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Planning permission: where do you start?
Planning · Episode 13
Aaron Zimmerman with Tina Patel & Bart Kolosowski
Your neighbour has the extension you want. That does not tell you whether your own proposal will be approved.
Planning consultant Aaron Zimmerman explains how to choose a route, build a clear application and respond if the answer is no—without needing to become a planning expert yourself.
Why did the neighbour get permission—and you might not?
A dormer down the street can feel like proof that the same design should work on your house. Aaron explains why it is a starting point for research rather than a promise: the property, relevant policy and circumstances of the earlier decision may differ.
Tina describes the frustration of finding several versions of guidance on a council website. The useful job for your team is to establish what applies now and explain how your proposal responds to it.
Ask for a reasoned assessment of the risks, including the parts of the design most likely to need adjustment. An adviser who can explain the process and the evidence gives you more to work with than either a confident guarantee or a vague warning that planning is unpredictable.
01
Define the change
Explain the home you want.
02
Check the context
Review property and policy.
03
Choose the route
Compare options and risks.
04
Build the case
Make the evidence clear.
The simplest planning route may change the home you get
Permitted development can provide a route for work that meets the relevant limits and conditions. But an extension shaped entirely around those limits may leave out the architectural feature or space that made the project worthwhile.
Aaron and Tina separate the home you want from the route used to seek it. A full planning application can be worth considering when the intended design falls outside permitted development, even though it involves a wider assessment.
Discuss both options before settling the drawings. The decision is about the result, the planning risk and the time and cost you can accept—not simply choosing whichever route sounds easiest.
A strong application makes the proposal easy to understand
Aaron's answer to what makes a good application is evidence. Drawings should show what changes, while the supporting material explains the design and how it responds to the issues the planning officer must consider.
He describes the council's validation checklist as the starting point, then distinguishes meeting the submission requirements from presenting a persuasive, coherent proposal. More documents are not automatically better documents.
Agree who is responsible for checking the requirements and assembling the case. Your architect and planning consultant may contribute different skills; what matters is that their work tells the same clear story.
A refusal gives you a decision to make, not just a setback
If permission is refused, Aaron recommends examining the officer's reasons with the team. A design change and another application may be sensible; in other circumstances, the team may recommend testing the decision through an appeal.
Tina stresses the practical difference in time and effort. Being entitled to appeal does not establish that an appeal is the best way to reach the home you want.
The episode also weighs pre-application advice. It can help explore an uncertain issue, but the hosts do not treat it as an automatic step for every small project. Ask which specific question it would answer before paying for another stage.
Three decisions to take into your project
01 Ask for a reasoned planning assessment.
Understand the risks in your own proposal rather than relying on a nearby approval.
02 Agree who prepares the application.
Check that the drawings and supporting evidence form a coherent case.
03 Compare the options after a refusal.
Review changes, resubmission and appeal with your team before choosing the next step.
The full conversation
Aaron Zimmerman is a chartered town planner at Centro Planning Consultancy. He joins architect Tina Patel and quantity surveyor Bart Kolosowski for the first conversation in our planning theme.
The full episode follows the process from the initial idea to the decision, including permitted development, listed-building considerations, application preparation, refusals and pre-application advice. The discussion focuses on the planning system in England.
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Explore a related episode
Episode 14: Permitted development: what can you build?
Compare permitted development with a planning application before choosing your route.
Episode 15: Where do planning delays actually begin?
See how early surveys, validation and conditions affect your programme.
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