Home / Planning decision
Refused, stuck or approved? Here's what happens next.
Whatever stage your application has reached, there's always a next step, and we can pick your project up at any point.
Outcome 01
Approved.
Permission is not the finish line. It is a clock starting.
A consent almost always arrives with conditions attached, and most of them must be discharged before work begins. Permission also lapses, usually after three years, so the time between approval and starting on site is not free.
Discharge of conditions
Materials, drainage, landscaping, construction management. We read the decision notice, work out what actually has to be submitted and when, and submit it.
Building control drawings
Planning drawings are not construction drawings. You now need a technical set a builder can price and build from, and that Building Control will pass.
Specification
What goes in the walls, roof and floor. The document that stops a build being priced on assumptions and re-priced halfway through.
Tender and site stage
Getting comparable prices from builders, appointing under a JCT building contract, and contract administration through to completion. How we oversee the build →
If your original architect delivered planning and moved on, this is the gap they left. Bring us the decision notice and we will tell you what is outstanding.
Outcome 02
Refused.
Usually recoverable. The question is which route.
A refusal is a document with reasons in it. Those reasons decide whether you appeal or resubmit, and choosing wrong costs months.
Resubmit
Usually the better route where the reasons are about design, scale, massing or overlooking: things a revised scheme can answer.
Appeal
Better where the council has applied policy incorrectly, or where the objection is one you cannot design your way out of. Slower, and it needs a strong case. Bedfordshire: the lawful route after a dismissed appeal →
A second opinion first
Sometimes the honest answer is that the scheme was always going to fail on that site. Better to hear it now than after an appeal.
Appeals are time-limited. For most householder applications the window is twelve weeks from the decision. Check your decision notice: if you are close to it, get in touch now rather than waiting for a report.
Outcome 03
Still waiting.
Useful weeks, if you use them.
Most householder decisions take eight weeks, often longer. That time is usually wasted, and it does not have to be.
Start the technical set
Building regulations drawings can be developed in parallel. If permission comes through and the set is ready, you are on site weeks earlier.
Understand the likely outcome
Local precedent is public. What has been approved and refused within a few streets tells you a great deal about where yours will land.
Prepare for conditions
If you can see which conditions are routinely attached locally, you can have the discharge submission substantially ready.
Get in touch
Tell us about your project.
Whether you're just starting out or picking up a project halfway, we'd love to hear from you.
Want the facts first? Start with the plotwise report by DZP. It comes with a free 30-minute call with a chartered architect. Or send us an enquiry, and we'll get back to you within one working day.
- Emailinfo@dzpstudio.co.uk
- Phone07508 382877
- StudioLondon & Essex
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