Pre-application advice

Pre-Application advice for householder extensions can be found in the House Extensions Supplementary Planning Document

if your proposal relates to a house then before submitting a pre-application enquiry, you are advised to look at the House Extensions Supplementary Planning Document. This provides detailed advice on what may be acceptable in usual circumstances and may avoid the need for pre-application discussions. However if, after reading it, you are still unclear then please do submit an enquiry to us as we are unable to engage in detailed discussion on amendments to a planning application once it has been submitted.

House extensions

The new house extensions supplementary planning document, which updates our previous guidelines to take into account more recent policy and legislative changes, appeal decisions and case-law has now been formally adopted.

The supplementary planning document (SPD) sets outs the LPAs standards for new house extensions and ancillary works. Acceptable applications will be expected to accord with the requirements in the document in the vast majority of instances. Any decisions made on householder developments from now on will take into account the SPD in the decision making process as this is an adopted policy document.

The development management service currently carries very high workloads and there has been a significant increase in applications within the last 12 months. Whilst we may have previously sought to negotiate amendments to submitted applications on the majority of unacceptable schemes submitted this is not sustainable and is ultimately resulting in delays. It is also now unnecessary given the clarity provided with the House Extensions SPD. Therefore applicants should satisfy themselves that their applications accord with the details contained within the adopted House Extensions Supplementary Planning Document as negotiation through the application process will occur infrequently.

The approach outlined is a step towards meaningful change and service enhancement.

For information, the town centre SPD was also adopted at the same time.

Pre-App Guidance March 24.pdf (396.61 KB)

If your application has been refused and you want to submit an alternative proposal we would advise you to look at the officer report which will explain the reasons for our refusal.

We'd also recommend that you refer to the guidance set out in our house extensions supplementary planning document.

Information on what proposals require planning permission can be found on the planning portal website.

Visit the Planning Portal for help and advice.

Contact Planning

You can contact us by sending us a message or by calling us, our offices are open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

If you want to contact the Building Control team, please visit the Building Control section of our website we cannot reply to questions for the Building Control team.

You can call the Planning team on 01925 442819

Phone lines are open Monday to Friday 1pm to 5pm.

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Reporting a Planning Breach

You need to report a planning breach online by using our planning portal and register or sign in on the site. For more information on how to register and report a breach please visit our planning breach page.

Comments relating to a planning application

If your message is about comments for a specific application, we are unable to acknowledge or respond to any representations directly with you.

In your submission

You must include everything you want to bring to our attention in your submission. We can only take into account comments made in writing when making a decision.

Once a decision on a planning application has been made and notice issued, the report with responses to comments will be published within 5 working days.

You will be able to look at the decision on our planning website.

Any comments made on a planning application will be a public document and stored (in line with UK GDPR) in the application file with other details about the case. Comments are normally uploaded within 5 working days but sometimes this may take longer. When making a comment, please give us your address so we are clear on what you mean and how any development would affect your property.

Are you an applicant trying to contact a Case Officer?

We work on a single point of contact so if you have a nominated agent on your application form, you will need to contact them. This helps to make the process as smooth and as quick as possible.

Changing the agent's details

You can change or remove your agent’s details by contacting us.

Determining Planning Applications

We currently have a high demand for planning services and are prioritising our workload by timescale. We have taken action to ease this but the effect will not be immediate.

It would be helpful to everyone if applicants and agents would work with us and agree to formal Extensions of Time (EOT) for determining applications for the time being.

Permitted Developments

We do not give informal advice on whether a proposal is permitted development.

If you are a householder you can visit the interactive house on our planning portal for more information.

If you want our formal written confirmation that you do not need permission for a use or development, you will need to send us a Certificate of Lawfulness so we can consider it. For more information on how to apply, please visit our website.

Advice and charges for pre-application advice can be found on our website.

If you have a complex proposal, a planning performance agreement may be better. We will contact you with more information about this on request.

We cannot offer pre-application advice for householder developments. We use the House Extensions Supplementary Planning Documents. They help you consider the details of your proposal before you submit it. If you are successful, you will need to stick to the advice in this document after you submit it. Any changes made to it may not be discussed when the application is considered.

Planning history

You can research the planning history of property/land using our interactive map.

General enquiries

We aim to reply to you within 10 working days. Please include a specific site address in any questions so we can give a full reply. We will contact you if we need a specific address or more information about your request

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