Commission a Report

Timing

When to commission
a V-Score audit.

The question is not whether to commission an independent review. It is when, and what is at stake if you wait.

Before land purchase

Planning risk due diligence

Before contracts exchange, understand what the scheme’s planning exposure actually is – not from the vendor’s planning consultant, but from an independent assessment of the documents.

At stake: purchase price, land viability, option terms

Before RIBA Stage 3

Design alignment check

Before the design is frozen, confirm the scheme is aligned with policy requirements. A V-Score at Stage 3 costs a fraction of the redesign cycles that follow a Stage 1 objection.

At stake: design programme, consultant fees, Stage 1 timeline

Before submission

Pre-Submission Audit: the core product

The officer’s assessment begins the moment your documents are validated. A V-Score before submission identifies every attack vector while there is still time to fix it. After submission, you are responding, not preventing.

At stake: every refusal ground, every holding cost, every delay

Before committee

Committee risk assessment

When an application is progressing but the committee date is approaching, a rapid V-Score identifies whether the officer’s report is likely to be supportive or adversarial, and what can still be addressed.

At stake: committee outcome, political risk, deferral

Before funding close

Investor-grade planning diligence

An independent audit commissioned before the funding round closes provides documented external evidence that the planning risk was assessed. It is the difference between a funder asking “what could go wrong?” and being given a qualified answer backed by an independent report.

At stake: investment committee confidence, funding terms, JV conditions

Select report type

Pre-submission Pre-Submission Audit + Fix Review Two-report bundle: a full five-dimension Pre-Submission Audit identifying every policy and design vulnerability, followed by a Fix Review once your team has responded to confirm the risks have been addressed. Fixed fee: £3,000. £3,000 Less than one day's holding cost on most schemes. Less than a single design-team meeting. Post-refusal Post-Refusal Forensic Audit Forensic dissection of the refusal, the minimum viable fix, resubmission strategy, and appeal viability assessment. £5,000 A fraction of one additional week's delay on any scheme of scale. Cheaper than re-running a viability appraisal. Viability FVA Review We audit their appraisal. We never write our own. An independent read of the submitted Financial Viability Assessment against its own evidence, explicitly not a regulated valuation. £3.5–5k

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Free. No obligation. We'll tell you which report makes sense for your scheme.

Application details

Planning application reference (required)

Local planning authority (required)

Site address

Brief scheme description (optional – helps us scope quickly)

Your details

Name (required)

Company

Email address (required)

Phone (optional)

How did you hear about V-Score?

All enquiries receive a 24-hour scope and fee confirmation. Nothing is charged until the scope is agreed.

A V-Score report is an assessment of planning risk, not legal advice. No outcome is guaranteed; the decision remains with the decision-maker.

Independent audit · signed off by a chartered planner

V-Score is an independent forensic audit service. A senior practitioner supported by advanced analysis interrogates the full document set; every report is reviewed and signed off by a chartered town planner (MRTPI) before delivery.

What happens next

Send the documents

By email, portal link, or WeTransfer.

Scope confirmed in 24 hours

Fixed fee set; nothing charged until you approve.

Forensic audit

Five dimensions, every finding scored and verified.

Report in 10 working days

Chartered planner sign-off and prioritised fix list.

Common questions

What document types do you need?

The Planning Statement, Design and Access Statement, and any GLA Stage 1 letter or officer report are the priority. For FVA forensics we need the Financial Viability Assessment. We will tell you specifically what is needed after reviewing the application reference.

Does the application need to be live?

No. We can work from submission-ready documents before they are submitted, from a live pending application, or from a refused application. The pre-submission audit is most effective with at least draft-stage documents.

What scheme types do you cover?

All UK planning application types: residential, PBSA, mixed-use, commercial, EIA major, rural, industrial, and infrastructure. The five-dimension framework applies across all types.

Is this confidential?

Yes. V-Score reports are produced under confidentiality. We do not disclose client details or application specifics to any third party. Reports are marked confidential planning intelligence.

How is payment handled?

Fees are fixed and payable on commission. Delivery is within 10 working days from receipt of a complete document set and cleared funds. Every commission is under our standard engagement letter: liability cap, client-only reliance, confidentiality.

What is included in the Pre-Submission Audit at £3,000?

Two reports. First, the full five-dimension forensic audit of your draft documents: where the application is exposed, each finding scored, with specific fixes. Second, a fix review: once you have addressed the findings, you send the revised documents and we re-run the critical dimensions to confirm the exposure has been reduced. Both are included in the £3,000 fee.

Is this legal advice?

No. A V-Score report is an assessment of planning risk, not legal advice, and no outcome is guaranteed. Every finding is expressed as an assessment of where the application is exposed. The decision remains with the decision-maker.

Tell us aboutyour scheme.

When to commissiona V-Score audit.

What happens next

Common questions

Tell us about
your scheme.

When to commission
a V-Score audit.