Planning development
Planning development covers many types of proposals for work on buildings or land. The majority of planning applications are dealt with by officers under delegated powers from the planning committees (around 80%).
We aim to balance letting people make reasonable changes with preventing proposals that could damage the area as a whole.
Many changes you may want to make will need planning permission, including relatively minor alterations that affect the appearance or use of buildings, for example:
- building a garage or making your house bigger
- new buildings
- altering existing buildings, for example adding new shopfronts or replacing windows
- changing landscaping, such as laying a new path or making a play area
- changing the use of land or buildings
- displaying advertisements
- works to trees
- temporary structures
However there are also some circumstances where you may not need planning permission before you make changes.
Pre-application advice
The planning system can be complicated and confusing because of the amount of legislation and guidance. To help customers, we offer a pre-application advice service, so you can discuss whether permission is needed for your proposal and whether it is likely to get permission. Please note there are charges for this service, depending on the type of proposal.
The information on our website is for guidance only and you should ask for confirmation from us.
You can also find out more on the Planning Portal website.
Making a decision
We will look at your application and make a decision on whether to approve or refuse your proposal, based on national and local planning policies and government guidance..
If we give permission, it will be subject to conditions the type of which depending on the proposal. Our compliance team will make sure those conditions are followed.
If you application is refused permission, the decision notice will include details of why we have made that decision.
Planning committees
Most decisions are made by Officers using powers given by the Council to the Head of Planning Services but some proposals are referred to councillors to make decision at committee. There are two planning committees for the north and south areas of the district.
Appeals
You can appeal against a decision. Appeals must be made to the Planning Inspectorate within 12 weeks of the date of the decision for householder applications, 6 months for all other applications, within 8 weeks in the case of advertisement appeals, or 4 weeks for applications related to works to trees that are subject to a Tree Preservation Order.
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