Planning Applications - The Process
Pre-Application Advice
Many planning applications benefit from pre-application advice from a Planning Officer or Planning Assistant. Experience shows that seeking such advice early reduces costs and the time taken to determine the application. Discussing potential issues, ensuring that all the relevant information is submitted from the outset, and resolving problems as early in the process in beneficial for both the applicant and the Council.
Further information on pre-application advice is available on our Do I need Planning Permission page.
Receipt of Submission
Applications are sent to the City Council either on paper or electronically via the Planning Portal.
The Council uses an Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) for handling planning casework. This allows us to publish planning application documents on the Internet easily and allows our staff to access all of the application information from their desktop, and increasingly when working from home.
Applications submitted electronically are downloaded from the Planning Portal automatically every hour by our computer system, and allocated their planning application number. The plans and documents are loaded into our EDMS. This allows us to process electronic application much faster than paper submissions.
Applications submitted on paper received by post are sent to the Council's Corporate Scanning Team who prepare the documents and scan them into the EDMS system. The process usually delays the application by 1 or 2 days depending on workload. Once scanned, the Planning Advice Team index the documents, allocate an application number and the application is placed in the validation queue.
Applications delivered by hand to Palatine Hall will be delayed up to 24 hours as they will need to be delivered to the Corporate Scanning Team. For this reason, applicants and agents are asked to avoid hand-delivering applications to us.
Validation
The Validation stage is where applications are checked by the Planning Advice Team to ensure that the forms have been completed correctly, the correct fee has been received, and the local and national validation requirements set out in our Planning Application Validation Guide are met.
Around 40% of the applications we receive are invalid on receipt which often results in considerable delays for applicants, and creates significant additional workload for our staff. During 2009 we will be working on a number of initiatives aimed at significantly reducing the number of invalid applications. Applicants and agents are advised to check our Planning Application Validation Guide before submitting their application. You can download a copy from the Downloads menu on the right.
If an application is invalid, the applicant or their agent will be sent an email or a letter advising them of this and what additional information is required to validate the application. The application is then held and no further processing takes place until the required information is received.
If the application is valid, the applicant will be sent an acknowledgement via email or letter. This will include a receipt for the application fee (where appropriate).
Consultation
If the application is valid, the Council will usually consult a number of statutory and discrestionary consultees to seek their views on the application. Examples of consultees are Parish Councils, Lancashire County Council Highways Department, Environmental Health, the Conservation Team, the Access Officer, English Heritage, the Environment Agency and Utilities Companies. The nature of the application will determine who is consulted.
Under the Town and Country Planning Act the Council must ensure that neighbours of the site are made aware of the application. Near neighbours of the site will be sent a notification letter from the Council, and often a Site Notice will be displayed by one of our officers near to the application site. You may have noticed these attached to lamp posts or other street furniture.
The consultation period lasts a minimum of 21 days from the date letters are sent out or the site notice is posted.
Allocation to a Planning Officer
The case will then be allocated to a Planning Officer or Planning Assistant. The Officer will examine the application and check relevant national, regional and local planning policy. The Council has 8 weeks from the receipt of a valid application to determine minor applications, and 13 weeks to determine a major application, although this is extended to 16 weeks where the application is subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
The officer will carry out a site visit to check that the application is suitable for the location proposed and to identify if it will have any significant adverse effects on neighbouring property.
At this point, the officer may contact the applicant or their agent and request that the scheme be amended before making a reccomendation. If this is the case, there may be a need to reconsult consultees or neighbours which will delay the determination of the application. Pre-application advice will minimise any chance of delays.
Determination
Around 85% of applications are dealt with under Delegated Powers. The Council's scheme of delegation allows the Head of Planning Services to make a decision on applications without reffering them to the Planning Committee.
In these cases, the officer will prepare a Delegated Report which will make a reccomendation for the application to be approved, usually with conditions attached, or refused. This report is presented to the Development Control Manager who reviews the case and can either sign it off as is, make amendments to the conditions or decide to carry out a more detailed review of the case with a site visit. Where a decision is marginal, the officers reccomendation may be overturned. The Development Control Manager then instructs the Planning Advice Team to produce and issue the Decision Notice which is sent to the applicant or their agent and published on our website.
Large scale or contentious applications are determined by the Planning Committee which is a panel of 20 Councillors who will vote on the application following a presentation from a Planning Officer.
In these cases, the officer will prepare a detailed report for the Committee with a reccomendation on the decision, and the case will be presented to the members. Members of the public can make representations to the Committee in support or objecting to the application. The Committee will then debate the application and vote to either approve or refuse the application, and decide any conditions that should be attached to a permission or the reasons for refusal. A Decision Notice will then be produced by the Planning Officer which is sent to the applicant or their agent and published on our website.
Discharge of Conditions
Most planning applications will have conditions attached to them. Conditions can take many forms, for example conditions may demand further details or action(eg. material samples) from the application before the development is commenced, other conditions are purely restrictive (eg. hours of use). Some conditions require discharging - the local planning authority must agree the details with the applicant.
Under the 2008 fee regulations, the applicant must pay a fee to the local planning authority for written confirmation that conditions have been discharged. Further details are available on our "Fees for the discharge of conditions" page, available from the navigation on the left.
Appeals
If a Planning Application is refused or permitted with conditions attached, the applicant has a right of appeal to the Secretary of State for the Environment. In reality, most appeals are determined by the Planning Inspectorate.
A Planning Inspectior is an impartial third party who will review the application and the Council's decision. Around one third of appeals are allowed by Inspectors, meaning the Council's decision to refuse the application is overturned and planning permission is granted, or conditions are removed or amended on the planning permission.
It is vital that when the Council refuses an application, it has valid reasons for doing so. If the Inspector finds that the Council's decision or behaviour in determining the application was unreasonable, the applicant can be awarded their costs be paid by the Council. For a large or complex application, the costs involved can run six figure sums.
Further information about Appeals in available on our Planning Appeals page.
Time limits on planning permission
Planning permission is normally granted for 3 years from the date the decision is issued. For Outline applications, the time limit is 3 years from the grant of outline permission, or 2 years from date of the approval of the last Reserved Matters.
If the development is not commenced within the time period stated on the decision notice, the applicant must submit a new planning application and pay the full application fee due at the time of submission. The application must include all the detail required in the Council's validation guide at the time of submission, and the application will be determined in line with current national, regional and local policy which may have changed from that in place at the time of the original consent.
Applications to vary the time limit condition on a consent are no longer acceptable. Circular 08/05 contains the relevant legislation.