Planning Statement
The main written case for a planning application. It describes the site and the proposal, then argues the scheme against the policies your council will actually decide it under.
When
When your council will require it
- Almost every application that is not a bare householder extension
- Any scheme where the council's validation list asks for a supporting statement
- Any scheme where the principle of development is arguable
Contents
What is in it
- 01Introduction and a summary of what is proposed
- 02The site as it is, and the context around it
- 03Planning history at the site and nearby, with references
- 04The proposal in detail
- 05The policy framework: your council's adopted plan, and the national framework above it
- 06The assessment, issue by issue, against each policy that governs
- 07Community Infrastructure Levy, where the council charges it
- 08Conclusion
Authority
What makes it necessary
Section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires an application to be determined in accordance with the development plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise. This is the document that engages with it.
Price
What it costs
This document is not priced on its own. It is part of the fixed fee for the application it supports, and a case producing three documents costs the same as a case producing one. On a householder application that fee is £499, with your council’s statutory fee passed on separately at cost.
A shorter research draft of this document is also available for credits, for your own use. It is clearly marked on every page as not for submission, and it carries nobody’s signature.
Questions
Questions
Do I need a Planning Statement for a house extension?
Often not. A straightforward extension outside a conservation area is usually decided on the drawings and the form. Where the council's own validation list asks for one, or where the scheme needs an argument made for it, Wren includes it and the quote says so before you pay.
Who writes it?
Wren drafts it. A chartered planner reads it in full, revises it, and signs it. The signature carries their membership number and a checksum of the exact file they signed.
Are the policies real?
Every policy number and every quotation is resolved against the council's own adopted plan text before the draft is allowed out. A citation that cannot be resolved fails the draft. It does not ship with a warning.
Start here
Does your site need a planning statement?
Draw a boundary and the appraisal tells you which documents your route and your constraints require, before you commit to anything.