Winter support
Colchester Borough Council is providing support for residents, businesses, and communities throughout winter.
Pre-application Advice
We provide advice to help you improve your planning application, increasing the chance of your application being granted planning permission.
IN THIS ARTICLE
- What is pre-application advice
- The different types of form
- Supporting documents you need
- How much it costs
We provide "Pre-application Advice" (also known as a "Preliminary Enquiry") where we will provide you with site specific advice.
With early feedback we can help you improve the quality of your planning application and increase the likelihood of your application receiving approval.
Types of Pre-Application Advice
Minor/ minor application:
This is an application for residential advice for:
- A development relating to small-scale building projects such as:
- Householder
- Change of use
- 1 – 9 dwellings
- Listed building alterations/extensions
- Other
One of the most common is "Householder". For example this covers:
- House extensions
- Garage conversions
- Garden outbuildings
- Erection of walls and fences to domestic properties
Pre application is also available for commercial/industrial advice for:
- Certain changes of use between some business types
- A development less than 1,000m² floor space
- A site less than 1 hectare on an outline application
- Advertisements
Read more on the Planning Portal
Major / major application
This is residential advice for:
- A development of 10 or more units, or
- A site of 0.5 ha or more on an outline application
It is also commercial/industrial advice for:
- A development of 1,000m² floor space or more, or
- A site of 1 hectare or more on an outline application
Larger and quite complex planning applications would be handled through a Planning Performance Agreement (PPA). What's this?
Read more on the Planning Portal
Supporting documents you may need:
Depending on the type of application you intend to submit, there may be additional documents that are required.
How much it costs
You may also be liable to planning obligations such as Section 106 agreements. What's this?
