Planning application advice, for the person who runs applications, means two things: the pre-application advice an authority offers, for a charge, on whether a proposal is likely to be acceptable and what the application will need; and the planning advice a consultant gives on how to run the case. Planning permission advice as most people search for it is the first kind, and it is the most useful money in the planning process, because it turns the validation checklist, the officer's likely objections and the surveys needed into a list before anything is drawn. This page sets out what pre application advice covers and costs, what the process looks like from the applicant's side, and what the file keeps; it is not itself advice on any scheme.
What pre-application advice covers, and what it does not
An authority's pre-app service reads a proposal against its plan and its policies and tells the applicant whether the principle is likely to be acceptable, what the officer would want changed, which surveys and documents the local validation checklist will require, and whether the case would go to committee. It is a charged service, on a scale the authority publishes by the size of the scheme, and it is not binding: the decision is made on the application when it comes. What it does not do is decide anything, and an applicant who treats a favourable pre-app as a permission has misread it. The guidance cited below sets out the service and the charges.
The process from the applicant's side
Pre-app, then the surveys and the drawings the checklist demands, then submission and the fee, then validation, which starts the clock, then consultation and the officer's questions, then any amendment and re-consultation, then the decision, delegated or at committee, with its conditions, then the discharge of conditions and any section 73 or appeal. Each stage has a cost and a date, and the free cost of planning application sheet and timeline sheet on this site work the two figures the client asks about; the guides on each application type on this site set out where each differs.
What the file keeps, and what a consultant adds
The pre-app request, the authority's response and its date, the checklist it produced, the surveys commissioned against it, and then the application through to decision. A planning consultant adds judgement on the policies, the officer and the committee, which the file cannot; what the file does is make that judgement work from a record rather than a memory. Consentvia Pro keeps the pre-app and the application together against the site, and this hub publishes no consultant listing and no advice on any particular scheme.
Questions people ask about planning application advice
Is pre-application advice worth the charge?
For any application beyond a householder one, usually yes: it turns the validation checklist and the officer's objections into a list before the drawings and the surveys are paid for, which is where the sunk share of a refused application goes.
Is pre-application advice binding on the authority?
No. It is the officer's view at the time, without prejudice to the decision on the application when it is made. It is still the best evidence of what the application needs.
Does this site give planning advice on my scheme?
No. The guides explain the process, the types and the costs, and the worksheets work your figures; what an authority will decide on a particular scheme is its answer, and advice on how to run the case is a consultant's.
Sources
- GOV.UK planning practice guidance, Before submitting an application: pre-application advice and local validation requirements
- GOV.UK planning practice guidance, Determining a planning application: statutory periods, extensions of time, non-determination
- GOV.UK planning practice guidance, Making an application: the forms, plans and supporting documents, including the planning and heritage statements