The department is able to provide advice and information if you are considering submitting a development proposal. We welcome and encourage discussions before you submit your application and understand that early discussions of your proposal can provide advantages for all parties involved. We will be able to provide detailed advice to developers and their agents on key issues prior to formal submission where the function is to speeding up the development process and avoid delays or refusals due to unacceptable proposals.
The provision of advice on development schemes is time consuming and under the current statutory planning fees, do not cover the cost of these discussions. In view of this and taking into account the increased number of requests for advice, we have formalised the procedures for handling this area of work and introduced a fee for the most complex applications. This will help us to sustain and improve the quality of service provided and ensures that the costs of the service does not fall as a general cost to the Council taxpayer.
We believe there are a number of advantages of entering our pre application service, these include:
Understanding how National, Regional and Local policies will be applied to your development
Identify if specialist input will be required e.g. for Listed Buildings, transportation, trees, landscape, sustainable development.
Assisting in the preparation of proposals before formal submission, which, if the advice is followed, should reduce any unexpected delays and be more likely to result in a positive outcome
Establish a degree of certainty to developers over their proposal
Indicating those proposals that are completely unacceptable, so saving you the cost of pursuing a formal application.
From running our informal service of pre application advice, we understand that there is an expectant level of advice the applicant believes the planning officers can deliver. We aim to give a high standard and consistent level of advice and therefore, there must be a minimum level of information that we will require from you. This level of detail will depend on the type and size of the proposed development, regardless of this, the more information that you can provide, the more guidance we can give.
For all development types, we will require:
Location plan (1:2500)
Layout plan (1:500)
A full description of your proposal, including a site layout / floor space diagrams that illustrate on how the sites uses are allocated
Information on existing and proposed uses
Details of the site or building as it exists, this should include
A plan showing the existing site area, existing buildings and other features, for example the location and size of trees
Existing lawful use of the site or buildings and any known planning history
Existing floor space and how this is broken down and used at present
Visual material that will help us understand the existing site or buildings better
Photographs of the immediate surroundings
Any drawings, photographs or models that help to describe the proposal. Where known these should include floor plans, elevations, adjacent buildings, servicing, parking, crime prevention measures, whether hazardous substances are to be stored and the initial architectural approach and materials used.
Further information may be requested by the Council for the more complex proposals, this could include:
A draft Design and Access Statement
Site surveys (e.g. Tree, Landscape, Ecological, Archaeology, Noise etc.
Initial Flood Risk Assessment
Draft Energy Strategies
Draft Sustainable Checklist
All requests for pre application advice will have to fill out (in full) and submit a pre-application request form. If this form has not been submitted and filled out in full, then unfortunately we will not be able to progress.
As mentioned above, we welcome pre application discussions for all types of development proposal and believe they are of value to all parties. Development proposals that will be subject to the chargeable pre application advice scheme are the following types of development:
Provision of 50 or more residential units
Provisions for over 5,000 m2 of commercial or industrial floor space
Development sites over 5 hectares
Developments that are of significant size / scale and are potentially of major public interest, where an Environmental Impact Assessment would normally be required.
All developments that fall below these levels will not be offered the chargeable detailed service unless specifically requested in order to take advantage of the project led approach to the process. All other developments will be subject to general pre-application advice, which will be FREE of charge.
When your development proposals falls within the chargeable criteria, you will have three options available, these being;
Take advantage of the 1 meeting and detailed written advice option, or
Take advantage of the 5 meetings and detailed written advice option, or
Have no pre-application advice and submit your application.
We would advise one of the top two options. The charges for the service are;
1 meeting and detailed written advice - £800
5 meetings and detailed written advice - £3500
If you require any additional meetings, or advice from the Council, these can be arranged at appropriate hourly rates for the staff involved. Please read the document below to find the full information about this.
