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The Planning Application Journey

An interactive guide to the UK planning process — from pre-application advice through to appeal. Click each stage to learn what happens, how long it takes, and what you can do.

Pre-Application

Typical duration: 2–6 weeks

Before submitting, you can request informal advice from the council's planning department. This helps identify potential issues early.

What happens at this stage

  • Contact the council's planning department for pre-application advice
  • Check if your proposal needs planning permission (some work is 'permitted development')
  • Review the Local Plan and any relevant planning policies
  • Consider whether your site has any designations (conservation area, listed building, etc.)
  • Engage with neighbours early to address concerns before formal submission

Tips for this stage

  • Pre-app advice typically costs £50–£600 depending on the scale of development
  • The council's response is not binding but gives a strong indication of likely outcome
  • Check our constraint badges on the application detail page to see what designations apply
Planning glossarySearch applications near you

Data Sources & Attribution

PlanningData.gov.uk ↗Dataset-specific rights

Government planning data platform. Reuse conditions depend on the dataset and originating source; check the licence and attribution for the record you use.

PlanIt.org.uk ↗Rights review

Planning applications aggregator. A provider's catalogue does not establish Planning Alerts coverage or freshness. Source-specific reuse terms require review.

UK Local Planning Authorities ↗Rights review

Planning application information accessed from council portals. Individual councils and portal providers may have separate reuse terms.

Historic England ↗OGL3

Listed buildings and scheduled monuments data via PlanningData.gov.uk.

Portal technology and public availability do not themselves establish a commercial reuse licence. Planning Alerts links to the originating source and applies source-specific rights controls. Coverage and successful-check dates vary by source. Council plans and documents remain subject to their publishers' terms; a public link does not grant reuse permission.

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