Busiest summer on record for application submission

Planning Portal's September Planning Insight Report shows a continued surge in smaller application submissions during August.

In traditional fashion, there is always a slowdown in online application submissions as we enter the school summer holiday period at the end of July, and most take a well-earned break for a week or two.

However, this is not the case this year! The Planning Portal's monthly Planning Market Insight Report reveals that August realised another positive increase in the level of submission nationally – up 19% when compared to 2019 and showing a good recovery in these difficult Covid-19 times.

This month's edition takes a closer look at the householder schemes to see what 'common projects' are being applied for and reviews the prior approval applications for larger home extensions.

The report shows the most common householder improvement project is for extension developments, with around 74% of submissions for this proposal type. When looking at the prior approval applications for larger rear extensions, the most popular size is building out between 6 - 6.99 metres in length from the rear of the house.

Scott Alford, Head of Business Development at the Planning Portal, commented: "It's been an interesting five months since lockdown started in late March. The last three months has seen applications increase by a huge 59% when compared to the same period last year. Our insight report shows that householder schemes are being submitted in incredible numbers and conversations with our Local Authority partners confirm that the larger schemes are starting to gradually return. However, fee income for Local Authorities is down considerably due to much fewer larger schemes being submitted that help to cross-subsidise smaller applications. This will mean difficult resource issues ahead for Local Authorities in managing their department costs versus fee income being generated."

September's Market Insight Report is available here.

 

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