[pgkevet]

I disagree.

I'm also someone who once stormed into a planning department (havng lost my temper over multiple planning applications for nothng to do with smallholdings) and shouted out in a loud voice .. "Just tell me who the f*** to bribe!" It's not the way....

When i was buying this place and got in touch with local planning I was very diplomatic and laid out what i was trying to achieve and whether it was possible to discuss my ideas with a planning officer. The fellow that I ended up chatting to came out to see the farm and we had a long, long chat about various things. He turned out to be a local guy and mostly concerned with what he considered was good for the area. Along with our discussion he volunteered the fact that he also worked in his spare time as a planning consultant and thought it was daft that he got so much work that way when all folk really had to do was to ring up and ask.

Now it's not actually their job to tell you what you can/ cannot do. It's their job to tell you whether what you propose is allowable under the rules. So you need to be friendly and diplomatic if you're trying to get help in finding a way to achieve your end result. If they disagree or claim it's not allowable and don't choose to help then you can always use a planning consultant afterwards - but why pay for the sake of it?

In the case above where i lost my cool I did finally get consent for the expansions of my business only through the services of my brother in law (who turned put to be a much higher powered road planner than I was aware of) who took over the situation, arranged a meeting wth the planners.. told me I could come along but keep my gob shut.... and had such a diplomatic discussion with the guys that i learned a lot about handling officials. And he suggested compromises that kept everyone happy. I've recently had to deal with my mother's estate and the complications there have meant speaking to both probate and land registry and again both have been very helpful and suprisingly pleasant to chat with - by being polite, calm and explaining things. Folk like to be asked if they can help.

[pharnorth]

Well your replies both made me smile and I really appreciate them because you are both absolutely correct that the wrong approach to the wrong people can take a lot of sorting. I have had a good read of all the planning guidance and there is enough ambiguity that my approach will be to say that I am looking for advice on the simplest way through and it seems to be.....  To [member=16228]pgkevet[/member] points, my learning on handling officials is to suggest a solution rather than ask an entirely open question because in some cases they find it very hard to back track from the first thing they think off, which is often not the best or easiest answer. [member=27229]stufe35[/member] this is a pretty small project so not worth spending on a consultant and fees for them to submit and not the end of the world if they simply say no.