Service · Planning statements & supporting documents
Planning statements and supporting documents
Drawings show what you want to build. A planning application also has to show why it should be allowed, and that's what these documents do.
Many planning applications need more than drawings to get approved. A case officer has to be able to see how the scheme responds to its site, how it complies with local and national policy, and whether it raises any issues around heritage, flooding or access. The supporting documents are where that case gets made.
Which ones you need depends on the site rather than the scheme. A Design and Access Statement is required on most applications and explains how the proposal responds to its context and how access has been considered. A Planning Statement sets out the policy case in more detail, usually where a site is policy-sensitive. A Heritage Statement is needed for listed buildings and conservation areas, assessing what makes the asset significant and showing the proposal preserves or enhances it. A Flood Risk Assessment applies to sites in flood zones 2 and 3. Beyond those, some sites need ecology, arboricultural, transport, noise or drainage reports, coordinated as the site requires.
We write these alongside the drawings, not after them, so the case and the scheme support each other rather than reading as two separate submissions. Each one is written for your site and your local planning authority, not adapted from a template.
FAQs
Questions we get asked most.
Do I need a planning statement for every application?
No. A Design and Access Statement covers most applications on its own. A full Planning Statement is usually only needed where a site is policy-sensitive, for example against the green belt, a housing allocation, or a departure from the local plan.
What's the difference between a Design & Access Statement and a Planning Statement?
A Design and Access Statement explains the design itself, why the scheme looks the way it does and how everyone can get in and around it. A Planning Statement makes the policy argument, setting out how the proposal complies with national and local planning policy. Many applications only need the first.
When do I need a Heritage Statement?
Whenever the site or the building is listed, or sits in a conservation area. It assesses what makes the asset significant and demonstrates that the proposal preserves or enhances it, which is what the local authority's conservation officer will be looking for.
Do I need a Flood Risk Assessment?
Only if your site is in flood zone 2 or 3, or the local authority's own mapping flags it. We check this at feasibility stage, so it's never a surprise partway through an application.
How long do these documents take to prepare?
They're written alongside the application drawings rather than afterwards, so they don't usually add time to the programme. Complexity is what changes it, a straightforward Design and Access Statement is quick, a Heritage Statement on a sensitive site takes longer.