Planning Gateway One - How we assess planning applications

The Town and Country Planning Development Management Procedure England Order 2015 (DMPO) sets down the duties on statutory consultees and the timescales in which responses must be provided.

Article 22 in the DMPO states that a statutory consultee has 21 calendar days from the date a request is received from an LPA to provide a consultation response, unless an extended timescale is agreed by the LPA. HSE may request additional time if the application is large and complex.

If HSE is made aware of an impending committee deadline the team will make best efforts to expedite a substantive response in those timescales. However, the ability to respond in time to requests of this nature will depend on the amount of advance notice, resource availability and the urgency of other casework at the time.

Applicants can assist HSE to meet an accelerated timescale by providing a schedule of design changes in response to any concerns previously raised and ensuring that the fire statement is completed correctly, and any plans and drawings are clearly annotated. Clarity and certainty will make the assessment process more efficient and so please avoid annotating or describing design features relevant to the fire safety design as “indicative” or other ambiguous terminology.

HSE will typically respond to up to three consultation requests in writing for the same application before moving to suggest refusal, if an impasse has been reached and no progress is being made. Usually, HSE will invite the LPA to arrange a meeting to try to resolve the outstanding concern(s) before suggesting refusal. It will be for the applicant to decide who attends a meeting from their design team, however, the meeting should be focused on how the applicant has responded to any concerns in design terms.