Making an Application

If you appoint an agent to act on your behalf, which is usually helpful, all correspondence will be sent to your agent who will also be contacted if information or amendments are needed. It will be your agent's responsibility to keep you informed of what is happening to your application.

An application has to be made on the correct forms and accompanied by the appropriate supporting documentation. You can now apply on-line via the Planning Portal. Alternatively you can download the forms (go to Application forms, Guidance notes, Fee sheets and Advice leaflets page) or we can send the forms to you on request, - please see the contacts section.

On receipt of your planning application we will check that all the information is accurate, complete and that, if applicable, the fee has been paid. If there are any outstanding issues we will write to you with details of what is required. If this additional information is not received within six weeks, the application will be treated as withdrawn.

Once the application has been registered as valid, we will write to you to confirm this and give you a target date for the decision. For most applications this will be 8 weeks from the registration date but for large applications it is 13 weeks;

The Council will try and deal with your application within the target time. If this is not possible we will write to you.

Applications are publicised by the Council informing any neighbours with a direct boundary and also asking applicants to display a site notice and publicising a weekly list of planning application. Neighbours normally receive 21 days to comment on the proposal.

If necessary the planning application will be advertised by a site notice, a press advert or both.

Your application will be available for inspection at the Civic Offices and on the UK Planning website.

A 14 day period is normally allowed when re-consultation takes place on significant amendments.

The Planning Officer will visit the application site and may contact you if it is necessary to arrange access. (There is a question about this on the Planning Application Forms).

If we find that we need more information while we are considering the application, we will let you (or your agent) know as soon as possible.

Due to the time constraints for dealing with applications it is not normally possible to amend an application.  Consequently the Council positively encourages pre-application discussions, to allow prospective applicants to ensure applications have the best possible opportunity to gain consent.

If you reconsider your proposal and wish to make substantial or repeated amendments, we may advise you to withdraw the application and submit a revised proposal.

While the Officer dealing with the application may express views on the proposals, a formal decision can only be made by the Planning Committee or by the Head of Planning & Environmental Regulation under powers delegated by the Committee. We can let you know what these powers cover.

If your proposal is one which needs to be considered by the Planning Committee you will be given notice of the date of the Committee meeting at which the proposal will be considered.

The Committee allows either applicants or objectors to address their meetings, and you can also attend the meeting and listen to the discussion. It is also possible to make representations to the Chairman and other members of the Committee beforehand. Ward Councillors who are not on the Committee may also be willing to put your point of view to the Committee.

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