Guides
Planning guides
Short, practical explainers for anyone who has run into the planning system: a letter through the door, an application next door, or a decision you are waiting on. Written plainly, with no jargon left unexplained.
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What a planning application reference number means
How to read the reference on a notification letter or site notice, what the letters at the end tell you, and how to find the application.
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How long a planning decision takes
The statutory targets, what actually happens in practice, and how to read the dates on an application to see where it is in the process.
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Planning application types explained
Householder, full, outline, prior approval, listed building and the rest: what each application type covers and what the council is deciding.
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How to find planning applications in England
Where English councils publish applications, how to search a register that will not appear in Google, and how to watch an area without checking by hand.
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How to find planning applications in Wales
How the Welsh planning system publishes applications, where the registers live, and what is different from England, from policy to appeals.
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How to find planning applications in Scotland
Where Scottish planning authorities publish applications, how neighbour notification works, and what makes the Scottish system different.
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How to object to a planning application
What counts as a planning reason, what the council must ignore, how to write an objection that gets weighed, and the deadlines that matter.
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What happens after a planning decision
Conditions, commencement deadlines, appeals and amendments: what a grant or refusal actually means for the site next door or your own project.
More guides are on the way, including how to object to an application and how to find applications in England, Wales and Scotland.