Location:
Woking Borough Council
Issue:
Securing changes to an approved scheme on site forming part of a wider development with a complex planning history.
How we helped and added value:
Our client had previously sought to secure changes to an approved 80 bedroom care home via a minor material amendment (section 73) application taken forward by another consultant. But, after slow progress on that application, the client came to us to ask for advice on alternative ways to secure these changes to ensure the development could start on-time.
We identified that the changes were minor in nature and could, in our view, be supported by the Council to be "non-material" (rather than “minor material”). This opened-up the opportunity to use a non-material amendment (section 96) application, with a 28 day determination period rather than a 13 week determination period (plus time taken for updates to the section 106 legal agreement accompanying the permission for the whole and wider development).
We submitted a non-material amendment application to the Council, including justification as to why the changes were “non-material”. This focused on the relatively small scale of the amendments both in terms of the care home but also the wider development, as well as the fact that such changes were beneficial in complying with Care Quality Commission requirements for care homes. We worked closely with the planning officer to reassure the Council that the application could be granted, and received a decision on-time to allow to the development to continue as programmed.
