EHP Consultancy
Portfolio for legislative and regulatory compliance, commercial knowledge, operational and strategic governance & management in children & social care UK
Why is gaining planning approval proving to be so difficult?
The main question at the early stage is whether the proposal is a ‘development’ requiring
planning permission from the Local Planning Authority or whether a ‘Certificate of
Lawfulness for a Proposed Use or Development’ (A CLOPUD) is appropriate instead. The
latter is only relevant where the proposal would be ‘lawful’ in planning terms (and hence
does not require the submission of an application to the Local Planning Authority) on the
basis of it not amounting to ‘development’ at all in planning terms (or where the proposal is
‘development’ but such is nonetheless covered by a certain permitted development right.
Importantly, a planning application is assessed in terms of the planning merits (and harms)
of a proposal against the adopted Development Plan and other material considerations (e.g.
amenity, highway safety), whereas the sole remit of a CLOPUD is to assess whether the
propose use is lawful or not in planning terms (e.g. if a stated proposal does not amount to
development it is lawful and the certificate will be issued). The ability to not bring planning
merits into the assessment of a case is the main reason why applicants will use a CLOPUD
over a planning application where there appears to be a good chance of success. The test
with a CLOPUD is whether the proposal is lawful ‘on the balance of probabilities’ and to
succeed the submitted evidence must be ‘precise and unambiguous’.
However, a ‘good chance of success’ for approval based on a CLOPUD alone is becoming
increasingly difficult – and a full planning application is now normally required. At EHP
Children’s Home Consultancy we work alongside your planning consultant to prepare your
planning submission. This document includes all the operational material and detail that
should satisfy both your local council – and local residents.
Is your consultant ‘horizon scanning’ to keep your potential business up to date with legal and regulatory developments?