I applied for retention permission back in October and it was granted on the 12th December. The 4 week waiting period was up on the 11th of January. I rang the planning office today and they tell me that they have to add 9 days to the waiting period because they weren't open over Christmas. Can somebody please explain to me the sense in this? It's a waiting period. How is closing the office going to make any difference to this? If someone wanted to object about it during those 9 days they would be ready to do so again when the office opened again. This just sounds like red tape gone mad. My house sale is dependant on this and is going to cost me another mortgage payment now. Can anyone in the know please tell me if this is a valid thing or was the woman I was talking to misinformed herself? Thanks!