Planning By Design Reviews 

Planning By Design wrote my retrospective planning application, which has just been approved. Before consulting them, I was convinced that there might be no hope for getting approval due to the complicated nature of the changes. I am ever so grateful to Mislav, who made me feel reassured and in safe hands from the start due to his extensive knowledge on planning.

Excellent communications, Very rapid resposne and very professional. Charges very reasoanble too

Ive had such an amazing service from Planning by Design, customers service has been really helpful and understanding and the community has just been wonderful!! Cara has just gone above and beyond is helping us out with our project. Nothing bad to say

Very efficient and helpful company. Answer queries quickly and to a satisfactory level

Very easy to deal with and it all went smoothly from their side, just a shame the council are such idiots, our decision should have been 25th July but even though there were no objections whatsoever they still hung it out until 27th August without saying why😡

Very knowledgeable and thorough. Polite and always looking to help. Only reason I didn't give 5 star is the replies could be a bit slow, sometimes taking a few days but I guess thats because they are busy?

Planning by Design have been fantastic to work with. Kim Crisp, in particular, has been incredibly helpful in preparing and advising me throughout the planning application process. As someone with little prior knowledge of planning, her guidance made everything clear and stress-free. I would definitely recommend them, especially to anyone navigating the planning process for the first time!

Great service from start to finish

Using this company's service was na excellent decision. The projekt was prepared with great care and attention to detail. The entire cooperation was very professional- from the first conversations, though presenting ideas, all the way to the finał design. I definitely recommend this company to anyone looking for a Creativa and reliable partner to Bering their dream spacer to life.

Brilliant service, took all the stress out of putting a planning application.
Firstly we had a planning appraisal carried out, this was done in less than half a day and they let us know that we would need to apply for full planning permission.
We therefore went on to use Planning By Design to proceed with the planning applications and thanks to Busra the architect for listening to our planning needs and getting the drawings of the building spot on from the first draft with only a couple of small amendments to the drawings, they really made our project come to life infront of our eyes. Also a big thank you to Silas, who dealt with the planning statement from start to finish, he put it over in a document making it look professional but easy to read in layman’s terms. By getting everything together when the plans went to our local council, they had everything they needed and were not coming back for extra information so seem to make the whole process breeze through.
I would definitely recommend Planning by Design as we had no experience at all in putting a planning application in, they made everything quick and simple and having the whole team together in one place, made the whole experience seem effortless and not have to worry about going to a separate architect etc.
Thank you so much to the whole team at Planning By Design

Planning were with us every step of the way and provided a very human approach to what can normally be a very regulated Industry/ process.
I would and have recommended them already

Excellent communication and a good set of planning designs. Always available on either email or phone. Our planner was very helpful with a wealth of knowledge. Would highly recommend Planning By Design. Great customer service service and always friendly and prompt to help.

Fantastic from start to finish. They handled everything from all communications withbthe Council to permission being granted. They were always checking in to make sure that I was happy with the plans and the standard of the final result was amazing. I will definatley recommend them and will definatley use them again if needed.

We are only in the initial planning and quote phase but the response times by Kim has been great, she is very attentive and happy to support.

I am very impressed with my experience using Planning By Design. Each step of the process was explained clearly and was made simple for me.

I used them for my garage conversion and the turnaround time was very quick.

I would use them again happily.

Lovely people and excellent advice. Couldn't be happier so far with Planning By Design.

I was looking for advice for an agricultural building that I had erected on my smallholding believing it to be permitted development. Unfortunately I had to put in for planning permission, which was later refused. I followed up with an appeal which was dismissed. I contacted the NFU for advice and they suggested contacting Planning By Design. I filled in an online form and received a call from someone the following day. I agreed to having a feasibility report produced to see whether I could submit a new planning application for a building of reduced size. I spoke with Mike on Wednesday who said they would be happy to produce a feasibility report once one of their planners had looked at the previous retrospective planning application. They kept in touch by email on Thursday & Friday and arranged for a telephone consultation with a planner for 11am on Monday. I received a call from Josh on Monday and discussed the issues with the previous application for over 30 minutes. Before 5pm on that evening I received the feasibility report, which was very thorough and helped me determine the way forward.

Our experience with Planning by Design has been extremely disappointing. What should have been a relatively straightforward planning application process turned into a prolonged, costly, and stressful ordeal. As a result, we lost a prime commercial premises and significant projected business revenue.

We were advised to submit a change of use application for a premises that already appeared to fall under the correct usage class. This advice led to unnecessary delays and confusion that ultimately derailed the project. The extended timeline caused our landlord, understandably frustrated by the lack of progress, to withdraw from the agreement, and we lost a site we had spent months securing.

