Pre-application planning advice

We offer a pre-application advice service so that you can discuss your proposal with a planning officer before submitting a planning application.

Although an officer cannot guarantee that your application will be successful, they can offer their experienced opinion and advice to help your chances of being successful.

Why should I get pre-application advice?

By allowing a skilled professional to look over your application before it is sent, the officer can spot any possible issues early on and work to fix them.

This will not only improve the quality of your application but also avoid any expensive mistakes later on. In many cases it can also help speed up the processing of an application once it has been registered.

This advice is usually confidential, although the council will publish our pre-application advice report if a formal planning application is subsequently submitted. For larger developments we do encourage maximum disclosure of pre-application proposals (with the promoter's agreement) so as to foster transparency and community engagement at an early stage, as set out in our Pre-Application Advice Process (PDF Document, 0.28 Mb)

Pre-application fees

The fee depends on the size and complexity of the proposal, as set out in our Pre-Application Advice Guidance Note (PDF Document, 2.38 Mb) and downloadable Pre-Application Advice Request Form (Word Document, 0.25 Mb).

Please note that pre-application advice is only an informal opinion and does not constitute a formal or guaranteed outcome, nor prejudice the formal consideration of any application by the council against local and national planning policies and current guidance at the time a formal application is received.