Planning Agents Forum 13th July 2010-
Communications
Email question sent 30th June 2010 to 184 agents of which 4 were returned from nonvalid email addresses..
26 responses
Of those 26
1 had ceased trading 
1 doesn’t use B+H Council for planning applications
2 had avoided dealing with planning this year
7 thought that things had improved
8 thought that things definitely had not improved (1 thought things had got worse)
7 thought that the situation was ‘hit and miss’ depending on the officer
3 thought that response to email contact was better
Planning Agents Forum 13th July 2010-
Communications
‘I seem to be able to get hold of the officers but cant get them to do anything.’
‘Process still seems to be more important to the Council than being proactive in
getting a good outcome.’
‘All officers seem to be very good with regard to emailing delegated reports –
which is very useful.’
‘We have found the officers easier to contact, more helpful and performing better
in meetings.
‘Would agree their service is improving, room for further improvement, but
certainly getting there’
‘Overall some Officers are better than others, some are extremely helpful and this
should be noted in any correspondence.’
‘Last year I applied for a rear door leading to the garden of a listed building in
Sussex Square. It took over 32 copies of the forms together with drawings of a
door to obtain approval which took SIX months. Planning No way.’
My experience is that you are only about 10% likely to get through to the right
person on the first attempt.
Planning Agents Forum 13th July 2010-
Communications
Conclusions
•Experience by agents still mixed
•Some improvement for some bigger agents
•Still ‘hit and miss’
•Contact times as building control?
•Mobile numbers?
•Contact agent 2 weeks before determination?
Planning Agents Forum 13th July 2010-
Communications
Possible solutions
•Contact times as Building Control?
•Give out mobile numbers?
•Contact agent 2 weeks before determination?
•Invest in better IT systems?