Communication throughout was rigid and unaccommodating. Contact was mostly limited to email, making it difficult to address urgent matters effectively.

What we initially expected to be a relatively short process turned into months of back and forth. There was very little proactive management or initiative from the team.

At a key point in the process, despite clear instructions from us to proceed with a revised submission based on available information, the planner chose instead to seek further clarification from the council and requested an extension. The re-submission deadline passed without resolution. To date, we still have no validated planning application in place.

This experience has resulted in considerable financial and opportunity loss for our business.

We also found the response from senior management to be reactive rather than solution-oriented. Even after significant escalation on our part, major issues have not been addressed. At no stage did we feel there was an attempt to take ownership or provide a clear path to resolution. Instead of engaging constructively with the concerns we raised as a customer, we were met with defensive responses, further reinforcing our concerns about the company’s approach to accountability.

Regrettably, we cannot recommend Planning by Design based on our experience. We advise others to proceed with caution and ensure they seek second opinions when critical planning decisions are involved. For us, the lack of strategic guidance and poor communication had lasting consequences.

They actually believe that customers who complain about other companies must not be credible! That is the most nonsense assertion ever that demonstrates how sensitive they are when they get things wrong.

Any patterns of leaving negative reviews does not equate to you winning your argument - an unprofessional response again from your company which was, ironically, entirely my experience of you. Accept critical feedback and you may not elicit so many very similar negative reviews - we can't all be wrong in independently having the same experience of your company. Also, please do your own homework first, British Gas et al are notorious for bad reviews as per their own company data so I'm not sure what your point is. You also miss my 33% positive reviews by the way

I strongly advise against using this company due to their unprofessional conduct & poor customer service. My experience has been nothing short of appalling.

Their fictional chronology re my case is also false. I had no application, I asked them to produce an appeal report - there was no flood area/ roof issue involved or nonsense that they cited - it was about someone else's change of use so they even make up basic info' like that here - which made me realise how bad and desperate they are to come across as faultless! They put a lot of effort into trying to show they have bent over backwards for every customer - and yet they still get negative reviews. what are the chances we are all lying?

I also do not use profanities but it seems that you report that a lot of your customers do - why is that? - how coincidental...
AND, of course you don't retain calls because therein lies the truth of what happened!!

Initially, I received a report that was clearly rushed and poorly executed. When I expressed my concerns about the quality of the work, I was met with hostility and was blocked from accessing you by phone, rather than them just reviewing their work and addressing the issues. Their communication style was very dismissive, and so I found myself spending an excessive amount of time emailing them as they never answered my calls.

The company operates like a production line, lacking the diligence and attention to detail expected from a professional service. I was disappointed to find that I had to insist they compile the several supplementary random emails they then sent me into their own original report which I had paid for and so expected to be provided complete and with professionalism.

During my interactions, I encountered an operations manager who appears to be related to the managing director, as they share the same surname. This managing director also serves as the data privacy officer and handled my Subject Access Request in a discourteous and threatening manner. When I previously raised concerns over the phone, I was shouted down by the head of operations. I was informed by the managing director that, despite their IVR system indicating that calls are recorded, they do not retain these telephone recordings as the award winning company cannot afford to. Not sure what credit they expect for doing a legal Subject Access Request quickly but exclude evidential telephone calls requested - very convenient to not retain calls. This is particularly concerning, as the calls would have absolutely provided clear evidence of their unprofessional behaviour during our conversation, the incorrect allegations about me and the proof of what their operations director actually said and did - I was repeatedly talked over, faced her raised voice, and she ultimately hung up on me. They wrongly claim that I was abusive but the telephone call would have unequivocally proven otherwise. Convenient for them to hold no recording of it.

It is evident that this company lacks the basic principles of professionalism. Their responses to negative reviews further illustrates their inability to accept valid customer complaints. I had to engage in multiple email exchanges simply to get the corrections made to my report, which should have been their responsibility from the outset.

My overall experience was frustrating and disappointing. It became clear that this company does not value customer feedback or satisfaction. When a company states that they will not allow you to use their services again after raising legitimate concerns about their clearly poor service, it speaks volumes about their professionalism.

I urge potential customers to carefully consider the numerous negative reviews and the company’s responses before deciding to engage their services. Observe the pattern of how they respond to customers who place negative reviews. Are you willing to risk the same.

In summary, my experience was overwhelmingly negative, so I cannot recommend this company.

My project was an unusual one but they took the time to understand it. During the phone call I was given the chance to explore all options and ask questions about each possible outcome. I would definitely use them again and also be happy to recommend them to friends and family.