Planning Permission and Building Regulation

It has come to the point where I cannot ignore the need of applying planning permission if I want to proceed with the project.  But it is so confusing.  I feel I need to sort it out in a good order.

First of all, what is planning permission?  Planning permission or planning consent is the permission required in order to be allowed to build on land, or change the use of land or buildings. In very simple terms, planning officer looks at the aesthetics and the functionality of the plan.  Does the property fits in the area after alternation?  Would it affect the community? There are guidelines that planning officers follow. But it is not prescriptive.  An application can pass while another look-alike application can fail.

Building regulation is totally different.  It's main concern is the structure of the property.  It is engineering.  It is objective rather than subjective.  As long as you put enough in it, your application will pass.

In my case, I plan to convert my garage to a en-suite bedroom.  According to the architect that I spoke to today, it doesn't require planning permission.  However, because I am opening a new door at the entrance hall to enter the new en-suite, the structure of the door will need to be approved by building regulation officer.

The second part of the project is to build a two storey extension.  According to the planning officer, if I was building an one-storey extension, it doesn't require planning permission either.  However, the fact that I want to remove the wall between the existing kitchen and the new extension to make it a large kitchen will require building regulation approval.  Obviously removing part of the exterior wall is a structural change.

In terms of the time needed to get the consents, planning permission will typically need more than two months.  This is to allow my neighbours to submit their objection of my development.  But if I was developing a large area, the application will need to be approved by Planning Permission Committee, and it definately takes much longer than two months.

In some cases it is not clear if a planning permission is required, for example my garage conversion (which affects the look of the house thus in theory planning permission is needed but I was told by planning officer that I don't needed it), I can submit an application for "Certificate of Lawfulness" or "Lawful Development Certificate".  It serves as a proof of my lawful development, which is especially useful when I come to sell the house.  Unfortunately I was told that obtaining the Lawful Development Certificate takes as long as it takes to obtain a full planning permission.

Building regulation approval takes as long as planning permission takes to obtain.  But unlike planning permission, work can actually start without receiving the approval from building regulation officer.  But if the work does start without approval, the owner is at his/her own risk.  Building regulation officer could turn up at the site and reject the alternation that has been done.  In that case, additional cost will incur for the needed rectification.

The architect also mentioned about a way to apply building regulation approval without sending the drawings and structure calculations.  Basically the property owner is 100% at his / her own risk if the plan is not done.  Obviously telling me about this is in conflicts with the architect's interest, because he is basically saying that I don't need his service.  He realised that he started a wrong topic quick quickly, and didn't way to talk about it thereafter.