What a signature means

A name, a number, and someone who can be struck off.

The whole proposition turns on this page. A document drafted by software and approved by nobody is worth nothing to a planning officer. What makes it worth something is a chartered professional putting their own registration behind it.

For chartered planners See a signed specimen

Chartered bodies whose members can sign: 14Chartered bodies whose members can sign
Named individual per signed document: 1Named individual per signed document
Of submissions carry a signature: 100%Of submissions carry a signature
Documents signed by Wren itself: 0Documents signed by Wren itself

The test

Whose indemnity covers this?

It is the question worth asking of anyone selling planning services with software in the middle, and most will not answer it plainly.

The answer here is your assigned planner’s. They read the document, they revise it, they sign it in their own name with their membership number on it, and they are answerable to their institute for what they signed. If it is wrong, there is a named person and a professional body, not a support address.

That is a real constraint on us. It is also the only version of this business worth building.

Who can sign

Eight institutes, by discipline.

A heritage statement is signed by a conservation professional, a flood risk assessment by a water and environment one. The discipline follows the document, not the other way round.

Body	Institute
RTPI	Royal Town Planning Institute
RICS	Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors
IHBC	Institute of Historic Building Conservation
CIWEM	Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management
CIEEM	Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management
CIHT	Chartered Institution of Highways and Transportation
ICE	Institution of Civil Engineers
CIfA	Chartered Institute for Archaeologists
IEMA	Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment
LI	Landscape Institute
AA	Arboricultural Association
ICF	Institute of Chartered Foresters
IOA	Institute of Acoustics
IAQM	Institute of Air Quality Management

What is recorded

What the signature actually captures.

Who: Their name and membership number; Printed on the document itself, not held in a database somewhere we could quietly change.
What: A hash of the exact file; The signature binds to a SHA-256 of the document version signed, so a later edit cannot inherit an earlier signature.
When: A timestamp; Recorded at the moment of signing, with the review time that preceded it.
Intent: A stated declaration; What they are confirming when they sign, written out rather than implied by clicking a button.

Asked and answered

The questions worth pressing on.

Is the planner employed by Wren?

No. They are independent chartered professionals who take cases through Wren. They are paid per case, after the council decides, with no monthly fee, no exclusivity and no minimum hours.

Do they actually read it?

Yes, and their review time is recorded against the case. A review that takes implausibly little time is flagged internally rather than waved through.

What if I disagree with what they changed?

You approve the pack before it goes anywhere. If you do not approve it, it is not submitted. Their judgement and your consent are separate gates and both have to pass.

What if the application is refused?

A refusal is not negligence, and no one can promise a permission. What the signature buys is that the submission was competent and defensible, which is also what makes an appeal viable.

See what a signed document looks like.

The specimens carry the same signature block a real submission does, watermarked so it can never be mistaken for one.

Open a specimen What a planner signs