How
Do You Make a Good Application ?
How Your Application Will be Dealt
With
Summary of our Service Commitment for
Communication
Submitting
an Application
Pre-submission
Discussions
You may find it helpful to discuss
your proposals with a member of
the Development Management Team prior to submitting
the application. Whilst every effort is made to try and
ensure that there is always a member of staff on hand to deal with
this type of enquiry at the Richmond Community Office on Dundas
Street, the best way to make sure is to make an appointment.
It is important to note that all advice offered by staff is
given entirely without prejudice to the determination of any
planning application.
How to Submit an
Application
Applications can be submitted
electronically, and this is the most efficient way of making an
application.
Application submission (this will open a link to The Planning
Portal web site where you can submit an electronic
application)
Alternatively, you can download and
complete application forms, which can then be submitted in
paper format.
Plans are usually required as part
of your application and you will need to
submit 3 copies (together with originals) of
each accompanying plan or drawing.
Location plans will normally be on a
1:1250 or 1:2500 Ordnance Survey base and show the
application site outlined in red and any other nearby land in the
applicant's ownership in blue.
Site plans (also known as block
plans) will normally be at 1:200 or 1:500 scale and contain
information on the boundaries of the application site, the position
of your development within the site, the proposed use of land and
buildings, proposed access and parking arrangements, and proposed
pipes, drains and sewage disposal.
Building plans will normally be at
1:100 scale and provide detail of the building (both as existing
and proposed) in the form of plans, elevations and cross-sections,
and evidence of the external materials and features to be
used.
As the plans and drawings will be
examined by others, for example your neighbours or the Parish/Town
Council, they are an important way for you to demonstrate the
quality of your scheme. Inferior quality plans which are
difficult to read, lack information or are inaccurate, may delay
your application or lead to mis-interpretation of your scheme.
In addition, if we do not think that your scheme is
sufficiently detailed, we may request additional drawings or
details before we can begin to process the application.
It is necessary to understand that a
planning application is an important stage in the development
process. It involves consultation with other interested
bodies and individuals and provides the general public with the
opportunity to become involved in the consideration of the
proposal. It is therefore essential that
your application (including the accompanying plans and details) is
comprehensive and of a sufficiently high standard to enable others
involved in the process to fully understand what is envisaged and
also to provide a clear and unequivocal illustration upon which the
application can be determined. Rememer that your application
will not just be looked at by the Case Officer - it will be
available for public inspection and will be displayed on the
Council's web site.
If you are unsure what plans and
drawings you will be required to submit,
the Development Management Support Officer will be
pleased to offer further guidance.
Listed
Buildings and Conservation Areas
If your proposals involve any
alteration, extension or demolition of a "Listed Building", whether
external or internal, you will probably need to make a separate
application for Listed Building Consent. This requires
different forms to be completed and additional sets of plans.
Demolition in part or whole of some
buildings within a Conservation Area may also require a separate
approval called Conservation Area Consent.
If you require further information
on either Listed Building Consent or demolition within a
Conservation Area, please contact the Development Management
Support Officer.
Applications for consent to display
advertisements are dealt with under separate legislation, and again
details and forms can be obtained from the
Development Management Support Officer or by using the
above links.
In addition to planning permission,
you may also require approval under the
Building
Regulations. Application forms and further information
can be obtained from the North Yorkshire Building Control
Partnership.
The determination of a planning
application is subject to the payment of a fee. This is
payable at the time of making the application. Different fees
are payable for different categories of development and may change
over time.
The application fee is
non-refundable once the application is registered and an
application will not be registered until the appropriate fee is
paid. Fees are not required for Listed Building Consent,
Conservation Area Consent, works to trees, proposals where
permitted development rights have been removed, or where an
application has been withdrawn or refused and a repeat application
is made for the same site by the same applicant within 12
months.
You can calculate the appropriate
fee for your proposal using the link below to the Planning Portal
:
Applicants should be aware that if
your development requires the preparation of any formal legal
document under the Town and Country Planning Act such as a Section
106 Agreement; a Revocation Order; a Modification Order; or a
Footpath Diversion Order in order to make it acceptable, then the
Council will expect you to cover the cost of its legal fees in the
preparation of such documents.
How Do You Make a Good Application ?
A good application is one which has
regard to the 4Cs:
- CARE : Careful preparation (incorporating the requirements of
the planning process) into the project.
- CONSULTATION : Pre-application discussion with a member of the
Development Control Team, neighbours and other relevant interests
to identify concerns and solutions to any difficulties and to avoid
misunderstandings and subsequent objections.
- CLARITY : Presentation of a clear, well supported description
of the proposal, its acceptability, and benefits to the economy and
local environment.
- COMPLETENESS : Provision of all the forms, plans and
certificates required as part of a planning application.
