Planning Geek Updates – May 2025
Planning Geek continues to grow, this page is an update as of May 2025
Our team looking after planning applications now stands at 18 people. We have MRTPI planning consultants, highways engineer, a former enforcement officer and more. For a free fee proposal, please complete one of the forms found at https://planninggeek.co.uk/contact A large number of people also engage the Planning Geek founder, Ian Walmsley, in Zoom calls – you can book a session here.
Ian Walmsley had a brand new YouTube channel! The content will rapidly grow over the coming weeks, so please subscribe now so you don’t miss anything.
On the website, this continues to grow…..
We are rolling out a sub-navigation system to group certain sections together, this should ease navigation.
CIL – this section has been updated. We now detail details of exemptions and a useful flowchart. the CIL FAQ has also been added to. We also now list every local authority that charges CIL. You can find the CIL section here.
English Local authorities – we now have a master list of every local authority, complete with their email address, whether they charge CIL and whether they have an Article 4 blocking HMOs. You can find that new page here.
Talking of Article 4s – that section has also had an update – we have a list of every local authority that has an Article 4 blocking HMOs. This is the only complete version on the internet (until others copy our list!) – we are confident you can’t find any missing ones!! We also have a link to the Direction, a map of areas covered and importantly the date that the Article 4 came into effect. We also list any Article 4s which are planned. These new areas include Hyndburn, Spelthorne, Fenland, Ealing, Wakefield, Walsall, Lambeth and Eastbourne. Derby went Article 4 a few days ago. You can find the full list here. You can also access the Article 4 section via https://article4.co.uk (so easy to remember). We will add more pages soon.
Fees increased on 1st April, so our fees page has been fully updated for 2025. You can look up the fees via this page. Don’t forget the Portal is a private company and you will need to pay £84.40 to process your payment. You may well be able to pay the local authority direct to avoid this fee.
Other Pages that are new or updated on Planning Geek
As this causes some confusion, we have added a page on understanding planning drawings under permitted development. You can see that here.
However, if you don’t know what Permitted Development is, we now have a page for that here. If you are in a National Park, we have covered you as well for PD rights, more can be found here.
Once you apply for planning, you might be able to claim under the Planning Guarantee for application fees. This page will explain the process.
Grey Belt is often in the news, but what is it? Click here to find out more!
Once you get planning, you may have conditions – this page explains what they are and what you must not forget to do.
Ian will continue to add pages to the site as and when time allows.
If you ever would like to help create content for Planning Geek, please reach out to us.
Planning Geek Updates Page updated: 7th May 2025
