There are certain mandatory documents that have to be submitted for an application to even be valid. If any of these documents or drawings are absent, the processing of your application will be delayed until you have them all uploaded.

Aside from such delays, there are situations wherein your application can be rejected as a whole or rejected because of some drawings.

Some of the common reasons why planning drawings (2023 update) get rejected are:

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Drawings have not been labelled correctly

‍A common mistake is not mentioning whether the drawing is existing or proposed in the title bar or file name. ‍

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Unclear or incorrect dimensions or drawing scale‍

For example, bi-folding doors are drawn 1 m from the right edge of the rear extension wall on the elevation, but the same doors appear to be drawn 0.5 m from the same wall on the floor plan. 

Drawings are not drawn to a standard scale

For example, 1:40, 1:75, 1:150, etc.

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No red or blue line

If the red or blue line for the property boundary and adjacent land is not drawn on one or more drawings (or drawn incorrectly).‍

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Wrong file format‍

If the drawings do not follow the file requirements stated by the planning portal, such as recommended file format or size.

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Conclusion

This list of common reasons your planning application might have been rejected in 2023 is far from exhaustive. There are many more common mistakes we see, and many more that won't lead to rejection, but may delay a decision due to the application not being validated on the first attempt.