On 10 May, the Government will have set out its plans for how the country is likely to begin to move out of the current lockdown, after nearly two months since it was first announced on 23 March.

The general willingness of people to continue to observe the lockdown may already be showing signs of stress, with many beginning to ask “at what cost?” – an almost impossible question to answer requiring modelling of behaviour and economic assumptions that are likely to be out-of-date as soon as they are made.

The UK Planning system has of course had to adapt to the ‘new normal’ – at least for the time being.

This overview looks at some of these changes and many of the issues that have cropped up in the last couple of months since we last looked at the situation nearer the beginning of the lockdown.

Preparing Planning Applications
We initially anticipated that the preparation of some applications might have to be put on hold possibly due to the following:

• Movement restrictions preventing property surveys for floor plans, consultancy reports
• LPA staff absences and additional burden to cope with enquiries
• Consultancy reports in some cases might not be possible, such as noise assessments or on-street parking surveys – these normally have to be done during school term times when traffic conditions are normal.