Pre-Application Advice
There are many benefits to be accrued from the provision of effective high quality pre-application advice. Benefits to the Local Planning Authority (LPA) include the ability to proactively shape schemes and improve the quality of developments throughout the District. Benefits to developers include the ability to obtain an understanding of the likely key issues, an officer opinion regarding the principle and/or details of a scheme without needing to pay the full application fee, an understanding of the likelihood of support being forthcoming at the application stage and any revisions that may be needed to make a scheme acceptable.
The pre-application stage is the opportunity to discuss proposals. Planning and related applications will normally be determined as submitted. The Local Planning Authority will not normally seek revisions to proposals and will not normally accept revisions where any necessary reconsultation and renotification means a decision cannot be made within the prescribed determination period. Advice can be provided following the refusal of an application as pre-application advice to a subsequent submission.
For enquiries received on or after the 4th April 2011, Huntingdonshire District Council has adopted new procedures for pre-application advice and now offers 3 types of advice:
1. Written advice only;
2. Meeting followed by written advice; and
3. Meeting only (for initial meetings for major developments* only)
Written advice only will be provided on request for all enquiries (except works to, or within the curtilage of, a listed building as a site meeting followed by written advice will be necessary in order to provide considered advice). Agreement to a meeting will be at the discretion of the Planning Authority.
The information requirements, a summary of the nature of advice to be provided for each of the request types, the applicable fees and the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) form to be completed for all requests are set out in the Linked Documents to the right of this page.
All requests should be clearly headed ‘Request for pre-application planning advice’ and requests should make it clear which of the 3 types of advice is sought.
Note
*Major developments are as defined for DCLG PS2 return purposes and include developments of 10 or more dwellings and developments where the floor space to be built is 1000m2 or more.