Writing a Planning Statement for a Canterbury application
A Planning Statement explains and justifies your proposal against the development plan. For schemes across Canterbury — Canterbury, Herne Bay, Whitstable and Sturry and the surrounding area — that means engaging Canterbury's own adopted policies on design, character and amenity, plus the NPPF. Buildwise auto-detects site constraints (Kent Downs National Landscape (AONB), Canterbury conservation areas + the Canterbury World Heritage Site (Cathedral, St Augustine’s Abbey, St Martin’s Church) and coastal change / flood zones (Herne Bay, Whitstable)) from your postcode and writes each section tailored to your site and project type.
Cited to Canterbury's actual adopted plan
Buildwise references Canterbury's live policies directly — for example design, amenity and character policies such as DBE3 (Principles of Design), DBE6 (Alterations and Extensions), DBE4 (Residential Space Standards) — quoted from the source documents and verified, never invented. As Canterbury updates its plan, Buildwise's corpus is updated with it.
- Canterbury District Local Plan (adopted July 2017)
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 DBE3 (Principles of Design). Generous separation to the host dwelling with no new facing windows satisfies the amenity requirements engaged by Policy DBE6…"
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 Canterbury'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.
Canterbury's adopted Canterbury District Local Plan (adopted July 2017) policies relevant to your scheme — such as DBE3 (Principles of Design), DBE6 (Alterations and Extensions), DBE4 (Residential Space Standards) — 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 Canterbury 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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