News

August 2006: Important changes to the planning system introduced in August 2006 of which all past and future clients should be aware.

In summary the following applies: -

• Proposed minor amendments, singly or in batches will not be authorised by the Council through exchange of correspondence and must be addressed by a fresh planning application taking 8 weeks to determine. This is an attempt to remove the flexibility in the planning process and may lead to delays especially if changes are made during the construction phase.
• Applicants and / or agents are encouraged to submit proposals informally prior to a full application - please note this procedure is currently taking 6-8 weeks.
• Applicants and / or agents are required to submit more in depth information at the outset as described in the validation of planning applications documents.
• Planning consents are now valid for 3 years only and in order to safeguard any consent, a 'material start to the work' should be made.
• Previously simple renewals of current consents prior to expiry must now be by a full planning application supported with the information described above.

In essence, applicants with the help of agents, are now required to compile the required package of information well in advance, in an effort to assist Local Authorities in achieving the 8 week target set by Government for dealing with applications. This will inevitably add to lead times before an application is submitted and clients should allow sufficient time for information gathering when considering project timescales.

Click on these relevant documents on the South Hams web site to open them in a new window:

Validation of Planning Applications

Changes to the planning System