Submitting an Application

A number of factors will influence when we require and accept amendments. The main factors are policy considerations and the scale of amendments required.

Planning applications typically fall into one of the following categories:

1. Scheme acceptable as submitted – grant without negotiation
2. Scheme unacceptable as submitted but needs only minor amendments that would not materially alter the application to make it acceptable and would not require re-consultation – grant following negotiation.
3. Scheme fundamentally unacceptable as submitted - refuse without negotiation. If the proposed scheme is clearly contrary to adopted planning policies and it is unlikely that negotiations can easily overcome this, the planning case officer will proceed to progress the application to a determination. The decision notice will detail the reason(s) for refusal of the application, which will provide clarification on why the development is unacceptable so that an applicant can seek to address the issues raised in a re-submitted application, if they wish to do this.

If your scheme only requires a relatively minor change to make it acceptable, the presumption is that negotiations will be undertaken to obtain satisfactory amended plans and/or supporting documentation before the application is determined. Guidance on cases that can normally be treated as minor amendments to current planning applications is provided on the next section.

As a general rule, if the scale of amendments would necessitate further consultation, they will not be considered to be minor.

Amendments to current planning applications will not normally be accepted where this would delay the decision of the application beyond Government targets. This is why it is important to submit all the necessary supporting documentation at the start of the process.