Assessing your application
The case officer will begin assessing the application when it arrives, but cannot make a full assessment of the proposal until after the consultation period has ended, as they will need to take into account any representations made by consultation respondents. For many cases, an officer will visit the site as part of the assessment process and they may contact the applicant or agent to arrange access for the visit. The officer will complete a full evaluation of the application, assessing it against all relevant planning policies in the local development plan, assessing issues such as:
- land use and the loss or increase of a particular type of use of land
- design and layout
- external appearance and materials
- impact on the amenities of neighbours (for example, loss of daylight, sunlight and privacy)
- transport and parking issues
- sustainability
- access for disabled people.
The case officer will also consider other material considerations such as:
- the advice and comments received in the consultation period
- observations from visiting the site.
By this stage it will be clear whether a Section 106 planning obligation will be necessary to make development acceptable if it would otherwise be unacceptable in planning terms.
The case officer for the application will write a report setting out their assessment of the proposal, which will recommend that planning permission is either granted or refused. It will also set out if there are any conditions attached to that permission which must be complied with and if a S106 planning obligation is required. In most cases, if a S106 planning obligation is necessary, the case officer will have advised you of this earlier in the process.