The email that says 'your application is invalid'
The householder application went in through the Planning Portal a week ago. The clients are keen, the design is good, and everyone is waiting for the consultation period to begin. Then an email arrives from the council's validation team. The application cannot be validated: the location plan does not show the red line to the road, there is no heritage statement even though the site is in a conservation area, and the existing and proposed elevations are not at a stated scale.
Each fix is small. But the clock only starts once the application is valid, so the clients lose weeks, and the architect has to explain why.
Why validation catches practices out
There are national requirements that apply everywhere, and then each local planning authority adds its own local list. Local lists differ: one wants a bat survey trigger checklist, another a sustainability statement, another a specific form of parking plan. They are updated from time to time, and the updates are published on council websites where nobody is watching for them.
- Local validation lists differ between councils and change over time.
- The practice's checklist is out of date or in one person's head.
- Triggers, such as conservation area, listed building or flood zone, add documents that are easy to forget.
- Drawing requirements, such as scale bars, north points and red lines, are missed under time pressure.
- Nobody checks the final pack as a whole before it is uploaded.
What an invalid application costs
Time is the obvious one: the determination period does not start until the application is valid. Clients lose confidence. Staff spend time on resubmissions rather than design. And where fees are fixed, the extra work comes straight off the project's margin.
A pre-submission check, council by council
- We record the national requirements and each council's local validation list for the authorities you work with, with the date each was last checked.
- A scheduled job checks those councils' validation pages for changes and alerts you when a list appears to have been updated, so the checklist can be reviewed.
- For each application, the architect answers a few questions: council, application type, and triggers such as conservation area, listed building, flood zone, trees or new dwellings. The site pack from feasibility can answer some of these automatically.
- The check produces the list of forms, drawings, statements and surveys required for that application, with notes from the local list.
- The draft pack is dropped in, and each document is matched to a requirement. Missing items are listed.
- Drawings are checked for basic items the council requires, such as scale, scale bar, north point, drawing title and the red line on the location plan, with anything uncertain flagged for a person to look at.
- The architect signs off the check, and the result is filed with the project before submission.
Validation decisions are made by the council. The check reduces avoidable omissions. It does not guarantee an application will be validated, and planning judgement remains with the architect.
An example requirement list
| Requirement | Why it applies | In the pack? |
|---|---|---|
| Application form and certificate | All applications | Yes |
| Location plan with red line | All applications | Yes, red line flagged for check |
| Heritage statement | Conservation area trigger | Missing |
| Flood risk assessment | Flood zone trigger | Not required here |
| Local list item, such as a parking plan | Council local list | Yes |
Illustrative only. Your councils' lists define the real requirements.
Applications that go in complete
Applications leave the office with a pack that has been checked against the council's current list, not against memory. Juniors can prepare applications with the same confidence as the person who has done hundreds. And when a council changes its local list, the practice finds out when the change is made, not when an application is rejected.
Has this happened to your practice?
- Applications have been returned as invalid for missing documents.
- Your validation checklist is old or unofficial.
- Different councils' local lists catch you out.
- Only one or two people really know what each council wants.