The 4Cs form a sequence of actions
which can be undermined if the application is not properly prepared
in the first instance.
The more care you put into the
formulation and presentation of your proposal, the better will be
your prospects of successfully navigating the planning process, or
the quicker you will appreciate that, for justifiable reasons, it
has little or no prospect of success. Time spent in early
preparatory work is always time well spent.
There are two key issues to consider
at this early stage:
- Do I need help?
- How does my project fit in with planning policy?
D.I.Y. v
Professional Support
Whether or not you require
professional planning advice will depend on the complexity of your
proposal and on your personal experience and knowledge of the
planning process.
It is hoped that this web site and
other sources of information will assist you to deal with many
planning matters yourself. However, the complexity of the
planning process and the time needed to engage with it to best
effect should not be under-estimated.
When you make your application,
your proposal will be judged in the light of the policies in the
Development Plan and any material policy guidance from central
government. It is in your best interests, therefore, if
your project accords with the Plan, or you have very well
researched planning reasons to justify a departure from established
policies.
When considering your proposal you
should, therefore, consult the
Development Plan and identify the policies
relevant to your proposals as well as any
national policy guidance.
Consideration of the policy
framework will enable you to establish whether:
- there are any constraints upon, or particular support for, your
proposal;
- there are particular interests, for example landscape, highway
safety or local amenity, on which your proposal has, or could have,
an adverse effect.
Very few projects, even the most
simple, are devoid of any adverse environmental or amenity
effects. It is, therefore, important to identify potential
problems at this early stage and to tackle them
constructively.
An effective means of identifying
and dealing with potential planning difficulties is to discuss your
proposals with:
- a member of the Development Management Team;
- other bodies and agencies who may be consulted on the
application, for example, the Highway Authority and the Environment
Agency;
- interests who may be directly affected, such as neighbours and
the Parish Council.
Such consultation is recommended and
may enable you to submit a planning application with greater
confidence and perhaps even support.
It is important at this stage to
remain flexible in your approach. An important part of
discussions with a Planning Officer will be to identify any policy
or technical problems and the possible means of overcoming
them. The latter might mean altering the proposal or your
approach to it, considering conditions which might be attached to
any permission restricting aspects of the proposal or requiring you
to deliver particular improvements. It is, of course, still
possible at this stage that a Planning Officer may indicate that
the proposal has little prospect of progressing in the face of an
irreconcilable conflict with policy or an important environmental
consideration.
At any meeting with a Planning
Officer, particularly if you are adopting a DIY approach, it will
be useful to ensure that you are fully aware of, and
understand:
- the requirements for submitting a planning application;
- how the application will be handled and the likely timetable;
and
- what requirements there may be for site notices and
publicity.
It is important to recognise that,
in these discussions, Planning Officers can only give advice.
They cannot pre-judge the final planning decision. Neither
can the authority be held to any comment an Officer might make to
you.
When your planning application is
submitted we will consult a number of bodies and agencies with
interests in either technical or policy aspects of land use
planning (for example, the Highway Authority and the Environment
Agency), specialists within the Council itself (for example,
Environmental Health Officers), and the relevant Town/Parish
Council/Meeting. These consultees will comment on your
application and may raise technical concerns which could lead to a
refusal of permission for your proposal. It is sensible,
therefore, to have discussions or correspondence with these other
bodies prior to finalising your proposals and submitting a planning
application. This dialogue can remove unnecessary concerns
and identify ways in which your proposals and subsequent planning
application can be improved.
You should also talk to your
neighbours and the local community, who may be affected by your
proposal. This has the threefold advantage of involving them
and keeping them informed, hopefully gaining their support, and
identifying ways of dealing with any objections they may
have.
More information about
pre-application consultation can be found in our
Statement of Comunity
Involvement (see Section 4).
If you have prepared your proposal
carefully, taking into account the relevant planning policies and
addressing issues raised by those you have consulted, it should be
possible for you to clearly express the nature and purpose of your
project and support it, where necessary, with technical drawings
and plans. Your application should, therefore, be full enough
for it to move steadily through the process of determination
without the need for any significant additional input.
If, on the other hand, you have
taken the view that you know what you want and submit an
application without any prior consultation, there is an increased
likelihood that the Council, consultees and your neighbours will
raise concerns and objections which you will have to address during
the decision making process. Frequently this requires late
adjustments to proposals and revisions to plans and
documents. Not only does this incur extra expense, it
introduces delay and often confusion as to exactly what your
proposal is.
Do not rely solely on the planning
application form to describe your proposal, particularly if it is
of a more complex character. Produce a supporting statement
which clearly expresses what your proposal is and how it has been
carefully formulated. Such a statement for a typical proposal
should:
- describe the proposals and illustrate them with plans;
- indicate how the proposals will fit in with and benefit the
wider environment and community;
- indicate how the proposals accord with the Development Plan and
other planning policies;
- refer to the consultations you have undertaken and how you have
taken account of any suggestions made; and
- attach any information or correspondence from other bodies or
agencies.
