The Plough – why planning applications don’t necessarily lead to developments

The Plough

It was good news that there seemed to be some movement on The Plough issue. Clearly the owners are thinking about ways of finding a new use for the building whilst recognising its historic value.

But there is always a need for caution when deal with planning applications though. Media sources often present planning applications as a hard and fast commitment to do something. It’s a bit more complicated than that.

Planning is part of a process in delivering a scheme.

A developer might test whether a new use of a building is acceptable before commiting addition resources to test other elements of the scheme – such as financial viability.

Others may be seeking planning permission to increase the value of their land holding before selling it on.

Or they may need to seek a partner to take on and operate the project.

All of these, and more, may present stumbling blocks to a plan coming to fruition.

The Plough application may well be approved. But there will still be a long way to go before we see the solution on the ground.