About Us
PGAT is developed and maintained by an independent UK-based practitioner focused on improving the quality, consistency, and defensibility of planning governance.
Who we are
PGAT is operated as an independent project, not as part of a consultancy, campaigning organisation, or political body.
The work behind PGAT is grounded in direct experience of how complex planning decisions are documented, assessed, and defended — and how governance weaknesses arise when process and evidence are not aligned.
Our background
The project grew out of sustained engagement with real planning decision records, large technical evidence bases, and the statutory frameworks that govern how planning decisions are meant to be made.
Over time, recurring patterns became clear: councils were not necessarily reaching poor outcomes, but were increasingly relying on informal practice, deferred resolution, and thin recording to bridge gaps that should have been addressed at the point of decision.
Our purpose
The primary purpose of PGAT is to help change how planning governance operates in practice.
PGAT is designed to support a shift away from informal, assumption-led decision making and towards decisions that are demonstrably evidence-led, properly reasoned, and clearly recorded in line with statutory and policy expectations.
What we are trying to achieve
PGAT aims to raise the baseline standard of planning governance by making decision quality visible and testable.
By systematically identifying where decision-critical matters are deferred, diluted, or omitted from the record, PGAT encourages earlier resolution, clearer reasoning, and stronger discipline at committee and officer level.
How this supports councils
PGAT is not designed to undermine planning authorities or challenge decisions as a matter of course.
Its objective is to reduce avoidable exposure by helping councils strengthen their decision processes, improve record quality, and ensure that decisions can be defended on the basis of what was actually relied upon at the time.
Our approach
PGAT is deliberately procedural and restrained.
Outputs are written to be calm, evidence-led, and intelligible to those reviewing decisions after the event. The focus is on governance improvement, not attribution of fault.
Independence
PGAT operates independently of local authorities, developers, political groups, and representative bodies.
This independence allows planning decisions to be assessed consistently and transparently, based solely on the decision record and governing frameworks.