Checklist: pre-application pack for a minor residential scheme

A pre application pack checklist for a minor residential scheme should be thin, and most of the value is in the questions rather than the drawings. Send a location plan, a short written case, indicative layouts and a numbered list of questions the officer can answer in a letter. Send a full set of technical reports and you have spent consultant money to be told which consultant reports you need.

Pre-application advice is a discretionary charged service. It is not binding on the authority, and the officer will say so in the response. It is still the least costly way to find out which of your assumptions about the site are wrong.

Site location plan and red line

An Ordnance Survey based location plan at 1:1250 or 1:2500, with a north arrow, a scale bar and the application site edged in red. Any other land in the same ownership or control, including access strips, garden land and a field behind, edged in blue.

Get the red line right at pre-application stage even though nothing is being validated. The red line defines what the officer is advising on, and a red line that omits the access or the visibility splays produces advice that does not cover the scheme you intend to build. Where ownership is split, say so in the covering note and identify who owns what, because that affects both the certificates on a later application and any highway works.

Description and quantum

One paragraph, then a short table of numbers. The officer needs the site area in hectares, the number of dwellings, the mix by number of bedrooms, gross internal floorspace, the parking count, the access arrangement and the density in dwellings per hectare.

Give the existing use as well, with its use class and how long it has been in that use. On a plot that was part of a garden, or a former yard, or a building that has stood empty, the lawful use is the first thing the officer will want settled, and the answer changes both policy and any levy calculation.

Indicative drawings at the right level

Keep the drawings at sketch quality and say on the sheet that they are indicative.

• A block plan showing the footprints, parking, bin and cycle storage and the access at 1:200 or 1:500.
• One indicative street elevation or a sketch section through the site showing the relationship to neighbours.
• A simple floor area schedule.
• Two or three annotated photographs of the site and the street, with the viewpoints marked on a plan.

Resist producing detailed elevations, materials palettes and landscape drawings. Advice changes designs, and everything you draw before the advice arrives is at risk. A Design and Access Statement belongs to the application stage rather than the enquiry.

Statement of the planning case

Two to four pages is enough, and a short Planning Statement does the job. Cover the site and its surroundings, the planning history with application references and dates, the designations and constraints affecting the site, the development plan policies you consider relevant by number, and how the scheme responds to them.

If the site has been refused before, say so, give the reference, list the reasons for refusal and explain what has changed. Officers find previous refusals anyway, and an enquiry that conceals one loses credibility from the first paragraph. Where a neighbouring site has been approved on comparable grounds, give that reference too.

The list of questions to ask

This is the part that earns the fee. Number the questions so the officer can answer them in order, and keep each one answerable.

1. Is the principle of residential development on this site acceptable, and under which policies?
2. Which local plan, neighbourhood plan and supplementary planning document policies will the determination turn on?
3. Are the quantum, density, mix and layout acceptable in principle, and what would you change?
4. Which documents will be required for validation beyond the national list?
5. Is an ecology survey required, at what level, and in which survey season?
6. What does the authority expect on biodiversity net gain for a site of this size, and who signs the gain plan?
7. Is a transport statement needed, and which parking standard applies?
8. Will the lead local flood authority be consulted, and what surface water information is expected?
9. Is the community infrastructure levy chargeable here, at what rate, and which exemptions might apply?
10. Will planning obligations be sought, under which heads of terms, and at what indicative figures from the adopted schedule?
11. Would this be determined under delegated powers or by committee?
12. Are there Article 4 directions, tree preservation orders or other designations affecting the site?
13. Are there any recent appeal decisions in the area you consider relevant?

Three or four of those answers usually change the scheme. Questions 5 and 6 change the programme, because a survey season missed in September costs until the following May.

Constraint evidence to include

Do the free desk checks yourself and attach the outputs. It saves the officer time and it demonstrates that the enquiry is serious.

Where trees are present, a measured tree position plan is worth having early, because tree constraints move buildings and a root protection area drawn late redesigns the scheme. Where parking is likely to be contested, note whether on-street stress evidence may be needed, following the discipline set out in the guide to writing a parking survey method statement.

Fee band and how to check it

Pre-application charges are set by each authority, published as a schedule on its website, and normally banded by scheme size, so a scheme of one to four dwellings usually sits in a different band from five to nine. The schedules differ in what the fee buys: a written response only, a written response plus a meeting, or a site visit. Some authorities charge separately for a follow-up. Value added tax is often added, and the fee is usually payable in advance.

Check the schedule on the day you submit, because these charges are reviewed annually. The planning application fee is separate and set nationally by regulations, with annual indexation, so confirm the current figure before budgeting either.

For schemes at the larger end of minor, ask whether the authority offers a planning performance agreement. On a nine-dwelling site with a heritage constraint, a written timetable is often worth more than the advice.

What to leave out at this stage

Do not send a biodiversity metric, a viability appraisal, a full arboricultural report or a bat survey unless the site plainly needs one and you already have it. Do not send a drainage design. Do not argue the case aggressively, because the response you want is candid rather than defensive.

And do not ask questions the published documents already answer. An officer who spends the first page of a response telling you to read the validation checklist has less space for the judgement you actually paid for. Browse the 66 report types first, so that question 4 asks about the documents your scheme might realistically need rather than all of them.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports your site is likely to need before you book the pre-application meeting.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.