Author: Tom Hartley, Director
Securing planning consent is one of the most important milestones in the development of any new elderly care home or older people’s housing (OPH) scheme. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the trickiest.
As anyone who has applied for planning consent in the last couple of years will attest, the pipework of the planning system has been clogged up for a while now. Before the COVID-19 pandemic the average time to receive a planning decision from validation was seven months for an elderly care home, and 11 months for older people’s housing developments. That’s against a local authority target of 13 weeks for major applications.
The pandemic has exacerbated this trend, putting pressure on already under-resourced planning departments, while also reducing the ability for applicants to engage with the public – the absence of face-to-face consultations, community events, and presentations has resulted in an increase in objections and reduced local support.
The average success rate (consent granted) for new build care homes is 70% of all applications. So, at a time when decisions are being delayed and development cycles are being extended, the big question is how can we mitigate the risk of planning failure?
We work with developers and operators every day to support planning applications – and in the course of delivering planning need assessments have contributed to an overall success rate of 84%, so we thought we’d share some of the winning strategies that we think will help you attain planning paradise and stop you from slipping into the abyss of refusal regret.
1. Be clear on classifications
Understanding different use classes and models is essential to planning success. We regularly see developers that are new to the sector using terms like ‘independent living’, ‘assisted living’, and ‘care homes’ interchangeably to describe their proposals. Different models of accommodation are considered differently by planning authorities, so it’s important to be clear about exactly what your scheme is providing. Determining use class is also critical to a project’s success, as the classification of C2 or C3 can determine whether there is a requirement for affordable housing or not. With that in mind, it’s essential to understand the criteria for a C2 development – committing to a provision of care, either in a care home setting or a certain number of hours per week in an OPH setting, noting that the requirements can vary by each Local Authority
Planning priority: Be clear on how the local authority will classify your scheme
2. Understand the local position
Upfront market analysis is key to the long term success of any development, but it’s also often a particular sticking point at the planning stage. With a C2 application, for example, it’s likely the planning authority will require some demonstration of need for that accommodation type. Take the time to explore whether your proposal is meeting a local need. Often, local authorities will have a policy that discourages new residential care homes, but they may have a requirement for specialist nursing or dementia care.
Our data shows that across Great Britain, only 22.8% of elderly care home bedspaces cater for dedicated dementia, and there is wide variation at a local authority level, so by undertaking upfront need analysis, you can be better informed before investing in an application.
Planning priority: Read up on local authority market position statements/conduct your market analysis before investing heavily in an application
3. Consider your catchment
We know that the majority of residents travel to an elderly care home or older people’s housing scheme from roughly within a 5-mile and 7-10 mile radius, respectively. However, it’s important to be mindful that local authority catchments are typically much wider than this (usually relating to their own boundaries), so as part of the planning process it’s sensible to have consideration for need at a variety of levels. Some local authority areas might have an overall undersupply of beds, but an acute oversupply in specific locations based on a 5-mile catchment, while other local authorities might be oversupplied generally, but include specific locations where there is chronic need at the local level.
For example, the local authorities of Cornwall and Liverpool have significant shortfalls of 1,049 and 864 en-suite elderly care home beds respectively overall, but there will undoubtedly be locations within these areas that are extremely competitive, so it’s key to analyse markets at both levels.
Planning priority: Research demand at both the catchment and local authority level
4. Consult specialists
Our research shows that top 20 care home and older people’s housing (OPH) operators obtain planning permission 20% more quickly than less experienced counterparts, and top 20 OPH operators are 3.3 times more likely to receive consent. These organisations have deep expertise and resources in their own right, but they also often engage sector specialist architects, advisers and planning consultants, who are experienced in the nuances of the elderly care home or older people’s housing sectors. It’s an additional investment, but the time-saving and increased chance of success are often worth it.
Planning priority: For potentially tricky applications, consider sector-specialist services, such as Carterwood’s planning need assessment reports.
5.Demonstrate a lack of alternatives
If you’re dealing with a particularly sensitive site (such as one within the green belt), you can make a more compelling case at planning by undertaking an alternative site assessment. These rigorous, specialist reports provide clear, robust evidence of a lack of viable alternatives by assessing them against the three required measures of suitability, achievability, and availability.
Commissioning an alternative site assessment can remove a key barrier at planning consideration.
Planning priority: Strengthen your application with an alternative site assessment
View from the planning experts: Gillings Planning
We invited Anna Gillings, MD of Gillings Planning, to share her top tip for planning success alongside ours:
“As well as the technical nature of any case, it’s also essential to be able to clearly sell the benefits – to Ward Members, neighbours, Parish Councils, the Planning Committee and importantly to the Planning Officer, Providing new high quality care homes and OPH is critical to the wellbeing of many older people, and we all play a crucial role helping to deliver that. Being able to articulate the range of benefits of a scheme from the outset really helps that messaging.”
Find out more about Gillings Planning here
Strengthen your planning case with Carterwood
If you’d like to discuss any aspect of a forthcoming planning application, or request an example of Carterwood’s planning need assessment or alternative site assessment reports, please get in touch on 01454 838038 or info@carterwood.co.uk.
For a quick summary of the features and benefits of our planning need assessment reports, pick the relevant sector below:
