New Planning Portal preview: Supporting documents
With things progressing well for our new site to be launched in February/March, its time for an update on the improvements to the supporting documents section.
It’s a surprisingly tricky part of the system to get right as it needs to cater for experts and beginners alike as well as ask for essential and occasionally optional ‘local’ requirements.
Firstly we’ve made it as simple as possible to understand what documents are mandatory based on national and local requirements. These are communicated clearly at the top of the page.
Adding a document is easy. You choose the document type via a drop down then add a description. Simply select a file on your device and it will be added to your list of supporting documents.
You get a clear upload progress bar and once it has been added to the application your list of supporting documents updates in real time.
You can quickly edit documents in the list. For example you can edit the document description or remove it completely.
You can use one of our accredited mapping suppliers to buy compliant plans for your application as well as accessing supporting guidance and documents on CIL and notices.
As ever we’ve put together a short video to let you take a look at the new supporting documents features (video has no sound).
Planning Portal Blog 
Dear Sarah
Could you look at the website for Building Regulations – submit-a-plan On that website you load all the documents together in one place and it is very easy then to see what has been included On your website it goes onto more than page on the screen and it is too spaced out
It would be a great help if one could look at the final form as you are going through the process – it takes too many keystrokes to have to download and check the completed form and then plough back through the process to make corrections. I have made over a hundred applications through the Portal and it is still time consuming to check the form at the end of the whole process in the present method
It would be helpful if the sequence in which the form is completed is the same sequence as the paragraphs on the completed form
When inserting an international telephone number this is normally shown with + and the UK zero deleted – very frustrating to find out after a long time to telephone you to learn that the system will only accept numbers
Kind regards, Clive Wilson
Hi Sarah Looks fairly straight forward to me but the proof will be when it is brought in to use. PS I have just submitted a CLUED application and in the fee payment section the opportunity of paying by cheque/cash has disaappeared . Is there a reason for this and can it be reinstated please. Is the same happening on all applications?
Hi John,
LPAs select which payment options they can support on our site so it could be that the authority has removed the cheque option. Cheques cause a large portion of the validation issues at LPAs so there are some who are removing this altogether or trying to encourage other forms of payment, such as online or over the phone, in order to get validation done more quickly. You can use our ‘Payment Option Checker’ to see which options each authority can support – http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/tools/lpa_payment_option_checker.xlsx
We understand that quite a lot of cheques are from homeowners paying for applications submitted by their agents, so we intend to help overcome this problem by introducing a secure online method for the applicant to pay directly to the LPA in the coming months.
Sarah
Hello
Have you increased the maximum size of documents that can be uploaded? This does cause some difficulties with documents that are just slightly over 5 mb.
Regards
Lesley Parsons
Alyn Nicholls & Associates
It won’t be there straight away Lesley, but we do intend to deal with it shortly after. We know it’s a big issue for some customers. We’ll need to work with the local authorities to increase it where they can process it, otherwise it will cause problems and delays overall.
The introduction of document type using a drop down list is a welcome addition. Unfortunately, I didn’t see document types that were “plan” specific, and this must surely make up about 50% of all document types submitted. How about “Plans – Elevations” or “Plans – Floor Plans” and “Plans – Proposed” etc? If these were available, local authorities won’t need to waste valuable time reindexing multiple documents from “Site and Other Plans” to something a bit more meaningful for planning officers and residents who are looking at applications online.
The current online application service communicates a standard ‘document type’ and ‘file name’ as provided by the applicant to local authorities.
However, there is currently no standard plan/drawing naming convention on the Portal, and plan document types applicants can select only reflect national policy.
Proposed improvement: Having toyed with the idea for some time, we see value in introducing a standard list of plan document types to overcome this issue on the new Planning Portal service.
We’ve posted a thread on our Knowledge Hub group to engage local authorities on a proposed solution and would appreciate your thoughts. We have also invited you to join our KHub group.
Mr K Reader is right in specifying various required elevations given, one have to look even further by giving further help to household by the councils by providing the initial start for any new/or extensions with the basic supply of informations even the drawings of existing plans(In doing that you avoid agents charging them more than the real cost). Young School leavers can be trained by local councils and almost all boroughs will then have all existing building plans available for all.
Hi, If I want to replace a supporting document do I need to delete it first? I have tried this but when I re-upload the document it gets renamed with a (1). It looks like the old file is still there and the system is adding the (1) so as not to replace it. Can anyone suggest how to do this?
Hi Robert, I’ve asked our Support team to get in touch and get this sorted for you. Your reference is 194467. We are working to reinstate the phone line, but in the meantime they are still operating on support@planningportal.co.uk if you/anyone else needs them. They are happy to call anyone back, if you provide a phone number. Sarah