Get planning advice
We provide positive advice on schemes suggesting improvements where required. We will also tell you what information you need to submit for a planning application.
Submit a planning advice request
Getting specialist advice from us before you make a planning application could help you:
- avoid costly mistakes
- save time
- understand our policies and specialist areas
- identify potential problems early on and find solutions
- get advice about how to improve your scheme
You can submit a planning advice request using our online form:
What advice can we offer?
We can provide different levels of advice depending on how much detail and support you want.
What advice can we offer?
We can provide different levels of advice depending on how much detail and support you want.
- Level one
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This gives the simplest level of advice about the principle of a proposal. It will suit you if you want to avoid the time and expense of getting detailed plans drawn and do not want detailed advice.
We will not visit the site and we provide a written summary of our advice within two weeks.We will advise only whether the principle of the type of development you want to do is acceptable. Examples might be asking us about the principle of extending the roof of your house or the principle of converting a building into flats.
You will normally find it helpful to get more advice from us through levels two or three before you apply.
Level 1 is not available for alterations to listed buildings.
- Level two
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This will provide you with much more detailed written advice than level one, including on the detail of your proposal, within four weeks of your request. It will also include advice from internal consultees, such as Highways and Transportation, where relevant.
An in-person site visit will be offered where it is considered necessary and appropriate. Where an in-person site visit is not offered, photos can be useful and we will use satellite imagery planning history at yours and neighbouring properties, as well as our detailed knowledge and understanding of the borough to offer our advice.
- Level three
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This is the same as level two but also includes a meeting to explain our advice and explore improvements and alternatives with you. Following the meeting we will issue our advice in writing within five weeks of your original request.A face-to-face meeting will be offered where it is considered necessary and appropriate. We will discuss arrangements with you on an individual basis. Please speak to your Planning Officer once registered to discuss arrangements.
- Follow up for level two and three
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Once you have our advice through levels two or three you may amend your proposals and want updated advice.
The fee for this is lower than the initial advice and you can choose whether to have it without a meeting (level two) or with a meeting (level three).
How much will advice cost?
Planning Advice Charges - Fee type (including VAT)
- Level 1 advice
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Fee Description 2024-25 Fee (£) Householder not including subterranean 543.00 Householder including subterranean 701.00 Local community groups 309.00 Advertisements 543.00 Telecommunications 561.00 Advice under Garden Square legislation Fee will be calculated as per planning permission advice Residential, including changes of use and conversions (1-4 units) 1,075.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (5-9 units) 2,881.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (10-49 units) 3,821.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (50-199 units) 6,362.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (200+ units) 11,854.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (Less than 100m2 floorspace) 438.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (100-499m2 floorspace) 1,075.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (500-999m2 floorspace) 2,881.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (1000-4999m2 floorspace) 3,821.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (5000-9999m2 floorspace) 6,362.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (10000m2+ floorspace) 11,854.00 Miscellaneous 1 hour meetings (at HoDM discretion) 847.00 Miscellaneous 2 hour meetings (at HoDM discretion) 1,432.00 - Level 2 advice
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Fee Description 2024-25 Fee (£) Householder not including subterranean 543.00 Householder including subterranean 1,057.00 Local community groups 309.00 Advertisements 543.00 Telecommunications 561.00 Details required by condition 425.00 Advice under Garden Square legislation Fee will be calculated as per planning permission advice Internal alterations to listed buildings where planning permission not required (time limited) 543.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (1-4 units) 1,075.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (5-9 units) 2,880.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (10-49 units) 4,867.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (50-199 units) 7,413.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (200+ units) 12,905.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (Less than 100m2 floorspace) 438.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (100-499m2 floorspace) 1,075.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (500-999m2 floorspace) 2,769.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (1000-4999m2 floorspace) 4,867.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (5000-9999m2 floorspace) 7,413.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (10000m2+ floorspace) 12,905.00 - Follow up level 2 advice
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Fee Description 2024-25 Fee (£) Householder not including subterranean 367.00 Householder including subterranean 764.00 Local community groups 309.00 Advertisements 367.00 Telecommunications 385.00 Details required by condition 367.00 Advice under Garden Square legislation Fee will be calculated as per planning permission advice Internal alterations to listed buildings where planning permission not required (time limited) 425.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (1-4 units) 719.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (5-9 units) 2,126.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (10-49 units) 3,347.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (50-199 units) 5,538.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (200+ units) 8,845.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (Less than 100m2 floorspace) 327.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (100-499m2 floorspace) 719.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (500-999m2 floorspace) 2,126.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (1000-4999m2 floorspace) 3,347.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (5000-9999m2 floorspace) 5,538.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (10000m2+ floorspace) 8,845.00 - Level 3 advice
