This service costs £62.50 and includes one 15 minute phone consultation with a planning officer, at a time to be arranged with the allocated officer. If further advice is required after this then a further fee would need to be paid for an additional phone call or alternatively the applicant could use the paid householder written pre app service for more detailed and written feedback.
The consultation cannot take place once an appeal has been submitted or more than 6 months after the council’s decision (this is to prevent the LPA prejudicing an appeal case and to ensure that the planner still has a good recollection of the site and case).
The applicant must have already read the delegated or committee report and decision notice after which they must make a written request with payment for a phone consultation (the online pre-application payment and application process can be used for this).
The applicant must provide an email address with their paid request so that a planner can arrange a convenient time to make the phone call.
The applicant will be allowed to submit one set of revised plans prior to the phone call taking place to aid the telephone discussion. If the applicant wants to submit further revision after the phone call has taken place then they would need to pay for a further phone call or use the householder written pre app service for written feedback.
The phone call will last a maximum of 15 minutes with either the applicant or appointed agent. It will not be possible to have a telephone call with the applicant and then the agent or vice versa.
No written response will be issued, however we may retain a recording of the conversation.
Issues to be discussed will include explanation of the reasons for refusal (if the applicant doesn’t understand the delegated/committee report), potential steps that can be taken to address reasons (for example reduce height/depth) and a summary on whether it is worth applying again or is considered to be wholly unacceptable.
What the applicant should expect
- A 15 minute discussion on the specific application that was refused.
- Basic advice on planning policies, specific issues raised in the report.
- Clear direction as to whether an amended proposal could address the issues (subject to formal assessment) or if officers consider the proposal to be not worth pursuing any further.
What the applicant should not expect
- The service does not guarantee the successful outcome of a repeat application. As with all pre application advice the discussion can be used to identify issues and potential solutions but does not prejudice the formal determination of a subsequent application.
- Views of consultees or other specialist advice will not be provided.
- It will not be possible to discuss potential other proposals not directly relevant to the recent refusal (whether those would be Permitted Development or otherwise).