The application the council refused. The history the seller didn’t disclose. The enforcement notice that’s already running. We do the investigation no standard search reaches — and hand you a written report your solicitor, agent or council can act on.
Every report below was commissioned by someone in a real planning fight. Each one shows the situation, what we found, and what they did with it.
Acquisition under offer in an AONB. Standard searches clean. Something felt off.
A withdrawn Certificate of Lawfulness application from 2007 — the property’s lawful dwelling status had never been confirmed. A 1949 National Trust covenant. A 1982 Secretary of State restriction. None of it on any standard search; all of it material to the transaction.
Renegotiated the price before exchange. Documented evidence in hand, solicitor briefed, position protected.
Enforcement notice in force. Six weeks to act. Two agents on it. No clear plan.
Four legal routes his existing advisors had missed — including a viable CLEUD argument and a procedural point on the notice itself. Drafted three ready-to-send letters: one to his solicitor, one to the council, one as a CLEUD outline.
Walked into his solicitor’s office with a case file, not a panic. Conversation moved straight to action.
Two refusals on the same site. About to commission a third application without changing approach.
An almost-identical permission granted on the same road within the last five years. Officer wording from that decision. Five pre-application questions to put to the LPA before spending another fee.
Took the comparable into a pre-app meeting. Reframed the third attempt around what the council had already said yes to.
The postcode check · free · 10 seconds
Council, constraints, neighbourhood signals — in under 10 seconds. The investigation is the full report.
Two paragraphs is enough. What’s happened, what’s at stake, what you’re trying to achieve.
What we’ll cover, what we won’t, the price and the turnaround. You decide. No charge until you say go.
Pass it to your solicitor, your agent, or take it to the council yourself. The work is done.
Planning Decoder is a planning intelligence and research service. We retrieve, cross-reference and decode public planning records, decision history and title constraints across UK local authorities, and present what we find as a written report you can act on.
We are not a regulated planning consultancy or a law firm. We don’t represent you to the council. We don’t draft your planning application. We don’t give legal advice. For those things you’ll need a Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) member or a solicitor — and our reports are designed to make that conversation shorter and cheaper.
What you get is the evidence base. Everything we find is sourced and referenced. If your situation needs a regulated professional, you’ll walk into their office with a case file instead of a question.
Scoped back to you before any payment — what we’ll cover, the cost, the turnaround. You decide. No obligation until you say go.
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