Quick Tips: What’s a frequent post planning delay for civil engineering?
In our latest video, the Brookbanks civil engineering share some quick tips on a question that many developers and stakeholders face: What's a frequent post planning delay for civil engineering?
While securing planning consent is a major milestone, it’s often just the beginning of a complex journey. The team breaks down the key factors that can slow progress—and shares practical insights on how to navigate them.
1. Coordination between the design team:
- With many people from several different disciplines working on the same project, delays from miscommunication or misunderstanding can happen. Regular meetings with the whole team are important to help everting run smoothly.
2. Separation between planning and technical approvals:
- One of the most frequent causes of delay is the technical approval process. Whether it’s highways, drainage, or structures, securing sign-off from adopting authorities can take months, especially when requirements are unclear or inconsistent. The team emphasises the importance of early engagement and robust design submissions to streamline this stage.
3. Initial technical work is not robust enough:
- Lack of information can really hinder the design and planning process. Doing GAP analysis, having a project risk register and an engineer with experience in the planning process can speed things up and flush out any lack of information or detail.
4. Discharge of conditions
- Another common issue is the discharge of conditions. You have to go into it with a detailed understanding of the conditions, with a strong strategy.
Brookbanks advocates for a proactive approach—identifying critical conditions early and preparing discharge packages in parallel with technical design.
Final Thoughts
Delays post-planning are often avoidable, but only with the right foresight, coordination, and technical rigour. At Brookbanks, we work closely with clients to anticipate these challenges and keep infrastructure delivery on track.
Watch the full video to hear more from our civil engineering team and learn how to de-risk your next project.
Members in the video
Senior Associate Director
Mark Baldwin
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Civil Engineering Associate
Phillip Baker
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Chief Technical Officer
Richard Moorcroft
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Group Civil Engineering Director
Ryan Meade
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Principal Engineer
Siobhán McGlynn
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Technical Director
Siobhan Murphy
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Technical Director
Tom Mitchell
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Our July 2026 Newsletter
August 17, 2026
This month, we’ve continued to explore many of the key themes currently influencing the built environment, from sustainable drainage and climate resilience through to structural efficiency, site disposal and long-term project performance. A particular highlight from the past month was the publication of our new report, written in conjunction with the Home Builders Federation (HBF), examining Sustainable Drainage Systems and the opportunities we’ve identified in Wales to support greater consistency, certainty and efficiency ahead of guidance becoming legislation across England. This month, we also shared some exciting leadership news as we continue to grow and evolve following our recent partnership with CBPE. Plus, read on to take a look back at our latest thought leadership article covering development viability, as well as three podcast episodes from the past few weeks.