A pre-application submission checklist for a minor scheme

A pre-application enquiry on a one to nine unit scheme returns advice worth having only when the pack lets an officer form a view. Send a sketch and a paragraph and you get a paragraph back, usually restating policy. Send a measured survey, a scaled block plan, the constraints you have already checked and six specific questions, and you get a written response you can design against. This pre-application submission checklist is built around that difference.

Councils charge for the service under their power to charge for discretionary services, so treat it as a purchase with a specification.

Choosing the right service and fee band

Most councils publish a scale of charges with bands by scheme type and size, often separating householder enquiries, minor residential of one to nine units, major schemes and commercial floorspace. Bands usually differ by whether you want written advice only, a meeting, or a meeting plus a follow-up.

Read what each band actually includes before choosing. The common distinctions are whether a site visit is included, whether the response is written or verbal, whether a specialist officer such as highways, conservation or ecology is consulted, and how many rounds of comment you get. On a minor scheme the version worth paying for is almost always the one that brings in the consultees, because their objections are what stop applications.

Two other routes exist. Some authorities offer a short duty officer service without charge for simple questions, which is fine for confirming whether a site is in a conservation area and useless for design advice. Planning Performance Agreements are for major schemes and are disproportionate for nine units.

Check the published service standard for turnaround before you build a programme around it, and remember that advice given is officer advice. It does not bind the council, it is a material consideration of limited weight if the application is later refused, and the committee is free to take a different view.

Drawings that make advice useful

The drawing set does not need to be a planning application set. It needs to be accurate.

1. A site location plan at a standard scale with the application site edged red and any other land in the applicant's control edged blue.
2. An existing site plan showing levels, the position of trees with trunk and canopy, boundary treatments, the access and any watercourse or ditch.
3. A block plan of the proposal at 1:200 or 1:500 showing the footprint, parking, bin and cycle storage, and the relationship to neighbouring buildings.
4. Existing and proposed elevations at 1:100, even if they are schematic, with storey heights and ridge levels annotated.
5. A cross-section through the site and the nearest neighbouring property where levels change across the plot.

The section is the drawing officers most often ask for and applicants most often omit. On a sloping site it is the drawing that answers the overlooking question, so include it even in outline.

Photographs help more than renders. Take them from the public vantage points an officer will use, in both directions along the street, and label each with its position on the site plan.

The site information to include

Do the constraint checks yourself and present them, rather than asking the officer to do them. That shifts the conversation from what the site is to what can be built on it.

Set out the planning history with application references, including refusals and any appeal decisions on the site or immediately adjoining it. Give the flood zone from the published flood map, the presence of any Tree Preservation Order, whether the site is in a conservation area or within the setting of a listed building, and whether any part is in an Article 4 direction area. Note the access arrangement and whether the highway is adopted.

Where you already know a specialist report will be needed, say which one and who will author it. An officer who can see that a Flood Risk Assessment is commissioned will spend the response on design rather than on telling you that you need one.

Questions that produce specific answers

Generic questions get generic answers. Write the questions as a numbered list and keep each to a single issue.

Ask whether the principle of the development is acceptable in this location under named policies, and if not, what would change that. Ask which policies the officer will assess the scheme against, and whether any are out of date. Ask whether the proposed ridge height and separation distance meet the council's adopted design guidance, quoting the figures from your drawings. Ask which documents the local validation list requires for a scheme of this size. Ask whether the highway authority is likely to object to the access as drawn, and what would satisfy it. Ask what level of biodiversity net gain evidence the council expects at application stage.

Then ask the question people avoid. If you submitted this scheme tomorrow, what would the officer's recommendation be, and what are the two changes that would most improve it.

What the written response should contain

A usable response names the policies, applies them to the drawings you sent, distinguishes between the officer's view and the consultees' views, and identifies the documents required at validation. It should also say what has not been assessed, because a response silent on highways is not a response that approves the access.

If the response is vague on a point you paid to have answered, go back once with a short, polite email quoting your original numbered question. Most councils will clarify without a further fee where the question was asked in the original submission and not answered.

Recording and using the advice

Keep the advice, the drawings it was given on and the date. When the application goes in, attach the advice and explain in the Planning Statement how the scheme changed in response to it, point by point. That is the single most effective use of pre-application advice, because it lets the case officer see continuity and lets you show reasonableness if the application is refused and costs become relevant.

Where you depart from the advice, say so and give the reason. Silent departure reads as though the advice was ignored.

Be aware that pre-application correspondence is not permanently private. Councils treat it as confidential for a period, but it can be disclosed, and it usually enters the public domain once an application is submitted.

When to go straight to application

Pre-application advice is not always worth the fee and the eight weeks.

Skip it where the proposal is plainly permitted development and what you actually need is a certificate of lawfulness, which answers the point definitively. Skip it where the council has an adopted design guide that answers your question in figures. Skip it where the fee band for your scheme approaches the planning application fee itself and the scheme is simple enough that a refusal would be survivable.

Use it where the principle is properly uncertain, where a constraint such as heritage or flood risk will drive the design, where the site has a refusal history, or where a consultee holds the outcome. On a nine-unit scheme in a sensitive setting, the money buys you the officer's view before you pay for the full Design and Access Statement and the technical pack.

Browse the 66 PlanScope report types to work out which documents your minor scheme will need, then take that list into the enquiry.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Fee bands, service standards and local validation lists differ by authority, so check the current published position with your local planning authority. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.