Coronavirus and the current Government ‘lockdown’ continues to affect all walks of life and a huge number of businesses and individuals. Things are changing by the day and often by the hour right now so trying to keep up to date with everything you need to know is a huge challenge.

Nobody has all the answers at such an unprecedented time for UK society and the economy, but over the last few days we have begun to see possible answers to some understandable questions and concerns about the current situation.

Hopefully this overview will be helpful to you as you continue to plan and react to the global pandemic.

Preparing Planning Applications
As expected, the preparation of some applications is likely to be on hold for the following reasons:

• Movement restrictions preventing property surveys for floor plans, consultancy reports
• LPA staff absences and additional burden to cope with enquiries

Consultancy reports in some cases might not be possible, such as noise assessments or on-street parking surveys – these normally have to be done during school term times when traffic conditions are normal.

The Chief Planning Officer to the Government also indicated in a statement released on 24th March 2020 that applications for new offices and new homes are likely to be prioritised over smaller applications in order to “help the local economy”, and householder applications (e.g. smaller extensions and some types of permitted development). But it is unclear where the line is to be drawn.

You should therefore consider the following: