About reports and paid analysis

Pinned

Posted by Lee Miller

2026-01-19 09:57:12

This forum exists to discuss planning decisions, process, and governance.

Posting, replying, and discussing cases here is free.

You do not need to pay to ask questions, describe what happened, or take part in discussions.

The purpose of the forum is to help people:

understand how decisions were made
identify where process or evidence may be weak
clarify what actually matters procedurally

That will always remain open.

My advice and participation in forum discussions are free.

So what is paid?

Payment only applies if you want a formal report.

A report is not a forum reply. It is a structured, written output that:

pulls together the relevant issues from a case
applies a defined evidential framework
is written to be saved, shared, or relied upon outside the forum

This formal report identifies decision-stage evidence failures in planning decisions.

This may be relevant if you need a clear, structured assessment of whether sufficient evidence existed at the point a decision was made.

Reports are optional.

Why reports are separate

Forum discussion is informal and exploratory by design.

Reports are formal outputs that take time, structure, and responsibility to produce.

Keeping these separate means:

discussion stays open and accessible
no one is pressured to pay for help
paid work is clearly defined and transparent

Nothing in the forum requires payment.

How it works in practice

A case is discussed openly in the forum
The issues become clearer through discussion
If a formal report would be useful, that option may be offered
You decide whether you want a report

There is no obligation and no effect on your ability to continue using the forum.

What this forum is not

It is not a pay-to-post service
It is not a substitute for legal advice
It is not a sales funnel disguised as discussion

It is a place to understand process, evidence, and governance — first and foremost.

Obtaining a report

To produce an evidence report, access to the full decision-stage material is required.

This means:

a zipped folder containing the relevant PDFs from the planning application file
the planning application reference number

Only documents that are publicly available at, or before, the point of determination and that form part of the decision-stage evidential record should be included.

Documents to include

Typical documents include (where applicable):

the officer report(s) presented to the decision-maker
statutory consultee responses (e.g. highways, drainage, water, environment, heritage)
technical assessments relied upon in the decision (e.g. transport, flood risk, utilities, ecology)
committee reports, updates, and decision notices
any addenda or clarification documents explicitly referenced in the officer report

Documents to exclude

The following should not be included:

public objections or representations
third-party comments submitted by members of the public
correspondence that was not relied upon or referenced in the decision record

These materials are excluded because the report does not assess the volume or merits of objections, but whether required evidence existed at the point the decision was made.

Statutory consultee clarification

Some statutory consultees submit responses that are labelled as “objections” in the planning system.

For example:

a water company objecting on capacity grounds
a highway's authority objecting, pending further information
an environmental body objecting subject to mitigation

These responses should be included, as they form part of the decision-stage evidential record and are materially different from public representations.

If a statutory consultee response is relied upon, summarized, or addressed in the officer report, it is relevant regardless of whether it is framed as an objection.

Pricing

Payment only applies if a formal report or analysis is requested.

£95 — Report generation

A structured report generated using a dedicated evidence-assessment system, based on the decision-stage documents provided.

This report:

identifies and records decision-stage evidential failures
applies a defined evidential framework
documents missing or incomplete evidence as findings
is reproducible and suitable for use outside the forum

This is a system-generated output.
It does not include interpretation, opinion, or advice.

£225 — Optional report analysis

A separate analytical review of the generated report and the underlying decision-stage evidence.