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Fee Description 2024-25 Fee (£) Householder not including subterranean 660.00 Householder including subterranean 1,175.00 Local community groups 425.00 Advertisements 660.00 Telecommunications 677.00 Details required by condition 543.00 Advice under Garden Square legislation Fee will be calculated as per planning permission advice Internal alterations to listed buildings where planning permission not required (time limited) 660.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (1-4 units) 1,186.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (5-9 units) 3,026.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (10-49 units) 5,018.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (50-199 units) 8,011.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (200+ units) 13,712.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (Less than 100m2 floorspace) 561.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (100-499m2 floorspace) 1,186.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (500-999m2 floorspace) 3,026.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (1000-4999m2 floorspace) 5,018.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (5000-9999m2 floorspace) 8,011.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (10000m2+ floorspace) 13,712.00 - Follow-up level 3 advice
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Fee Description 2024-25 Fee (£) Householder not including subterranean 484.00 Householder including subterranean 876.00 Local community groups 425.00 Advertisements 484.00 Telecommunications 502.00 Details required by condition 484.00 Advice under Garden Square legislation Fee will be calculated as per planning permission advice Internal alterations to listed buildings where planning permission not required (time limited) 543.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (1-4 units) 836.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (5-9 units) 2,279.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (10-49 units) 3,616.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (50-199 units) 6,135.00 Residential, including changes of use and conversions (200+ units) 9,653.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (Less than 100m2 floorspace) 438.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (100-499m2 floorspace) 836.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (500-999m2 floorspace) 2,279.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (1000-4999m2 floorspace) 3,616.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (5000-9999m2 floorspace) 6,135.00 Non-residential, including changes of use (10000m2+ floorspace) 9,653.00 - Planning performance agreement charges
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Fee Description 2024-25 Fee (£) Support Staff 396.00 Officers 607.00 Senior Officers 759.00 Principal Officers 864.00 Team Leaders 974.00 SMT 1,629.00
What information do I need to give you?
The more information you give us about what you want to do, the more valuable and precise our advice will be. This includes:
- clear address for the site, preferably with the postcode
- brief description of what you want to do such as a ‘two storey rear extension’
- confirmation of the advice level you require
- plans of what you want to do, drawn to metric scale no bigger than A3 with a scale bar on each page
- a fee to cover our costs of providing your advice
To get the best out of the service we suggest you also send us more detailed information where you can, such as:
- scaled plan showing where your proposal would be on the site
- photographs showing the key features of the site with the directions shown on the plan above
- for basement development, draft construction traffic management plans and other plans required by our basement policies.
Charges explained
The cost of the time we take to provide advice is not covered by the statutory fee for making a planning application. The charge covers our costs for providing the advice and so it is not met by council taxpayers generally.
The scale of fees is based on the size of the proposal and the level of detail that is sought. We currently offer a reduced fee for local community groups seeking advice about their own proposals for enhanced community facilities.
If your proposal includes more than one category of development, the fee payable is the highest of those that apply, but they are not added together.
The fee includes VAT at 20 per cent and will not be refunded if you decide advice is no longer required even if we have not yet provided it.
There multiple scheme options are being proposed, we may charge more than one fee to ensure we cover the costs of providing advice.
Where the proposal involves significant works to a listed building, we may charge an individual site-specific fee to ensure we cover the costs of providing advice.
Where advice is required to resolve a breach of planning control, we may charge an individual site-specific fee to ensure we cover the costs of providing advice.
If you require fire safety advice (either London Plan Policy D12 or Planning Gateway One), please note there will be a surcharge incurred to your planning advice fee. This fee will be paid separately and calculated using the Building Control hourly rate. Please include this request when you submit your request for planning advice and a fee quote will be provided for fire safety advice.
Freedom of Information
The advice we provide under this service is generally confidential until a related application is submitted and development proposals are publicly available. Since March 2016 we automatically publish any advice we have provided once the related application is submitted. At that point there is normally no reason under any legislation to insist the advice is confidential.
We may continue to receive requests for advice to be disclosed at earlier stages, which will need to be assessed individually under the legislation. If you think there are sufficient reasons under the legislation that your request and advice should remain confidential at those earlier stages please advise us in writing of the reasons at the time of your request. We will not respond at the time of your request but will take it into account when deciding whether to release information earlier than usual.