Pre-application advice: why we build our own case first.

Pre-application advice is meant to do one thing well: give you an early, informal steer from the local planning authority before you commit to a full application. In practice, that service has become harder to rely on. This is what has changed, and how we handle it instead.

What council pre-application advice actually is

Most local planning authorities offer a paid pre-application service. You submit a scheme, sometimes just a concept, and an officer gives an informal opinion on its acceptability before you go to full application. It can flag serious problems early, and on some sites it is genuinely worth having. What it is not is a decision, or a guarantee. The advice is not binding, and the authority is free to take a different view once a formal application is submitted and goes through full consultation.

Why it is harder to rely on than it used to be

Planning departments are stretched, and pre-application services have felt that pressure directly. Fees have risen, in some authorities substantially, while turnaround times have lengthened, sometimes to a matter of months rather than weeks, often as long as it takes to receive a planning decision. Response quality varies with who picks up the case, and it is common to get a hedged, non-committal answer on anything genuinely difficult, precisely the sites where a clear steer would matter most. None of that is a criticism of the officers involved. It is a resourcing problem, and it means the service does not always deliver what an applicant actually needs: certainty.

Build the case before you ask the question

Our approach is to do the work the pre-application service is meant to shortcut, properly, ourselves, first. Kerry tests the scheme against the development plan, national policy and relevant appeal decisions. Tom develops the design against the guidance, rather than in isolation from it. Because architecture and planning sit in one team, that conversation happens continuously, not once, and it happens in days, not in whatever queue the council's service is currently running. By the time a scheme is genuinely ready, we know where its strengths and its risks are, and we have usually already designed around the risks.

Where the formal channel still earns its place

This is not an argument for skipping the council altogether. On the right site, a formal pre-application response is still useful, particularly where it creates a written record of the authority's position, or where a local validation list expects one. The difference is what you take into that conversation. A well-tested, policy-led scheme tends to get a sharper, more useful response than an early sketch with an open question attached, and it means you are not depending on a single, non-binding opinion to tell you whether an idea can work.

Common questions

Should I still apply for the council's pre-application service?

Often yes, once your own case is properly built. Going in with a well-argued, policy-tested scheme tends to get a clearer, more useful response than going in with an early sketch and an open question.

Is pre-application advice binding?

No. It is an informal opinion, not a decision, and the authority is not bound by it when your application is formally considered. That is exactly why the strength of your own case matters more than the council's early view.

Does this replace formal pre-application advice?

It is not about replacing the council, it is about not depending on it. We build the planning and design case properly first, then use the formal channel where it genuinely adds value, rather than as the first and only test of an idea.

How long does a pre-application take?

It depends on the authority and how busy the service currently is. What was once a matter of weeks can now run to several months at busier authorities, which is one of the reasons we do not wait on it to test whether a scheme stands up.

Is pre-application advice confidential?

In practice, yes, largely. Unlike a submitted application, a pre-application enquiry is not usually placed on the public planning register or opened up for neighbour comment. It is not an absolute guarantee of confidentiality, since information held by a council can in principle be requested under freedom of information rules, but it is treated very differently from a live application.