The Self-Build Guide Planning: 2. The consultation process

Once you or your agent have submitted the planning application for your self-build house, you will receive an acknowledgement of receipt. You will then receive a letter to say if your application has been validated, along with an application number. This means you can track your application’s progress on the council’s website. Most applications are validated within three to five working days from receipt. Major applications are usually validated within ten working days.

Site notices for planning applications

After registering the application, site notices for any applications that fall within a Conservation Area or relate to listed buildings or a public right of way will be displayed. In some areas, councils want site notices for all applications to be posted near to the proposed building works. These days, quite often, the applicant is required to post these notices and provide photographic evidence that this has been done. A public consultation period of three weeks then starts.

The council will write to any neighbours who may be affected by the construction to ask if they want to look at the plans and make any comments. The council will make statutory consultations to the local Highways department, and if applicable, the Environment Agency. This public consultation period also allows any other interested parties, such as the local parish council or specific interest groups to make any comments on the plans and express their views.

Expert planning help

Remember, if any aspect of your planning application is likely to be considered at all contentious, your planning expert  will have provided a planning statement that demonstrates how your proposal is in compliance with planning policy. A design statement will also have been drawn up that provides more information about your project. Similarly, if your plot of land is in a conservation area or is near to listed buildings, a heritage statement will also accompany your application. The Council’s Highways department will be interested to see a traffic statement if access to the plot has any potentially dangerous aspects.

If anyone wants to make any representations on your application, these will be logged on the council website, along with any consultation responses. A neighbour for example, might raise an issue. The local planning authority will take into account any written comments, providing they are strictly relevant to the application and ‘material’ to planning issues.

Can neighbours block your planning permission application?

Reduction in value of a neighbour’s property is not a material planning consideration. Also, remember that you can’t be refused planning permission just on a neighbour’s opinion, for example if they are worried about noise.

If a project has been previously rejected on the same site then a similar scheme is likely to be rejected, unless the revised scheme specifically addresses the concerns raised by the Local Planning Authority in its previous refusal. Your own age, status of health or background are also not valid grounds for refusal of planning permission. The length of time it may take to carry out the construction is also not taken into consideration.

Planning officer site visit for your self-build

Once the consultation period is over, the planning officer will visit the site at some point before a further five week period. Planning officers are busy people, under considerable time pressure. Although you can try and contact them to arrange a site visit, they may well prefer just to turn up and may not always have time to meet with you. As well as visiting the site itself, they may also take the opportunity to view it from adjoining properties. 

The planning officer is likely to be looking at ecological issues and also Flood Risk. If your site is categorised within Flood Risk zones 2 or 3, as defined by the Environment Agency, you should have submitted a flood risk assessment with your application. This is why it is so important to get issues like this checked by an expert before making the application as matters such as these, or appropriate drainage strategies for example, can be addressed in the application, with documentation to show how your design mitigates any issues.

What’s next?

Following the site visit, you can stay in touch with the planning officer to find out how your application is progressing. Sometimes, a planning officer may tell you in advance of the final decision that your project is likely to be denied planning permission, particularly if it is just a small tweak needed to the design. In these circumstances you may be allowed to make a change to your design so it can still go through.

The planning officer assesses your application against local and national planning policies. They will be looking primarily at the design, scale and layout of the proposed building. They will also be looking at highways issues and car parking allowance. They will take note of the location of the proposed development and its impact on the landscape, the local environment and ecology, such as trees, and neighbouring property.

You will hear when the planning office has made a decision on your case by email or by letter. You can keep an eye on the council’s website, which will show when the status of the application has changed. Most planning applications are decided within an eight week period. Particularly large or complex applications can take up to 13 weeks.

How much does it cost to apply for planning permission?

If you are carrying out your self-build project via a turnkey solution from a self-build specialist, the cost for applying for application is included in the overall fee. If you are managing the process yourself, it currently costs £462 to apply for a new single dwelling in England. Apart from the separate costs for architectural plans, additional costs you need to allow for are those involved in preparing the plans and documents and having necessary surveys carried out. If you need to revise your plans in any way to secure planning permission, this might incur further architect’s costs too. It is sensible to allow for around £2,000 for the planning permission part of the self-build process.

Contact us to find out more about our free planning advice and full self-build turnkey package, which includes the management of the whole planning application process.