November 2013 PLANNING PRE- APPLICATION ADVICE AND PLANNING PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT SERVICE

Transcription

1 November 2013 PLANNING PRE- APPLICATION ADVICE AND PLANNING PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT SERVICE

2 PRE-APPLICATION ADVICE AND PLANNING PERFORMANCE AGREEMENT SERVICE PRE-APPLICATION The Council welcomes and encourages discussions in relation to development proposals in the Borough. We acknowledge the advantages of providing good quality advice to developers and their agents prior to the formal submission of a planning application in order to help speed up the development process and avoid unacceptable proposals. The provision of advice on development schemes is time consuming and costly. In view of this and taking into account the increased number of requests for pre application meetings, the Council has formalised the procedures for handling preapplication advice and has introduced a fee for major and minor proposals. This will help the Council to sustain and improve the service provided. It will also ensure that the cost of providing advice does not fall as a general cost to the Council taxpayer. Advice on small scale development proposals will remain free of charge for the time being. The benefits of pre application advice Pre application advice will provide you with the following benefits: understanding how our policies will be applied to your development identifying the need for specialist input at an early stage e.g. for listed buildings, transportation, trees, landscape, noise, health, contaminated land or archaeology assisting in the preparation of proposals for formal submission, which, if you follow our advice, should be handled more quickly and be more likely to result in a positive outcome possibly reducing the time your professional advisors spend in working up the proposals indicating those proposals that are completely unacceptable, so saving you the cost of pursuing a formal application Proposals requiring a fee We charge a fee for pre applications proposals under the provisions of the Local Government Act These are set out in the table below: Categories Pre app fees Initial cost Charge per (including additional written meeting advice and 2 initial meetings) Charge per additional written advice CATEGORY A Large major residential / commercial development residential units; 10,000m2 + of net additional floorspace (including change of use) Site over 2.5 hectares 4,

3 CATEGORY B Major residential / commercial 26 to 99 dwelling units; 5,000m2 to 9,999m2 of net additional floorspace (including change of use); Sites between 2 hectare 2.49 hectares CATEGORY C Minor and Major residential / commercial 16 to 25 dwelling units 2,500m2 to 4,999m2 (including change of use) Sites between 1.49 hectares to 1.99 hectares CATEGORY D Minor and small Major residential / commercial 3, , , to 15 dwelling units; 1000m2 to 2,499m2 of net additional floor space (including change of use) Sites between 1 hectare 1.49 hectares CATEGORY E Minor residential / commercial Creation of 2 4 dwelling units; 500m2 999m2 of net additional floorspace (including change of use); Sites between 0.5 hectares to 0.99 hectare. CATEGORY F Small scale minor residential / commercial Creation of 1 dwelling unit / replacement dwelling; Under 500m2 of net additional floorspace (including change of use); Site area of less than 0.5 hectares; Telecommunications. CATEGORY G

4 Householder applications (Including Lawful Development Certificates) Payments are fixed for pre-applications and all prices set out in the table above include VAT charged at 20%. How to Make a Request for Pre Application Advice in Categories A to G You will need to fill in a Pre-Application Advice Application Form and attach the applicable fee and information listed in the form. This information is required to assist the Council to assess the proposal and be in a position to provide helpful advice at the meeting. This includes: Site Location Plan with site edged red to a scale of 1:1250 or 1:2500; Written summary of proposal; Information on existing use of land and or buildings; Existing and proposed drawings; Floor area details (If site is located in the Green Belt, details of footprint and volume should be provided); Photographs of the site and neighbouring land / street scene; Site history details; Design and access statement; Environmental Impact Assessment(If required); Heritage Statement (Development which affects Listed Buildings, buildings of local importance and Conservation Area); Site survey; Tree survey and or Arboricultural Impact Assessment; Ecological survey (Optional). An officer will then undertake a preliminary assessment of the proposal and may visit the site if necessary. Advice may also be sought from internal or external consultees if considered necessary and expedient. The officer will then contact you to arrange a meeting which will be informal and without prejudice. The scope of the discussion may extend to: Information on current Local Plan, Supplementary Planning guidance, Supplementary Planning Documents and other advice; Any relevant planning history; Section 106 or unilateral undertaking requirements and expectations; Information on what detail should accompany the application; and Advice on procedure, consultations, timescale and potential Committee consideration/dates. Afterwards the officer will provide a brief written response summarising the main points of the discussion. Any subsequent formal planning application will be subject to public consultation and will ultimately be decided by the Council as Local Planning Authority.

