Pre-application Planning Advice

[everreddy]

My local council's planning department has staff shortages, and have a disclaimer on their website that everything is taking longer than it should. I'm experiencing that, because I requested pre-application planning advice several weeks ago, and should have had the response a long time ago. The officer originally dealing with it has recently left, and the new person is now seeking expert advice, so there will be more delays. My question is, can I at least assume that if advice has already been given, when I submit the application itself it might speed up the application process? For example - as they have consulted their expert at pre-application stage, perhaps they won't need to consult with them for the application itself (assuming nothing significant has changed).

Does anyone have experience of this?

Some consultations are a legal requirement under the planning legislation so would still need to be carried out when an planning application is received. Hopefully there might be a speedier response if the application is the same as your pre-application proposal, but to be honest local councils (and other public sector bodies) are all short staffed at the moment and most planning applications are taking much longer than they are supposed to.

Which consultations are relevant to your application?

Thank. My house is in a conservation area, but doesn't have any specific restrictions. I think the original planning officer prepared the advice before she left and it has been sitting with her superviser waiting to be reviewed. The supervisor told the replacement officer that they should consult the Conservation Officer before finalising the advice.

That makes sense - could help you amend the proposal before formal submission if necessary, but normally the CI would still need to be consulted once the full application is submitted.

*CO