Outline or
Full Planning Permission ?
There are two types of planning
application - outline and full. If you wish to establish
whether a proposal is acceptable in principle,
without going to the expense of preparing comprehensive plans and
drawings, you can apply for outline planning permission. If
permission is granted, you will subsequently have to apply for the
approval of the detail of the proposals; so-called 'reserved
matters'. This approach has the disadvantage of extending the
period of the final planning permission that will enable you to
start work.
The opportunity to submit an outline
application is only available if the proposed development involves
the erection of a building. Outline applications are not
available for changes of use or developments not involving
buildings.
Applications for outline planning
permission are also not appropriate for developments in
Conservation Areas.
Outline applications now require a
minimum amount of information in order for the
application to be accepted. You must provide information
about the proposed
- use (details of the
use(s) proposed and any distinct development zones;
- amount of
development (the amount of development proposed for each
use);
- an indicative layout
(showing the layout of the site with separate development zones as
appropriate);
- scale parameters (an
indication of upper and lower limits for height, width and length
of each building; and
- indicative access
points area(s) where the access point(s) will be
situated).
Each of these topics, along
with reference to relevant planning policies, will need to be
covered in the Design and Access Statement which
must accompany most applications.
Please note that you may also be asked to submit other additional
details if it is felt to be necessary.
The alternative approach is to apply
for full planning permission which requires your proposal to be
fully developed and all the necessary details made available at the
outset.
Design and Access
Statement
A Design and Access Statement must
be submitted with all planning applications; both outline and
full applications, with the exception of :
- a material change of use of land or
buildings (unless the development also involves some external
alterations or extension to the premises);
- engineering or mining
operations;
- householder developments (e.g.
extensions and alterations to dwellings, outbuildings and other
similar forms of development within the curtilage of a
dwellinghouse) unless any part of the dwellinghouse lies within a
National Park, Site of Special Scientific Interest, Conservation
Area, Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or World Heritage
Site.
A Design and Access Statement is
also an essential part of an application for
Listed Building Consent. In this case, the Statement
must also show how the principles, concepts and
policy take account of the special architectural or historic
importance of the Listed Building, the particular features that
justify its designation as a Listed Building, and the setting of
the building. Your application cannot be accepted without
these details.
Any application which requires a
Design and Access Statement cannot be registered or dealt
with until the Statement has been provided.
The purpose of a Design and Access
Statement is to explain how you have considered the proposal and
understand what is appropriate and feasible for the site in its
local context. It needs to explain the principles that will
be used to guide the future details of the scheme and therefore it
is particularly important for outline applications. The
Statement should be prepared at the outset of the development
process and should evolve as the scheme is progressed. It has
to explain and justify the decisions made in designing the scheme
and therefore should not be written as an afterthought. A
Draft Statement could be very useful in pre-application
consultations and discussions.
A copy of the Statement which
accompanies the application will be placed on the public register
and will appear on the Council's web site as part of the
application. A copy will be sent to consultees. The
Statement will allow you to provide more details on how your
proposal will fit into the context of the local area and show that
an appropriate or sympathetic design has been considered.
Along with the Statement, illustrative plans, drawings, street
sketches and surrounding views should be included for the proposed
development in order to describe your design principles
fully. The amount of information given in the Statement will
depend upon the site itself, what surrounds it and the scale of
development proposed.
Helpful guidance on how to prepare a
Design and Access Statement can be found in the publication from
the Commission for the Built Environment (CABE) entitled
"
Design and
Access Statements - How to Write, Read and Use Them" which is
available from their web site at
www.cabe.org.uk
Checklist
for Submitting an Application
Have you :-
- completed 4 copies of the application
form ?
- completed the correct ownership certificate and served notice
where necessary ?
- signed and dated the declaration at the end of the form ?
- submitted 4 copies of all plans and any
supporting documentation ?
- submitted the correct fee for the application ?
- submitted a Design and Access Statement where
required ?
The Council will not accept an application as valid if
it fails to achieve the required standards illustated by these
pages and the available guidance notes. You are therefore
advised to carefully consider how best to present your application
and whether to seek specialist assistance. An application
cannot be considered if it is deemed to be invalid for any
reason. Please, therefore read the available guidance fully
before submitting your application to avoid having it returned as
invalid.
How Your Application Will be Dealt With
It is useful to understand what
happens to your application once you have submitted it. Your
application will progress through a number of stages of
consultation and consideration before a decision is made.
Either formally or informally, you can make inputs to this process
and further the prospects of a successful outcome. The main stages
in this process are listed below :
- Application submitted.
