Writing a Planning Statement for a Brighton & Hove application
A Planning Statement explains and justifies your proposal against the development plan. For schemes across Brighton & Hove — Brighton, Hove, Portslade and Rottingdean and the surrounding area — that means engaging Brighton & Hove's own adopted policies on design, character and amenity, plus the NPPF. Buildwise auto-detects site constraints (South Downs National Park (park area administered by SDNPA), many conservation areas and coastal / flood risk) from your postcode and writes each section tailored to your site and project type.
Cited to Brighton & Hove's actual adopted plan
Buildwise references Brighton & Hove's live policies directly — for example design, amenity and character policies such as DM18 (High Quality Design and Places), DM20 (Protection of Amenity), DM21 (Extensions and Alterations) — quoted from the source documents and verified, never invented. As Brighton & Hove updates its plan, Buildwise's corpus is updated with it.
- Brighton & Hove City Plan Part One (2016)
- Brighton & Hove City Plan Part Two (2022)
How it works
Address + postcode; constraints detected automatically.
Usually under 10 minutes.
Download as PDF, edit online, or send to your client under your practice logo.
Example (excerpt)
"The single-storey design and restrained ridge height directly address scale and massing, ensuring compliance with Policy DM18 (High Quality Design and Places). Generous separation to the host dwelling with no new facing windows satisfies the amenity requirements engaged by Policy DM20…"
Frequently asked questions
Usually not. Across the councils Buildwise covers, a planning statement is a validation requirement only for major applications — several councils do not list it at all, and one asks for it wherever the context and justification need demonstrating. For a householder or small-residential scheme it is optional. It is still the document that argues your scheme against Brighton & Hove's adopted policies, which is where most refusals are decided — and where the statutory design and access content applies (major development, or a dwelling or 100m² of new floorspace inside a conservation area or World Heritage Site) Buildwise includes that section too.
Brighton & Hove's adopted Brighton & Hove City Plan Part One (2016) and Brighton & Hove City Plan Part Two (2022) policies relevant to your scheme — such as DM18 (High Quality Design and Places), DM20 (Protection of Amenity), DM21 (Extensions and Alterations) — plus the NPPF.
Minutes, versus most of a working day by hand.
The permitted development check is free, for everyone, and signing up costs nothing. Planning statements are £95 each with no subscription; monthly plans start at £249.
Start your Brighton & Hove Planning Statement.
The Permitted Development check is free — no card needed. Planning documents are £95 each, with your practice’s logo on every one.
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