...plan as much detail as possible, down to the finest level.
Any changes once you start building are more difficult to remedy compared to the 'paper' stage! ;-)
good luck..

I have some experience both getting Planning Permission and opposing a Planning Application. Main issue is that Planning Departments are under resourced and in some cases just plain incompetent.

It took us over a year and at least £10K to get planning permission for our house on a plot that already had planning permission. In addition I had to pay out for aircraft flights, hotels and car hire to return to the UK to attend meetings with the planners - which mostly achieved very little.

For a year the planners insisted our house must be built right at the front of our plot where it is narrow yet at the same time they wanted us to preserve a view (of the sky!) up through the plot. We made numerous attempts to satisfy their ever changing and conflicting demands.

There were several occasions when we submitted revised drawings and never got a response. After >4 weeks of waiting we would eventually discover that this was because the planning officer/conservation officer/tree officer had quit their job or gone on a long holiday. Some staff in the planning office only worked two days a week and were overloaded.

Just as we were about to give up we discover they had told a previous owner of the plot in writing that a "house further back might be better". When presented with this letter the planners rolled over and approved a design that was virtually identical to our original proposal a year earlier.

Apologies for the confusion, I am researching and trying to put together a kind of ‘how to guide’ in regards to gaining planning permission when using “non - traditional” methods of construction, i.e. instead of bricks and mortar, using strawbale, earth filled tyres, hempcrete blocks etc.

I agree that preparation and planning is key in the primary stages of any project, if it is to be successful.
This being said, I was wondering whether using alternative materials lengthens the early stages of a project. I’m sure their would be more requirements to adhere to, not just in gaining planning permission but also to passed by building control, structural engineers etc.

From the comments I can gather that your experiences have been long ones, but I was under the impression that the estimated turnaround for planning applications was12-16 week!?

Posted By: djh

Posted By: Jaspden123I am researching and trying to put together a kind of ‘how to guide’ in regards to gaining planning permission when using “non - traditional” methods of construction, i.e. instead of bricks and mortar, using strawbale, earth filled tyres, hempcrete blocks etc.

Planning permission has nothing to do with the construction materials. It is to do with the size, location and appearance of the building(s). Having said that, the fact that our application was viewed as an 'ecological, low energy' build because we used straw bales was an advantage with winning votes from the planning committee members.

Not strictly true as the rainscreen material is part of the wall construction and has a bearing on planning permission as does the roofing material. We designed a PH but our LPA wasn't interested in the least, but like you the planning committee members took that fact into account when overruling the planners.

There's a fair summary at https://www.planningportal.co.uk/info/200126/applications/58/the_decision-making_process and a bit more at https://www.eden.gov.uk/planning-and-building/planning/apply-for-planning-permission/planning-applications-that-go-to-committee/ about how one council operates. The rules the councils are supposed to follow are explained a bit at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/determining-a-planning-application

Basically, things that are not controversial in any way can be decided by officers employed by the council. Anything large or controversial in any way is put before the planning committee, which is made up of elected district or borough councillors. Parish councils are formal consultees but their opinions generally do not count for much (they were the only objectors to our application).

Planners don't like change except when they do. In general they routinely insist you use the same materials as every other house in the road so it's an up hill battle to build anything that looks radically different. Took me long enough just to get my bricks approved. They rejected my first choice of hand made bricks as having "too much texture".

However there are two occasions when they will accept something radically different:

1) In areas where there is already a mix of styles and materials (Heck what's one more unusual building).

2) On an extension to a historic/listed building. If they are going to allow an extension they frequently want it to appear obvious that the extension is more modern, they shy away from attempts to copy the style of the original, perhaps because they don't believe builders can achieve a good enough match.

Posted By: CWatters1) In areas where there is already a mix of styles and materials (Heck what's one more unusual building).

We took lots of pictures of the nearby 60s & 70s estate houses in case the planners or committee decided they wanted something in the vernacular (thinking thatched cottages or whatever)

Fortunately they didn't.