Forum Topic

Planning application notification

Does anyone know whether a planning authority has a statutory duty to notify a property owner in writing when a neighbouring property owner submits a planning application?  Is a notice on a lamp post sufficient, or does the authority have to send a notice by post?  If no notice has been sent, does that provide grounds for requesting an extension to the consultation closing date?  Any help on this very gratefully received.

Liz Thornton ● 2391d14 Comments

Hi liz, there's no legal requirement to give written notification,although this was standard practice until a few years ago. Lampost,trees etc, in order to display notices of an application within a certain radius of the application site is lawful.

Donna Fraser ● 2391d

Here are the details: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/consultation-and-pre-decision-matters Which application are you concerned about?  Do contact your ward councillors for help and advice. 

Joanna Biddolph ● 2391d

Hounslow continue to send out ‘neighbour’ notices.I think I am correct in saying that Ealing do not and you have to read the yellow notices posted in the near vicinity’s

Elizabeth Ross ● 2391d

Thank you all for the advice. It is Ealing. There is a lamppost notice but it simply replaced an old out of date notice about another application, so we didn't realise it had been changed. The planning website shows a 'neighbour site notice' as one of the documents issued, but clearly that isn't the case.

Liz Thornton ● 2391d

IIRC Ealing stopped neighbour notices back in 2016. The expectation is now that you read the single 'flimsy yellow' attached to a lamppost or try to find details online — a really pathetic system.

N V Brooks ● 2391d

Check with your other neighbours whether they have received anything.  They tend to rely on people not communicating with each other imo or certainly did in the past. Don't ignore the yellow notices they often change as there are re-submissions and don't expect everything to be built in line with any permissions.  It's much more complicated now that so much is 'permissable'.

Philippa Bond ● 2391d

The relevant planning law will have certain requirements and on top of that there will be a Statement of Community Involvement (SCI) in which the council states what it does in addition to make people aware of plans that may affect them.Ealing's dates back to 2011 and the inadequacies of the way they consult was highlighted with the recent furore over the plan to redevelop the Bedford Park Surgery.The main commitment they agree to beyond the bare minimum is lamppost notices for all applications. They also by law have to put a notice in 'a newspaper in general circulation in the area'. If you live in the Chiswick bit of Ealing then there is no such newspaper if you regard online news publications as not newspapers.I have learned from experience that challenging applications on the basis of inadequate publicity doesn't achieve much. The planners won't confess to not having adhered to the guidelines so the only option for a householder would be a judicial challenge which would be expensive and unlikely to achieve that much. Right now the whole process of notification seems to be largely broken but the government are apparently putting pressure on councils to not hold up developments so the law on these matters will continue to be ignored.

Paul Corcoran ● 2390d

Let's be factually clear that the legal requirement about a notice in a newspaper only applies to a minority of planning applications - and in the case of a residential extension would only be applicable if the application site was either a listed building or within a conservation area.  And the same applies to SOCI's.My experience is very different to that of Paul - in my time at local authorities there were several times when the senior management team would pick up on a legal shortcoming relating to statutory consultation, and we would always then apply the statutory requirements despite it effectively delaying determination by 3-4 weeks.  Similarly, as a planning consultant submitting applications to LPA's, this scenario arises several times a year, and I'll get a call the day before determination from the Case Officer who'll say "sorry, we've just realised that although we notified nos 522, 524 and 528 we didn't notify the owner/occupier of 526, so we'll have to do so, which will mean determination will be delayed accordingly".Whilst I agree about the JR point, there's many examples over the years of where neighbours have successfully complained to the Local Government Ombudsman and received compensation due to an LPA's failure to properly consult - hence why I rarely find LPA's disregard allegations relating to failure to consult (as long as they are brought to the LPA's attention during the determination).I'm pleased Paul put the word 'apparently' in the sentence about the government putting pressure on Councils to not hold up developments - my experience has always found the opposite to be true, and with every year that passes the delays only get longer.And as a consultant acting for developers, the last thing I want is for my client to obtain permission only to then find themselves in limbo because of a judicial review relating to the failure of the Council to carry out its legal responsibilities.

