Smarter Developments

Working Together on Major Planning Applications

What We Will Do For You

Clearly set out the information which should accompany a major planning application.
Subject to the Pre-Application Service, effective from 1 January 2008, we will:
- Give advice on policy and strategy issues affecting your development.
- Examine your proposal to see if it is acceptable and identify any problems as early as possible.
- Tell you our initial views on your scheme.
- Adopt a development team approach when appropriate.
- Identify amendments that could address any issues or problems.
- Discuss what planning obligations or agreements may be necessary.
Do our best to issue a decision on your formal application within 13 weeks, including any Section 106 agreement.

What You Can Do to Help Us

Consider taking advantage of the Council's Pre-Planning Application Advice Service.
Start consultation early and let us know who you have consulted (and their response).
Make sure that you send us the information listed in checklist 2 when you make a formal application.
Make any amendments, or send us any additional information we ask for, as quickly as possible.
Provide high quality presentation material as most major applications are considered by committee.

What is a Major Application?

The creation of at least 10 residential units.
Work on a residential development on a site of 0.5 hectares or more.
Work on a non-residential development on a site of 1 hectare or more.
The creation or change of use of 1000m2 or more of gross floor space (does not include housing).

Keeping on Target

The Government has set a national target for 60% of major planning applications to be determined within 13 weeks. Bexley is committed to exceeding that target. To succeed, and provide you with an even faster service, we need your help.

Many major planning applications take a long time to determine due to reasons which are beyond the control of the Council, including:

Consultation with those affected by the proposal may have started too late.
Other essential legal agreements or consents may not be in place.
The applicant may have decided to make major alterations to the scheme after submission.
The applicant or agent may not have reacted quickly enough to our request for modifications or additional information.

If you follow the advice in this guide, it will greatly improve our chance of delivering the service described and getting a decision out to you within our target time.

Before You Apply

The Council now operates a Pre-Planning Application Advice Service and welcomes discussion before a formal application is submitted. These discussions help by.

Identifying key planning issues and requirements in advance.
Minimising subsequent planning application costs by avoiding abortive applications.
Speeding up the development process

Charges apply for this service, as such costs are not included within the statutory planning application fee. Further information on the service can be found later in this guide.

Making a Formal Application

It is vital that the formal application includes everything we need. Checklist 2, at the back of the guide, sets out all the certificates, fees, site details, plans and other material, which should be included. Without these we will not validate your application and this may delay consideration of your proposal if we have to ask you for things which have been left out.

If an application is almost complete but some minor items are missing, we will still allocate the application to a case officer and start informal consultation, so long as most of the information has been provided. That will enable the public and other key consultees to be involved at an early stage, even though your application cannot be validated until you have given us all the necessary information. You may choose to tell us that you do not want informal consultation to start right away if you want to maintain confidentiality. It will have to happen once the application is validated but you can choose to delay, perhaps to allow negotiations to take place regarding land ownership, rights of access or similar issues.

You will be able to make alterations to your proposal in response to comments received from those consulted and from negotiations with the Council.

Validation

This is an important landmark. We will write to confirm that the application has been validated when the planning application form has been fully completed and we have received all the necessary information. The 13 week target time starts from validation and one important consequence is that the opportunity to make significant changes to the proposal is severely limited from then on. That is because there is barely time for all the stages we have to go through without dealing with changes to the proposal at the same time.

Fresh drawings or modifications that significantly alter the nature or description of the proposal will not normally be accepted after validation. If such a change is unavoidable, we will ask for a fresh application.

Unacceptable Proposals

Where a major application has been validated but needs significant alteration to make it acceptable, or where pre-application advice to overcome problems has not been followed, we will consider the application unamended. You will, however, have the chance to withdraw the application and submit a new application for a revised scheme before the Committee make a decision.

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