Bristol City Council’s planning department has launched an accreditation scheme for planning agents and architects serving the city’s householder development market.
Under this scheme those satisfying the requirements would enjoy fast-tracking and less onerous application validation measures.
Bristol City says:
From April 2, 2012 we will be carrying out a new scheme to help speed up the registration and processing of applications.
The pilot scheme will:
· be for a period of six months, and
· relate to householder applications only.
How does the scheme work?
The scheme works on the basis of ‘accredited’ planning agents who have agreed to abide by a code of practice when submitting planning applications.
This contains a checklist of items, which we regard as essential to the efficient processing of applications. You can view the code of practice and checklist from the related documents section.
In return for submitting an application in accordance with the code of practice we will:
· Register your application without it going through the normal validation stage.
· Ensure that it reaches the case officer’s desk within 24 hours.
· Target to determine the application within six weeks, as long as it can be determined under delegated powers.
The rules of the scheme
Having become an ‘accredited’ agent we would expect the quality of submitted applications to remain high. However, if errors are found in your application, it will not be processed as part of the fast track scheme.
If two applications have significant errors, accreditation status will be withdrawn and your applications will be processed in the normal way.
How to join the scheme
You simply have to:
· agree to abide by the code of practice, and
· have submitted three consecutive applications in accordance with the checklist.
When we receive your signed code of practice, we will:
· review your last three householder applications submitted, and
· advise you of your current accreditation status.
When you have submitted three consecutive applications in accordance with the checklist, you will become an ‘accredited’ planning agent.
If you are interested in joining the scheme, please complete and return the code of practice form.
List of accredited agents
The… list of planning agents who are on our Accredited Agent scheme. These agents have shown they fully understand how to submit a properly prepared planning application.
We cannot guarantee however that the content of the planning application would be acceptable in planning terms when it is considered.
Bristol CC Article: LINK
Search Planning Portal: LINK