5 Process Flow Chart Applicant and or agent contacts the council to discuss the proposal Applicant and or agent referred to pre-application procedure. Preapplication enquiry form, commercial sensitivity form (If required), associated information and fee paid (Categories A, B, C, D, E, F and G). Any necessary site visit and internal/external consultation to take place. Consideration of written response of initial proposal prior to any meeting. Officer contacts applicant and or agent within 14 working days to arrange a meeting if required. Appropriate officers to be invited to attend (Design, Policy, Housing and or Hertfordshire County Council Officers). On large scale applications, the applicant and or agent can advise officers as to whether or not local ward councillors can attend the meeting. Following the meeting, a final or updated written response in report format will be produced by Council Officer s within 10 working days confirming informal advice, outlining actions/procedures necessary to make applications compliant with planning policy and guidance. Consideration as to whether a Planning Performance Agreement (PPA) is required to form part of the pre-application process if the scheme is support informally by Council Officers. Any further follow up meetings (maximum of 1 included within the charging schedule) to discuss the Officer s written report. If the applicant and or agent require any further meetings or written advice (including advice on a revised scheme) in the format of a report, an additional charge will be made per additional meeting / written response as set out in the charging schedule. Submission of formal planning application

6 Pre-Application Service Standards In order to sustain a high level of effectiveness and consistency in professional advice that we give to our customers we have adopted a number of customer service standards as follows: We will respond with written comments on requests for advice on most applications within 21 working days of receipt of request subject to sufficient information being submitted with the pre-application documents to enable us to assess. We will only attend a site meeting when considered necessary e.g. for unusual site specific issues such as topography, this maximises our available time with all our customers. We will respond to written requests for advice on major applications within 28 working days by letter, or by telephone. We will normally allow up to two pre-application meetings. Any additional meetings will be charged an additional fee as set out in the charging schedule. In order to meet these deadlines applicants/agents must provide relevant plans and supporting information. Site layout plans at an adequate scale will assist in our consideration of any scheme. Officers will produce a summary of the advice given at the pre-application meeting to make an adequate record of any discussions they may have with the applicant and/or their agent. We will record our major application advice on our database for record and training purposes. PLANNING PERFORMANCE AGREEMENTS A Planning Performance Agreement (PPA) is a voluntary collaborative project management process for planning proposals. The agreement embraces the planning process from pre-application advice, through to the submission and determination of a planning application. The agreement will set out timescales for handling the various tasks involved in consideration and refinement of the proposals and bringing the proposals to a decision. Central Government encourages the use of such agreements for both larger and smaller planning proposals under advice of the Planning Advisory Service. This approach can be used where development proposals are deemed to be in accordance with the Development Plan for the Area or have the potential to meet the Council s Corporate Objectives. It does not guarantee a favourable decision, but allows schemes that are supported to be progressed towards a decision in a timely fashion resulting in a high quality development. This is achieved by opening up opportunities for structured meetings, amendments and provision of further information. If however a proposal is contrary to policy, in the NPPF 2012 or the Council s adopted and drafted policies, then they will continue to be recommended for refusal.

7 We have prepared a PPA Charter which sets out how the Council will work with developers, the community and other key stakeholders to ensure that all large and/or complex development proposals are carefully considered in a constructive, collaborative and open manner. Such an approach is the best way of developing proposals that will meet the vision and objectives of the Council. A copy of this charter can found on the following weblink: We charge a fee in entering into a PPA and the table below sets out these charges: Pre-application bands CATEGORY A Large major residential / commercial development residential units; 10,000m2 + of net additional floorspace (including change of use) Site over 2.5 hectares CATEGORY B Major residential / commercial 26 to 99 dwelling units; 5,000m2 to 9,999m2 of net additional floorspace (including change of use); Sites between 2 hectare 2.49 hectares CATEGORY C Minor and Major residential / commercial 16 to 25 dwelling units 2,500m2 to 4,999m2 (including change of use) Sites between 1.49 hectares to 1.99 hectares CATEGORY D Minor and small Major residential / commercial Cost of entering into a PPA with the Council (inc. VAT) 3,000 2,000 1, to 15 dwelling units; 1000m2 to 2,499m2 of net additional floor space (including change of use) Sites between 1 hectare 1.49 hectares CATEGORY E Minor residential / commercial Creation of 2 4 dwelling units; 500m2 999m2 of net additional floorspace (including change of use); Sites between 0.5 hectares to 0.99 hectare. CATEGORY F Small scale minor residential / commercial

8 Creation of 1 dwelling unit / replacement dwelling; Under 500m2 of net additional floorspace (including change of use); Site area of less than 0.5 hectares; Telecommunications. CATEGORY G Householder applications (Including Lawful Development Certificates). 25