If the planning strategy determined that the project required planning consent then it is often useful to obtain pre-application advice from the Local Planning Authority prior to committing to a design or making a planning application.
Step 3... the pre-application stage
Most (but not all) Local Authorities provide a pre-application advice service, where they provide feedback on the design prior to making an application. The quality of this advice is generally dependent on the quality of the information provided – the more drawings and detail that can be provided, the more comprehensive the advice that can be given.
You could obtain pre-application advice on no more than a square drawn on a site plan and a description of what is being applied for e.g. a new house, but that might allow the planning officer to reach their own, possibly erroneous conclusions about what the hypothetical house might look like. A more comprehensive pre-application submission providing a more thought out and developed design is likely to get a more useful response.
Part of the pre-application process is also to establish what, if any, additional information will be required to support a planning application, this may include an ecology report, flood risk assessment or highways report.
Next week we will be looking in more detail at the creative process.
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