Pre-application planning advice

If you are considering carrying out development in the City change the use of buildings or land or extend your property we can provide you with written pre application advice before you submit your application.

We will provide clear, up to date and consistent advice about your proposals and where necessary suggest amendments to your proposal and work with you and others to help shape your scheme.

There is a fee for all written pre planning application advice.

Pre-planning application advice helps you to identify all the issues that maybe relevant to the consideration of your proposal, so it often saves you time and money in progressing your scheme.

Pre application advice will provide you with:

• advice about whether planning permission is required or not
• identification of all the relevant planning issues
• an understanding of how we will apply our planning policies to your proposal
• a planning officer’s informal opinion on whether your proposal is likely to be acceptable at application stage
• what documentation you will need to supply  to support your application
• other information or experts that you may need to speak to

Your enquiry, together with any response made by the council, will not be made available for public inspection.

However, if the Local Planning Authority receives a request, under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) or Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), to disclose information relating to this pre-application enquiry we are obliged to do so unless the information is exempt under the Act.

We can only withhold information under FOI or EIR if the information falls under one of the exemptions (FOI) or exceptions (EIR) set out in legislation. For certain pre-application issues the applicant would be advised to complete the sensitive material checklist that should set out the reasons why, and for how long, they feel any information relating to the case needs to remain confidential.

However, although we take account of these views, we take final decision on whether any information should be withheld. The council complies with the Data Protection Act and we will not release any personal information to third parties.

• submit and pay for your enquiry online using the pre-application advice forms below – this is the quickest and easiest method
• if you wish to keep parts of your pre-application confidential, complete a pre-application sensitive material checklist
• email an  enquiry form  and supporting information to planningpreapp@portsmouthcc.gov.uk