Introduction
This document provides guidance in respect of the council’s charges and procedures for pre-application advice. The council’s development management team deals with planning applications and appeals in relation to the use and development of land and buildings within the town.
Planning officers, and colleagues from other departments, currently devote considerable time and effort to offering pre-application advice, seeing it as a key part of delivering a good planning service, even though it is not a statutory duty. Many requests for advice however, are of a speculative nature and do not lead to the submission of an application.
Charging for pre-application advice allows the council to recover at least some of the costs incurred through this service.
Pre-application enquiry
The council promotes the use of pre-application early discussions about a proposal to enable, as far as possible, any issues to be raised and potential solutions identified.
There may be cases where it is not possible to resolve the issues and this process could therefore save further abortive work.
The key benefits of pre-application discussion are seen as:
- Better customer understanding of how an application will be judged against relevant planning policy and guidance
- Potential to avoid the cost of a planning application where a proposal is unacceptable
- Early identification of the need for specialist advice
- Opportunity to amend a proposal to potentially make it acceptable
- Time-saving for both the customer and the council
- An improvement in the quality of development
- A reduction in confrontation and frustration
If you follow the pre-application process regarding a proposal the council will expect the advice given by its officers to have been taken into account as part of any subsequent planning application.
If it is evident that the advice of the council’s officers has not been taken into account the council may determine the application as submitted without any further discussion/negotiation.
General advice
The council will continue to provide a very general level of planning advice to members of the public without charging a fee. The Development Management team can be contacted on 01253 476193. Emails to planning@blackpool.gov.uk will also trigger an automatic reply with useful information and links to help you make a planning application. Any general questions not addressed by this automatic reply will be considered by officers.
General planning advice could include:
- How to submit a planning application : what plans are needed; how much the fee would be; what other supporting information is required
- What happens once the application has been submitted
- What issues can be taken into account in considering the application
- Whether the application would be likely to be determined by officers or the council’s planning committee
Please note that the council will not provide informal advice on the need for planning permission in respect of a specific development proposal, as this is a matter of law not judgement.
Specific, charged-for advice
Meetings are not offered as standard as part of the council's pre-application advice service. This is because they are frequently unnecessary, and because identifying dates and times that are convenient for all parties can result in unnecessary delay. In all cases, the council will issue detailed written advice. Meetings will only be offered at the discretion of the case officer, where it is considered necessary to help explain the proposals.
The standard pre-application advice service offers planning advice only. However, highway, drainage and heritage input can be included for additional charge. These departments will only provide pre-application advice through the planning process, and direct approaches will not be accommodated.
If desired and where stated, follow-up advice can be sought at a reduced rate following initial engagement.
All charges include VAT.
Significant major scale development
‘Significant Major' development schemes include:
- Residential schemes, including change of use, of more than 50 units or, where the number of dwellings is not specified, a site area greater than 2 hectare
- Retail, commercial, industrial, educational, hospital, leisure and recreational schemes with a floorspace greater than 2000 sq .m. or on sites of more than 2 hectare
- Schemes relating to the change of use of land on a site greater than 2 hectare
- Changes of use of building(s) with a gross floor area of more than 2,000 sq. m. in area
Details of charges
| Description | Initial | Follow-up |
|---|
| Planning advice |
£2,000 |
£1,000 |
| Highway advice (basic) |
£500 |
£250 |
| Highway advice (basic and consideration of technical information) |
£1,000 |
£500 |
| Drainage (LLFA) advice (basic) |
£500 |
£250 |
| Drainage (LLFA) advice (basic and consideration of technical information) |
£1,000 |
£500 |
| Heritage advice |
£500 |
£250 |
Major scale development
'Major' development schemes include:
- Residential schemes, including change of use, of more than 10 units or, where the number of dwellings is not specified, a site area greater than 1 hectare
- Retail, commercial, industrial, educational, hospital, leisure and recreational schemes with a floorspace greater than 1000 sq .m. or on sites of more than 1 hectare
- Schemes relating to the change of use of land on a site greater than 1 hectare
- Changes of use of building(s) with a gross floor area of more than 1,000 sq. m. in area
Details of charges
| Description | Initial | Follow-up |
|---|
| Planning advice |
£1,500 |
£750 |
| Highway advice (basic) |
£375 |
£175 |
| Highway advice (basic and consideration of technical information) |
£750 |
£350 |
| Drainage (LLFA) advice (basic) |
£375 |
£175 |
| Drainage (LLFA) advice (basic and consideration of technical information) |
£750 |
£350 |
| heritage advice |
£375 |
£175 |
Minor scale development
'Minor' development schemes include:
- Residential schemes, including change of use, of less than 10 units or, where the number of dwellings is not specified, a site area less than 1 hectare
- Retail, commercial, industrial, educational, hospital, leisure and recreational schemes with a floorspace less than 1000 sq .m. or on sites of less than 1 hectare
- Schemes relating to the change of use of land on a site less than 1 hectare
- Changes of use of building(s) with a gross floor area of less than 1,000 sq. m. in area
Details of charges
| Description | Initial | Follow-up |
|---|
| Planning advice |
£500 |
£250 |
| Highway advice (basic) |
£150 |
£75 |
| Drainage advice (basic) |
£150 |
£75 |
| Heritage advice |
£150 |
£75 |
Listed buildings/conservation area proposals (required as a result of Article 4 Direction)
£150 inc VAT for written advice
Works to trees
£75 inc VAT for written advice
Telecommunications
£125 inc VAT for written advice
Advertisements
£75 inc VAT
Householder proposals
£150 inc. VAT for written advice (please note this service does not provide advice on whether or not planning permission is required.
Paying the fee
Payment for your application can be made by one following methods
- Pay it on-line through the council’s website
- By phone calling 01253 476206 using a debit/credit card or
- By cheque (payable to ‘ Blackpool Council’).
Submission details
To enable a detailed response and/ or for the discussion to be constructive the council needs you to provide the information set out below.
- Site location plan at an appropriate scale (usually 1:1250 or 1:2500)
- Details of current use(s)
- Details of proposed use or development
- Photographs and/or sketch drawings of site and surroundings
- Draft/sketch drawings showing layout, height and scale of development
- Freedom of Information statement (if applicable)
- Supporting statement
The process
If you have requested a meeting you will be contacted by the case officer to arrange this meeting. Where possible, the meeting date will, be set within 28 days of the receipt of the request.
Meetings will be held at the council offices in a private meeting room. Any request for specialist advice should be confirmed at the time the meeting is arranged.
The necessary officers will be asked to attend but this may not always be possible.
The head of development management will normally attend initial meetings relating to major scale proposals.
The council will aim to issue written advice within 14 days of the date of a meeting.
Where no meeting is required, the council will aim to issue written advice with 28 days of the receipt of the request.
The advice that officers will give you is given in good faith but it is not binding on the council. This is because there may be new information that comes to light during the consideration of a subsequent application or as part of the notification/consultation undertaken on the application. Depending upon the amount of time that elapses between the pre-application advice request and the submission of a planning application, relevant planning policy or guidance might also have changed
Contact details
For further information in regard to pre application discussions, you may contact us via:
Telephone: 01253 476193
Email: Planning@blackpool.gov.uk