Once a planning application has been registered, it is passed to a planning case officer who will carry out a site visit and consult the relevant interested parties – such as neighbours and statutory bodies.
The suitability of the proposal will be considered with regard to existing planning policies, past planning history of the site and surrounding area, government advice, responses to consultations and any other material considerations.
The planning officer may ask for further information or consideration of certain amendments before finally making a recommendation on whether or not planning permission should be given.
Please be aware that our ability to undertake site visits in person is limited. This is for the safety of our officers and of the public. Where a Site Notice is due, we’ll be sending this directly to the applicant or agent to put up. You may notice that some of the notices are not in their usual green colour.
If you’d like to make any comments on an application, and to point out anything that you might not be able to show in writing (for example a particular view, a feature, or a part of local character), please send in photos, or perhaps organise a ‘virtual’ site visit or video. This will help the Case Officer to better assess the proposals and any comments you may have.
To calculate planning fees, please use the Planning Portal’s online fee calculator.
A number of consultations on each application take place before any proposal is decided:
We are required by law to keep a planning register – this has two sections:
Some planning applications require extra publicity and are advertised in the local press each week under the public notices section. These proposals include:
If an application goes before the planning committee, you may state views on the proposal to the committee verbally – this is called making a deputation.
Alternatively, any ward councillor that does not sit on the planning committee may speak on behalf of a supporter or objector.
More details on making a deputation can be found in our guidance document section.
The whole decision-making process should take about eight weeks to complete, but may take longer where there is local interest or amendments are required.
Planning application decisions fall within three basic categories:
In most cases senior officers of the council will consider the case officer’s recommendation for minor applications, considering any comments made and issue a decision.
The process varies in other cases:
