Planning permission 8 month wait

[Mel1123]

Hi All,

I live in the Cambridgeshire area and we have now been waiting 8 months to get planning permission on a relatively small 2 bedroom extension of what is currently a one bedroom bungalow! I am now 6 months pregnant and obviously as we expected to not have to wait more than a few weeks for a reply I am now getting rather anxious as we desperately need another room. After 6 weeks we got a letter requesting an extension and a month later received a letter stating the planning dept was understaffed and people were away on holiday etc and to expect a wait. But 8 months!!! Does anyone else have experience waiting so long? We phone every week and leave msgs as nobody answers calls or emails. We've been down to planning office three times and always told that it is being dealt with. Any advice? Thanks in advance from emotional pregnant lady!

 

[garyo]

You are well outside statutory time limits: http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/planning/applications/decisionmaking/thedecision

Start putting the pressure on.

 

[^woody^]

Put in an appeal for non-determination

 

[Nakajo]

Talk to them first, tell them you're having a baby and tell them of your intention to put in an appeal to the planning inspectorate. If they are minded to grant the permission, then it can be beneficial to wait, because the inspectorate is just as swamped as the LPAs, and they're no more likely to grant you your permission. That said, 8 months is absolutely ridiculous.

 

[garyo]

Is the case everywhere now then due to the PD process not attract ting fees that allows them to scale up?

Or is it the 2016 PD deadline causing an artificial hump in activity (now extended)

 

[nickjb]

Just build it. They are far too busy to check up on you or start legal proceedings.

 

[tony1851]

Put in an appeal for non-determination

Might she be too late to appeal on the grounds of non-determination?
For a householder application, I thought the appeal time limit was 12 weeks from when the LPA should have issued a decision.

 

[^woody^]

12 weeks

12 weeks to appeal a decision, six months for non determination.

This time runs from the date the decision was due, or from any agreed extension of time.

 

[Nakajo]

Garyo. We're talking here about a Planning Application. Do keep up.

 

[ajrtd]

We have done two self builds in the fens a couple of miles apart. One in Norfolk full planning took an incredible four weeks. The one in Cambridgeshire took an unbelievable nine months with the help of a planing consultant from January's Newmarket road Cambridge.

We are looking for a building plot at the moment.....................in Norfolk.

 

[garyo]

Garyo. We're talking here about a Planning Application. Do keep up.

The applications for prior approval under PD go in to the same process as a 'traditional' planning application once an objection has been lodged, and that seems to be in ~50% of cases, if you believe what you read.

 

[Nakajo]

I assume you're talking about Class A extensions - but I still don't see the relevance to the OPs situation.

 

[garyo]

The relevance being that perhaps that's the reason for...

Hi All,
We phone every week and leave msgs as nobody answers calls or emails. We've been down to planning office three times and always told that it is being dealt with.

...okay - so maybe it's technically irrelevant to the OP given that the LA have an obligation to him to decide within a couple of months, and therefore how busy the dept is is neither here nor there, but it's of interest to this forum if this is the current level of service to be expected (and I'm not sure that it is, hence the question).

 

[^woody^]

We've been down to planning office three times and always told that it is being dealt with. Any advice?

Be more assertive?

Contact the chief exec, and make a formal complaint specifically regarding the lack of contact and attitude of the officers, not so much the lack of planning decision. If they see it as a planning complaint, they might not accept it as a service complaint.

 

[jeds]

I would appeal for non determination, but you need to check dates. You have 6 months from the date the application should have been decided. If you are still within that date get an appeal in quickly, before you miss it. If the decision comes in before you can always withdraw.