The Benefits of Seeking Pre-Application Advice – Is it worth it?

Pre-application advice is an optional service offered by Local Authorities before applying for full planning permission that allows you to understand how Local Authorities will apply development plan policies, gain advice from a planning officer, identify any potential problems and rectify them before a full planning permission application is submitted.

They usually take the form of a site or virtual meeting with a planning officer and are a non-binding view. You will then typically receive a letter or email pinpointing the policies and issues that are considered important as part of your proposal.

Seeking Pre-application Advice can have many benefits, including getting an opinion from planning officers as to whether the principle of a development is acceptable.  In our experience the main advantage of Pre-Application Advice for our developer and landowner clients is that it removes a lot of the uncertainty surrounding the outcome of a future planning submission, this in turn reduces our clients exposure to costs without beneficial outcome.  For example, planning applications for significant new residential developments require the support of consultants including Transport, Ecology, Flood Risk and Trees as well as others.  The cost of producingall of these consultant reports can easily run to many £1000’s. 

Seeking Pre-Application Advice gives our clients certainty that such costs are not incurred unnecessarily. 

Seeking Pre-Application Advice also gives us and our clients certainty over the number of external consultant reports we are going to need to provide as part of a planning submission.

Finally, seeking Pre-Application Advice also enables us to get input into design and other issues that will need to be factored into any future scheme design.

To conclude, the support and advice from the planning officers at Pre-Application Stagewill ensure the key components of a proposed design have been fully considered and will be presented in the best light. It’s a way of testing the waters before committing to the full planning application and minimising exposure to unnecessary costs.

We have many years of experience liaising with Local Authorities, including many London Boroughs, at Pre-Application stage.  Get in touch if you have a particular project you would like to discuss.