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It is hard to be anything other than negative about the dead hand of the planning system. Whilst I appreciate that it formulates policies for development, the words "in keeping" and "inappropriate" and other such pejorative and subjective terms abound. It has done nothing towards the quality of design as against build quality in the UK. Just look at the low design ambition of so many housing developers. The pre-app process gives nothing, does nothing, is responsible for nothing and means nothing, for which it charges disproportionately highly.
What would save an inordinate amount of time and money would be a simple meeting with a knowledgeable senior planning officer who could say from that meeting whether or not a scheme is a possibility, and throughout the planning application stage, be prepared to make comments and accept amendments and debate. It used to be like that, but it seems that staff shortage and money shortage are the tools of the accountant used to cripple the industry, as an unintended consequence of their meddling and control freakery.