Pre-Application Consultancy Services
Pre-Application Advice and Guidance
Pre-application engagement offers significant potential to improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of the planning application process and improve the quality of planning applications and their likelihood of success.
It is therefore often helpful to seek the view of the Local Planning Authority (Council) before making a full planning application, and pre-application enquiries are common for complex or major development proposals.
SM Planning provide a full pre-application service, bespoke to each individual project, with the aim of agreeing common ground with the decision maker and thus reducing delays and problems once an application is submitted, particularly for schemes that are contentious locally.
For more information on any of our Planning Consultancy Services, contact one of our London Planning Consultants here
Pre-application engagement with the local authority is highly encouraged within the planning system. The local authority’s pre-application advice services allow you to obtain feedback on your proposal prior to formal submission, helping you to refine your proposal, build a good relationship with the council and maximise your prospects of obtaining planning permission at the application stage.
Timescales for receiving a written response from the council can include anything from 4-10 weeks of submission although this depends on council capacity, the scale and complexity of the scheme and the type of pre-application service paid for. Where the pre-application service includes a meeting prior to written feedback, we seek to arrange this for the first few weeks following submission.
The council’s pre-application service fee varies between local authorities across the UK and depends on the circumstances of each project as well as the specific type of pre-application service sought. We offer bespoke pre-application services to assist you through this process so don’t hesitate to get in touch to find out what sort of budget you’ll be looking at.