Your approval
Nothing goes to the council until you say so.
You are the last gate, not a party who gets copied in. The pack is assembled, signed, and then it stops and waits for you, however long that takes.
- Applications submitted without approval
- 0Applications submitted without approval
- Digest the approval is bound to
- 1Digest the approval is bound to
- Time you have to read it
- No limitTime you have to read it
- Number of changes you can ask for
- AnyNumber of changes you can ask for
How it is enforced
A rule, not a promise.
“We would never submit without asking you” is the sort of thing every company says and no company can prove.
So the block is enforced in the database rather than in the interface. A case cannot move to submitted unless an approval exists, and that approval is bound to a digest of the exact document pack you saw. Change a single document afterwards and the digest no longer matches, so the approval no longer applies and it has to be given again.
That means the guarantee survives a bug in our own code, which is the only kind of guarantee worth making.
The sequence
What you are asked to do.
- 01
The pack is assembled
Every document your route requires, drafted and checked.
- 02
A planner signs it
In their own name. You see who, and their membership number.
- 03
You read it
The whole thing, downloadable, for as long as you need.
- 04
You approve, or you do not
Ask for changes instead and it goes back. Nothing moves until you are content.
What you are approving
Stated plainly, before you click.
- The documents
- Every file in the pack
- Listed by name with the version number, and each one openable in full before you decide.
- The application form
- What is being told to the council
- Including the declarations made on your behalf, which you should read rather than skim.
- The fee
- What will be paid, and to whom
- Your council's statutory fee and the Planning Portal charge, both paid by you directly at submission.
- The route
- Which application this is
- Householder, minor, prior approval or certificate. Getting this wrong is expensive, so it is stated.
You keep the last word.
Start with the free appraisal. Nothing is drafted, signed or submitted until you have decided you want it to be.