Adam Beamish ● 2390d

Thank you all for your comments.  It clearly seems to be down to residents to find out for themselves if anything is about to happen in their area.  Had the old notice not still been there, we would have read the new one, but I'm sure that won't wash with the planning department. Had we been self-isolating, we would certainly not have seen it at all. As regards other residents in the area, we are really the only ones to be affected: the application is to extend further a previously extended rear two-storey part of the house.  We have already been deprived of light and sun by the two previous extensions carried out by the owner. This third one, if approved, will simply make the situation worse. I know from past experience that rights to light are very difficult to enforce and only apply to certain rooms. We will just have to see what happens.  Thank you all, anyway.

Liz Thornton ● 2390d

I wonder if in these unusual times of self isolation, this would be grounds to appeal on the basis that you could not be expected to see notices on lampposts?  Are site visits required for planning applications because these would not be happening.  That seems obvious but thought I would mention it anyway .

Maggie Dodge ● 2390d

These are all good points Maggie. The policy seems to be at the moment that the requirement to inform residents is overridden by the desire to support the level of economic activity. If the rules on consultation were strictly adhered to then hardly any building work would be possible. As they were widely flouted before the crisis it doesn't seem the right time to start now but council's could be thinking more imaginatively about how they could fulfill their commitments to keep people informed.On the issue of newspaper ads, I think both Hounslow and Ealing make a commitment in the Statement of Community Involvement to place notices for a wider range of applications than the minimum requirement by law which would include things like residential loft extensions. My understanding is that, as this is a statutory document, this becomes a legally binding commitment.I would presume that everybody who is negatively affected by a planning application submitted during the outbreak will include in any objection the point that the legal requirements for consultation were not fulfilled. In the first instance the council mark their own homework on this and are not going to accept this as grounds for rejection because if they did most applications would be invalid. The next step would be a judicial appeal, the cost of which would be prohibitive for a residential planning issue. It may be not a coincidence that no very large planning applications are being put through at this time - that may be because they are not totally confident about the legal status of any permission they are being given.

Paul Corcoran ● 2390d

"The policy seems to be at the moment that the requirement to inform residents is overridden by the desire to support the level of economic activity. If the rules on consultation were strictly adhered to then hardly any building work would be possible "Paul, have you actually got any proof of this or is it just a theory you keep espousing on this website because it suits some kind of anti-development/anti-developer agenda that you have ?.

Adam Beamish ● 2390d

Adam, firstly I have not problem in principle with the government wanting to encourage the pace of development to be maintained as much as possible.Andrew Steed who is a local councillor in Ealing and is on the planning committee posted on this forum that the instruction has come from Robert Jenrick to local authorities to push ahead with processing applications. I have heard similar from an architect friend. This may not constitute proof to you.I don't have an anti-development/anti-developer agenda. I am just pointing out that it will be impossible to adhere to the requirements to consult with residents who are largely confined to their homes during this period. It would be hard to argue that some more unscrupulous developers might see this as an opportunity. What needs to happen is that councils have to adapt to current circumstances and demonstrate they have made every effort to ensure that the first thing that happens to residents when lock down ends is that they will have an unpleasant surprise of building work outside their window for work they were never informed about.

Paul Corcoran ● 2389d

Yes Paul and quite rightly and properly the government is actively encouraging local government to continue delivering a planning service to both residents and applicants, but you strongly implied that that encouragement was purposely intended to undermine statutory consultation requirements.  Indeed you went on to state (quite firmly) that that has already been going on for some time and that many developments are 'unlawful' because the LPA hasn't undertaken the proper notification process.That's a huge jump from the government simply encouraging local authorities to continue to undertake their statutory duties, and it's only that aspect of your posts that I have an issue with because it simply isn't accurate/correct.As I posted recently there's an obvious flip side to your suggestion that some unscrupulous developers might see this as an opportunity - there's way more people at home at the present time, more people not working etc., so there's a greater likelihood of them not binning an "owner/occupier" statutory consultation letter (if issued) and a greater likelihood of them reading a lamppost notice during their daily exercise.Plus, if they're aware of the statutory consultation requirements (which most developers aren't, but their planning consultants will be), then given the need/statutory requirement for some applications to be advertised in a newspaper, now is arguably the worst time to submit an application because that statutory requirement is likely to delay determination (because in my vast experience Councils do not turn a blind eye to it) and also there's the uncertainty of when committee meetings will take place as many authorities are not as receptive to technology as others.

Adam Beamish ● 2389d