The Gazette 1967/71

on the obtaining of planning permission. You can apply for : (a) outline permission (which means that the planning authority accepts the proposed develop ment in principle) and subsequently submit de tailed plans for approval, or (b) full permission, if you are satisfied that your building proposals are likely to be acceptable and you prefer to submit all the necessary particulars in a single application. When you apply for planning permission— (whether outline or full)—or for approval to de tailed plans, you should forward : (a) particulars of your interest (if any) in the land and name and address and (b) a copy of a newspaper circulating in the area in which notice of intention to apply for the permission or approval has been published or, (c) a copy of a notice erected on the land stating that planning permission or approval is being sought. When applying for an outline permission, you should forward a plan or particulars sufficient to enable the planning authority to identify the land and to determine the siting and layout of the development you propose. In the case of a new house, you need send only a section of the Ordnance Sheet—or a tracing from it—on which you have clearly marked the boundaries of the site and the proposed location of the house. It is desirable also to indicate what provision is being made for water- supply and sewage disposal and to show the posi tion of the septic, tank (if one is necessary). More, detailed plans will be required when you apply for a full permission or for approval after you have obtained an outline permission. These will include a site or layout plan, drawings of floor plans, elevations and section, water and sewerage connec tions and detailed plans of septic tank, if one is proposed. Normally you should lodge these plans in duplicate, keeping copies for yourself, but some planning authorities may require more than two copies. Advice on requirements may be obtained from the offices of the planning authorities. Some of them have devised special application forms to facilitate applicants. A planning authority must decide on a properly made application for permission or approval with in two months from the date the application is received; if they do not do so, they are deemed to have made a decision to grant the application. If they decide to grant your application (either with or without conditions) they notify you. If you consider that any conditions proposed are too onerous, you can appeal against them. The 21

show that the average amount per bill of a solicitor acting for a lessee in that area was actually greater than the average amount per bill of a solicitor acting for the lessor, namely £18 as against £16. The Board have been asked whether some mistake has been made in the preparation of these figures, but they deny this possibility while being unable to say how this result can be explained. They sug gest it may somehow or other be linked with another curiosity, namely that the number of bills presented to lessors by the solicitors who replied to the Board's questionnaire was apparently fifty per cent greater than the number presented to lessees. Action so far taken by the Council The President has written to the Lord Chancellor informing him that the Council wish to accept the invitation to make representations to the govern ment before the government decide whether or not to adopt the Prices and Incomes Board's re port. They have in the meantime given prelim inary consideration to the various criticisms re ferred to above and the Special Committee, under the Chairmanship of Sir Hilary Scott, which was responsible for the drafting of the Law Society's memorandum of evidence to the PIB, has been charged with the preparation of the Law Society's representations. The President has also in his letter to the Lord Chancellor, asked whether the Lord Chancellor feels that it would be possible to convene meetings of the Statutory Committee under the Solicitors Act 1957, and of the County Court Rules Com mittee, before a decision has been reached by the government on the Prices and Incomes Board's report. At the time of going to press a reply to that letter had not as yet been received, but it is expected that the reply will be "no" and thus a written confirmation of his oral statement referred to earlier in this article. PLANNING PERMISSION Reprinted, with permission, from A House of Your Own, published by the Stationery Office If you are building your own house If you propose to build your own house, you should apply for planning permission from your local authority before work is commenced. You do not have to be the owner or lessee of the land when you apply but, if you are buying or leasing a site, you should make the contract or lease conditional