You may need to speak with any neighbours who might be affected by your proposed development, and your local Town and Parish Council. For major developments, you should consult other bodies where relevant such as the Environment Agency, English Heritage, Natural England, Highways Agency, or the Local Highway Authority.
For major developments, you can also present your proposals to the District Councillors at the Proposed Development Review Forum.
For developments within Conservation Areas or impacting on listed buildings or historic parks and gardens, you can also present your proposals at the Conservation Advisory Forum.
Validation
On receiving your application, we will check if it is valid and that all the necessary information for the Council to determine the application has been submitted. If there are any problems, we will contact you as soon as possible.
Consultation
Once valid, we will consult the relevant Parish/Town Council, adjacent neighbours and any other relevant consultees to seek their views on your application. A site visit will be carried out by the case officer and where statutorily required, a site notice displayed near the site drawing attention to the proposal. In addition to the minimum statutory requirements, site notices will also be displayed for applications for the erection of new dwellings and for changes of use.
The Council have previously only displayed site notices in cases where statutorily required. For the most part this worked well, but in view of feedback received, it is considered appropriate to extend this to these limited further categories of development as of July 2019.
Assessment
The case officer will assess your application against planning policies and any other relevant material considerations, taking into account relevant comments from consultees. If your application is unacceptable, the case officer will assess whether amendments can be made in order to overcome their concerns. The case officer will contact you if any amendments are required.
Decision
The case officer will then proceed to determine the application. Some applications may be decided under delegated powers (81kb, PDF) by the case officer. Applications which cannot be decided using delegated powers are reported to Planning Committee for their decision. In most cases, a decision will be made within 8 weeks or 13 weeks for major developments.
Example timetable of the planning process
|
Week |
Stage |
|---|---|
|
Week 1 |
Validation of application |
|
Week 1-2 |
Processing of application |
|
Week 2-3 |
Officers site visit where statutorily required (including posting of site notice) |
|
Week 3-5 |
Receipt of consultation responses |
|
Week 5-6 |
Amendments to scheme (if required) |
|
Week 6-7 |
Delegated decision or preparation of Committee report |
|
Week 7-8 |
Committee consideration if required |
Post decision
If planning permission is granted, work must usually begin within three years. Other conditions may apply such as the need to submit further details before the works can start. Please ensure these are complied with as failure to discharge "pre-commencement" conditions means that the development may be unlawful and Enforcement Action may be taken.
Other approvals such as Listed Building or Conservation Area Consent, or Building Regulations Approval may also be required before you can start work so please check with the case officer.
If alterations are required to a scheme in order to meet the Building Regulations requirements or if you wish to make any other amendments, you should check with the case officer whether any further planning permission is required. An approval under the Building Regulations does not override the need for planning permission. If permission is not granted prior to changes being made, the development may be unlawful and Enforcement Action may be taken.
If planning permission is refused, the decision will state the reasons for refusal and will include notes on how to appeal.
For information on how we handle and process your personal data, please visit the Planning Privacy Notice page.