Three reasons you should enlist the services of an urban planner early on for your next project!

For most small to medium sized development projects, urban planning consultants come as an afterthought. Planning consultants are often seen as an unnecessary expense for most developers, and most try their best to avoid enlisting an urban planner until they can’t avoid it. Here are only a few reasons why that thinking may actually be wasting more of your time and money!

1. Planning reviews prior to submission can save you from unexpected information requests

Spending a little early on can give you a better expectation of what plans, documentation and information will be required as part of the formal planning assessment. By enlisting a consultant to undertake a preliminary planning assessment of your proposal, problems can be detected early on in the process and designs can be aligned to the Planning and Design Code. This can save a lot of back and forth with Council and allow you to adequately budget for documentation prior to lodging your application. Best of all, by working with a consultant planner the whole way through, your design is likely to move through the Council assessment much quicker.

2. Consultants have great connections with Council staff.

Planning consultants communicate and work with Councils on a daily basis. This means they can often contact higher level planners directly for advice due to the ongoing relationships with staff. Importantly this can avoid some of the inconsistent advice that can come from lower ranked Duty Planners. If any grey areas are discovered during preliminary reviews and the design process, consultants are able to discuss promptly with the relevant Council Planner and iron out any issues prior to submission. If your proposal does run into issues once submitted to Council, your consultant will be able to work through things with the relevant Council Planner so that your proposal continues through to determination as quickly as possible.

3. Consultants can give you honest advice without needing to sit on the fence.

Decoding Council advice can be difficult for people who are not involved with the planning system on a daily basis. Council Planners are trained so that they do not lock Council into an approval which would be considered inconsistent with Planning and Design Code. This can make decision making for developers extremely difficult given Council advice often needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Consultant planners can help to decode this initial Council advice and seek clarification where required. Best of all a good consultant knows what each Council is flexible on, and what they make take a stricter approach on. Most Consultants began their careers in Council Planning Departments, and many still work part time at Council and understand what Councils are looking to achieve.

If you are about to start a project and think perhaps a planning consultant would be beneficial, reach out to us today. A quick review of your project may be able to save you weeks worth of time and thousands of dollars. The best part is our initial consultation is free, so if you decide we aren’t the right fit, you won’t owe us anything!

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