Pre-Application Planning Advice (New Chargeable Service)

Pre-Application Charging

As of January 2025 we will be charging for pre-application advice. In September 2024, Members approved the adoption of charges for Pre-application Advice. If you wish to still take advantage of our free pre-application advice service, you can complete the online form via the link below. Once received an appointment will be sent to you by email. These are in-person at Porthmellon Enterprise Centre (PEC) or electronically via TEAMS. Appointments are 20 minutes and are currently offered between 09am and 11am.  Please ensure you book.

If you would like to apply for our new chargeable pre-application service you can click this link and complete the Pre-Application Form:

The below fees are inclusive of VAT. Fees will be reviewed annually and we will commence charging in January 2025.

Category A: Household Enquiries (Desk Based Assessment)

	Fee	Target Timescale
20 Min Office Meeting* *Through bookable sessions only. No written follow-up	No Fee	n/a
Do I need Planning Permission An Informal view as to whether or not a proposal requires planning permission. If the answer is ‘yes’ and further advice is requested, then the fee will be charged as per this fee schedule.	No Fee	4 Weeks (20 working days)
Householder	£81	4 Weeks (20 working days)
Householder – Heritage Asset* *Listed Building/Conservation Area/Non-designated Heritage Asset/Registered Park or Garden	£176	4 Weeks (20 working days)

Category B: Minor Applications

	Fee	Target Timescale
Minor Application (unaccompanied site visit)	£100	5 Weeks (25 working days)
Minor Application (1 x 1hour site visit)	£200	5 weeks (25 working days)
Telecommunications development	£100	5 weeks (25 working days)
Advertisements	£100	5 weeks (25 working days)
Additional Fee for Heritage Advice (CC)	£95	n/a
Additional Fee for Archaeological Advice (CAU)	£55	n/a
Additional Fee for Ecological Advice (CEC or CC)	£65	n/a
Additional Fee for Building Control Advice (CC)	£75.90	n/a
Additional Fee for Boating if required	£100	n/a
Fee for 1 x 1hour follow-up meeting To discuss the contents of the written advice only, not any amended plans. Any further meeting requests after this /requests to discuss amended plans will be treated as a new enquiry, for which the relevant full enquiry fee will be payable.	£100	n/a

Category C: Major Applications (small scale)

	Fee	Target Timescale
Residential Development (10-50 units) Includes 2 x 1hour meetings and will include specialist input as required: heritage, archaeology, ecology	£1000	6 Weeks (30 working days)
Commercial Development (Greater than 1000 sq m but less than 9999 sq m) Includes 2 x 1hour meetings and will include specialist input as required: heritage, archaeology, ecology	£1000	6 Weeks (30 working days)
Additional Fee for Boating if required	£100	n/a
Fee for 1 x 1hour follow-up meeting To discuss the contents of the written advice only, not any amended plans. Any further meeting requests after this /requests to discuss amended plans will be treated as a new enquiry, for which the relevant full enquiry fee will be payable.	£100	n/a

Major Applications (large-scale)

Given the intimate nature of the islands, where historically there have not been any large-scale major developments, we have not set out any fees for pre-application advice. In the unlikely event that a large-scale major development is proposed then we would encourage applicants to enter into a bespoke Planning Performance Agreement with the local planning authority.

Terms of Service

Pre-application enquiries for Listed Buildings, Conservation Area, Non-designated Heritage Assets and Registered Parks and Gardens will be subject to the higher fee which includes Heritage advice.

Site visits will not be carried out for Householder enquiries unless the building is a Heritage Asset and then a site visit may be carried out at the discretion of the Case Officer.

Please note that once the advice letter has been issued, the submissions of a revised scheme will be classed as a new request for pre-application advice and will be subject to a further fee.

All responses are provided either by or with the input of the Chief Planning Officer.

The timescale for the response will only commence when we have a valid pre-application enquiry as detailed below, including the payment of a fee (where one is required):

Householder, Minor	Location Plan Existing and proposed plans – can be sketches but need to be sufficient to assess the impact of the proposal Pre-Application Fee Pre-Application Form (downloadable) Further information may be required for a Heritage Asset – it is likely that a Heritage Statement will be required.
Major	See Local Validation Checklist – please note that where information would be required to validate a planning application is not being provided at with the pre-application enquiry, we will not be able to provide detailed advice on that technical matter.

Disclaimer

Advice given by officers for pre-application enquiries does not indicate a formal decision by the council. Any views or opinions given are without prejudice to the formal consideration of any planning or other application. The final decision on any application that you may then make can only be taken after the council has consulted local people, statutory consultees and any other interested parties and will then be made either by the Full Council, or under delegated powers in accordance with the council’s approved Scheme of Delegation, based on all information available at the time. Officers cannot therefore guarantee the final formal decision that will be made on your application(s).

Pre-application advice given is advisory only and if you were to purchase any land/buildings on the advice of the pre-application assessment you do so at your own risk, as the council would not be held accountable if a scheme was not supported at a later date.

Freedom of Information requests

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Environmental Information Regulations 2004 the Council may receive a request to disclose pre-application advice requests and the advice we have provided. The applicant will need to state in writing why they require a request for pre-application advice to be confidential, detailing the reasons valid under the Act for this at the time of your request.

The Council will not respond at the time of your request but will take it into account when deciding whether to release information.

Definitions

What is…	Definition
Householder Development	Works to alter or extend one existing dwelling.
Minor Development	1-9 new dwellings; or built floor space <1,000 m2; or site area < 1 hectare
Major Development (small scale)	10-199 new dwellings; or built floor space of <9,999m2; or site area (residential: >0.5 hectares but < 4 hectares and non-residential: >1 hectare but <2 hectares)
Major Development (large scale)	200+ new dwellings; or Built floor space of >10,000m2; or site area (residential > 4 hectares and non-residential > 2 hectares)

 

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