Obtaining planning permission for your project can feel like an uphill battle. Martin Gaine investigates if the system is truly working against self builders and how to ensure afair outcome

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It’s every self builder’s worst nightmare: you invest your life savings in a plot of land, hire a highly rated local architect to develop your vision, submit a good quality proposal to the council and, after all that, end up having your planning application refused.

When it happens, it’s easy to jump to conclusions of foul play. What else could explain your permission being refused when the council provided positive preapplication advice and your neighbours were granted approval for the same kind of project a few years before? The only reasonable explanation is that someone with connections has somehow swayed the committee, or an envelope stuffed with cash has bought off the planners.

If the system isn’t fair, is it even worth engaging with at all? Do self builders and home renovators need to hire lobbyists, take their local councillors out for expensive lunches, or prepare their own brown envelopes?

I’m exploring whether the planning system is really corrupt and what you can do to ensure that your own application is assessed fairly, whatever the final decision.

The planning system is nevertheless troubled by a perception of unfairness. The main reason for this is that it is discretionary. In other countries, land is zoned and there are clear rules about what you can and can’t do. In the UK, planning applications are decided on the basis of sometimes vague or generalised policies and case officers are free to make their own judgements.