- Registration and acknowledgement of receipt.
- Consultation with interested parties e.g. adjoining landowners,
amenity societies, local press advertisement as necessary.
Formal internal and statutory consultations.
- Consideration of comments, consultation responses, site
visit.
- Assessment of application in the context of the policies of the
Development Plan and other material considerations.
- Possible further information requested or modifications agreed
with applicant as necessary.
- Officer's report and recommendation.
- Committee decision or officer's decision under delegated
authority.
- Permission granted subject to conditions or refused.
- Aggrieved applicant may appeal to the Secretary of State.
Assuming that your
application is complete and submitted with the correct fee, you
will receive a written acknowledgement within 5 working
days. The application will be placed on the public
register and the public will have access to examine it, take copies
of it and make representations about it. At this
stage, you will be informed which Planning Officer is responsible
for handling your application. Make sure that the
Case Officer understands your proposal and is aware of your
willingness to discuss any issues which may arise as the
consideration of the application progresses.
If you have engaged a professional
adviser, who is named as your agent on the application form, then
he/she will be our first point of contact on matters relating to
the application. It is strongly recommended that you do not
confuse the communication between us by duplicating actions that
should be undertaken by your agent.
The time allowed by the regulations
for the determination of most applications is 8 weeks. As you
will appreciate from the list of stages above, this is a very tight
timetable for anything other than the simplest or most
unexceptional proposals. You have a right to appeal
to the Secretary of State if you have not received a decision
within 8 weeks, but it would be unreasonable not to agree to a
request to extend the period if there is justifiable
cause.
Once your application is in the
system, it will be publicised. Consultation will take place
with relevant interests. Information about your application
will be publicised by either a site notice and/or direct
notification of neighbours and, in certain circumstances, by a
notice in a local newspaper. The relevant Town/Parish
Council/Meeting will be notified and technical interests within the
Council and in other agencies will be consulted. Anyone
contacted directly or indirectly by this process can make comments
on your proposal, either for or against the application.
The planning Case Officer will pull
together all the comments received and make a site visit to put the
proposed development and the comments received in context.
The application will then be assessed in relation to the policies
of the Development Plan and any other relevant policy
guidance. This process of assessment may lead the Case
Officer to request further information from you or to suggest
modifications to your proposals. If issues arise
which make the application less than straightforward, the Case
Officer will endeavour to contact you within 6 weeks of submission.
If, for whatever reason, your application is to be
recommended for refusal, then you will be advised before a formal
decision is made.
As your application passes through
these early stages, and indeed later in the decision making
process, you may wish to discuss your proposal with your local
Councillor. Any contact you make in this respect should be
restricted to ensuring that the Councillor has the relevant facts
relating to your proposal. The Councillor cannot take sides
or express an opinion on the merits of your proposal. To do
so might prejudice the ability of that Councillor from
participating in the decision making process.
Once the Case Officer has all the
information necessary, a report will be prepared and a
recommendation to approve or refuse the application will be made by
the Case Officer. At this stage, the actual decision may be
made either by a Committee of elected Councillors with
responsibility for planning matters, or by the Head of
Development Management under delegated authority. More
information about the Council's Constitution and Scheme of
Delegation can be found using the links below :
Where a planning application is
determined by the Planning Committee, the officer's report and
recommendation will be included in the Committee's agenda papers
for the relevant meeting, and will be in the public domain 5
full days prior to the meeting. You should be aware of the
recommendation proposed by the Planning Officer either by prior
contact or by consulting the Committee papers which are made
available on this web site.
This provides a final opportunity to
make representations to the Council if you consider that particular
aspects of your proposal have been misunderstood or misrepresented,
or that particular consultation responses need further comment.
There is an opportunity to make a statement or ask questions
at the beginning of each Committee meeting. Follow the link
below to find out more information :
Whether the decision is made by the
Planning Officer or the Planning Committee, your application will
eventually be considered for approval or refusal, and the outcome
will be sent to you in the shape of a formal decision letter.
This will set out any conditions to which the approval is subject,
or explain the reasons why it has been refused.
The decision notice will be
issued within 1 working day of a delegated decision or within
5 working days of a final Committee decision.
SUMMARY OF OUR SERVICE COMMITMENT FOR
COMMUNICATION
- We will acknowledge and register a valid application
within 5 working days of receipt.
- We will tell you of any necessary correction to an invalid
application within 5 working days.
- If issues arise which make the application less than
straightforward, the Case Officer will endeavour to contact you
within 6 weeks of submission.
- If, for whatever reason, your application is to be recommended
for refusal, then you will be advised before a formal decision is
made.
- The decision notice will be issued within 1 working day of
a delegated decision or within 5 working days of a final Committee
decision.
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