I was watching the planning program last night - a brewery wanted to convert a pub site into houses. I think the planning dept recommended approval but due to objections it went to committee, who didn't manage to make a decision on the night and so it was deferred for 30 days to the next committee meeting. However before it got to the next committee date the brewery took it to the inspectoriate because the LPA had failed to reach a decision within 8 weeks.
Our own application has passed the eight weeks already and the LPA has not yet made a recommendation. We have neighbour objections again, enough to take it to committee if the planning department were minded to approve it, and last time we went to committee they had their own agenda and refused our permission (subsequently appealed and given full planning with the LPA declared to have acted unreasonably).
So does anyone know about taking the decision out of the LPA's hands and putting it into the planning inspectorates? I think it added an extra 8 weeks to the decision time but in the case of the brewery, the inspector carried out a ten minute site visit and they had their approval within 2 weeks. I feel we'd get a fairer application with the inspectorate than the committee.
Oddly though, although the 8 weeks is mentioned, our application appears to have an 'Expiry date' and 'standard consultation expiry date' of the 21st March mentioned which is more like 10+ weeks (see below) - not sure why this is...
Also we made the application via the Planning Portal on the 30th December, but had to send them a cheque which they didn't process until the 9th January - so they started the timings from this later date - is this correct?
All feedback much appreciated
Application Received Date Mon 30 Dec 2013
Application Validated Date Thu 09 Jan 2014
Expiry Date Fri 21 Mar 2014
Actual Committee Date Not Available
Latest Neighbour Consultation Date Thu 16 Jan 2014
Neighbour Consultation Expiry Date Thu 06 Feb 2014
Standard Consultation Date Fri 28 Feb 2014
Standard Consultation Expiry Date Fri 21 Mar 2014
Last Advertised In Press Date Not Available
Latest Advertisement Expiry Date Not Available
Last Site Notice Posted Date Wed 05 Feb 2014
Latest Site Notice Expiry Date Wed 26 Feb 2014
Decision Made Date Not Available
Decision Issued Date Not Available