Pre application advice on development proposals
Guidance on the need for planning permission is available online
at the Planning Portal.
If your proposal needs permission you can view our development
plan and supplementary planning guidance notes.
If you would like an opinion on your proposal
before submitting an application you should make an application for
pre-application advice.
Charges for
pre-application planning advice (from April 2013)
Requests for Pre Application Advice
You can apply online or
download a PDF copy of our pre-application advice form. The Form
sets out the minimum information we need in order to process your
request.
Once your request for advice has been received with the relevant
fee, we aim to contact you within 5 working days to acknowledge
receipt of your form and inform you of the name of the Case officer
dealing with your request. If we need further information at this
time we will let you know what we need.
What should you provide?
The following information and plans should be submitted with the
Request Form. If insufficient information is submitted we will not
consider your enquiry and we will be unable to provide pre
application advice.
As a minimum please include:
- Site location plan at an appropriate scale, usually 1:1250 or
1:2500
- Details of current use and relevant history. Photographs
can be helpful.
- Details of the nature and scale of the development proposed.
More information may be required if more detailed advice is
requested
- Sketch drawings of the proposed development to include a
proposed layout, floor plans and elevations, sufficient to indicate
the scale and height of development proposed.
- The relevant basic fee which must be paid in advance before the
request is registered. Where there are additional charges eg for
site meetings or additional meetings or hourly charges an invoice
will be sent
What we will provide
Your request will be assigned to a named Case Officer. The
Officer will aim to provide you with a written response, or arrange
a meeting or otherwise contact you within 21 days of receipt of the
request.
- We will provide a development team for major proposals with
named individuals as the expert points of contact. In some cases it
may be necessary to involve statutory or other consultees and this
may take longer in order to provide a comprehensive response. The
Case Officer will keep you informed of likely timescales. We will
aim to provide written advice within 10 working days of any meeting
held.
- The Case Officer will provide a written response covering the
following matters:
- Relevant planning history
- Relevant Sefton Unitary Development Plan and other
policies
- Main planning issues
- Reports and information required
- Likely recommendation
- S106 requirements and commuted sums
- The comments given will be an officer opinion which is given
without prejudice to future consideration of a formal application
by Sefton Council. The information given will be the best
available at the time but it is possible that new issues and
information may arise at application stage and may affect the
recommendation. You should also bear in mind that any subsequent
changes to planning legislation or planning policies may affect the
advice given. The weight that can be given to pre application
advice will diminish over time.
- All case officer responses will be confirmed and signed by a
senior officer (team leader or team manager).
We will make all efforts to respect any
request for confidentiality, but under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 we may be forced to release them if the requester makes a
formal complaint to the Information Commissioner (ICO), and ICO
feel the case for withholding is insufficiently strong, or the
public interest is too great.
Last Updated on 4/2/2013