stage of your project. Keep these safe and use them as a talking point.
I would not recommend spending time building detailed plans at this stage. Using the sketch can give you an idea of what you can do and also afford.
Check online if you can get planning permission by doing your own investigation before spending money.
If you’re not sure whether or not a planning permit is required for your project, it might be worth doing your own investigation before spending money on hiring a professional.
- Check online if you can get planning permission by doing your own investigation before spending money.
- Check the council’s website for permitted development policies
- Check your local planning portal to see if similar applications have been approved in your area
When you find ambiguity or you want to proceed with your planning permission application, then connect with professionals
If you’re not 100% certain that your application will be successful, reach out to professionals who can help. You can reach out to architects, building surveyors or architectural technicians.
These professionals can help with planning permits and design, but at the early stages, they can advise if you can proceed with the project or not. By doing some of the research on your own, you would save some money by adjusting your plans or project idea.
Just be careful, and don’t fall into the trap of getting a cowboy builder to do it outside of the planning approval process.
Planning permission is a process that takes time and money. It’s essential to get it right because if you don’t, you may end up spending more than what you had originally planned.
You should also be careful when hiring builders who build it outside the planning permission process. Suppose the application is guaranteed to be non-permissible and the council finds out that you’ve built a non-compliant building. In that case, they can issue an enforcement notice, which is a legal order to stop work on the building and restore it to its original condition. This can mean that you could have to demolish your extension or rebuild it in accordance with planning regulations.