The Society planning group, consisting of 10 volunteers, reviews issues of planning policy and scrutinised 668 planning applications received for the Blackheath area, 350 in Greenwich and 318 in Lewisham. This was 3% up on last year.
88 were examined in detail. The local authority agreed with us in relation to 50% of the applications where we took a position. 52 objections were submitted which resulted in 22 refusals (23 the previous year) and a further four were withdrawn.
The group also reviews tree applications. 16 objections were submitted, one application was withdrawn and the others went ahead.
The result however is much more nuanced, as our intervention also led to the applicants modifying the application or the planning officer imposing conditions. This is particularly true in relation to trees, where the officers have limited powers to refuse. It is also noticeable that in a number of cases the officers’ interpretation of the planning rules was more conservative than our own.
Where the councils raised no objection, the numbers disguise the fact that, in a high proportion of the cases where we wrote to the council, the original application was modified to something much more acceptable before the end of the process.
The full planning group 2022 report can be found here.