PLANNING SERVICE
Tel: 0345 045 5215
Contact Centre:
Mon - Fri: 8.00am - 8.00pm
Sat: 9.00am - 1.00pm
Offices:
Mon - Fri: 8.30am - 5.00pm
Fax: 01954 713152
Email: planning@scambs.gov.uk (This link will open in a new window)
Address, directions & map to our headquarters
Planning FAQs
External Links
- Planning Portal (This link will open in a new window)
- Planning Aid (This link will open in a new window)
- Town & Country Planning Act 1990 (This link will open in a new window)
- Planning Obligations Circular 2005 (This link will open in a new window)
- Planning Act 2008 (This link will open in a new window)
- Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations 2010 (This link will open in a new window)
- Planning Portal advice on planning appeals (This link will open in a new window)
Pre-application planning advice
South Cambridgeshire District Council welcomes and encourages discussions before a planning application is submitted. Such discussions can assist in better quality applications, which stand a better chance of a successful outcome.
There are considerable benefits in seeking advice before making an application:
- It gives you the opportunity to understand how policies and guidance will be applied to your development
- It can identify at an early stage where there is a need for specialist input, for example about urban design, listed buildings, trees, landscape, noise, transport, contaminated land, ecology or archaeology
- It may lead to a reduction in time spent by your professional advisors in working up proposals, identifying potential problems and sorting them out before an application is submitted
- It may indicate that a proposal is completely unacceptable, saving you the cost of pursuing a formal application
- It will ensure that you provide all the necessary information and drawings to enable the application to be registered as valid.
In light of increased requests for advice, we formalised the procedures for requesting advice in October 2009 and introduced a scheme of charges to cover the costs of providing the advice.
The scheme has been revised and the new charging structure came into effect on 18th July 2011 (see table below). From 16th September 2011 the new structure also came into effect from for pre-application advice in relation to growth site projects wholly within South Cambridgeshire i.e. Cambourne, Orchard Park, Northstowe. The final fee structure and implementation in respect of shared Cambridge Fringe sites i.e. Cambridge East, North-west Cambridge and the Southern Fringes is to be agreed by the Corporate Manager (Planning and New Communities) in order to ensure consistency between the schemes operated by Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council. This is likely to be in place by 1st November 2011.
In addition to the Pre-Application Advice service the Council operates a Duty Officer service for more general planning advice where customers may make direct contact with a planning officer for an informal discussion lasting approximately 15 minutes. This general advice service does not provide a written response.
Please ensure that your pre-application payment is for the correct amount as anomalies will delay us being able to process your application. The amount payable, including VAT @20%, is shown below.
Permitted Development Enquiries
The Duty Officer service will be able to give general verbal advice on Permitted Development enquiries (i.e. if a proposal requires planning permission) and further advice is available at the Planning Portal (This link will open in a new window). Where written confirmation is required an application should be made for a Lawful Development Certificate. Applications can be submitted through the Planning Portal (This link will open in a new window) or by downloading the forms here.
| Development Type | Written advice only (Follow up written advice will not be chargeable) | Meeting with planning officer (including written follow-up) | Follow-up meeting (including written advice) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strategic Development - More than 250 dwellings | N/A | By agreement | By agreement |
| Large Scale Development - Between 100-250 dwellings or for other uses over 5,000 square metres of floorspace or 2 hectares or more in site area. | N/A | £600 plus VAT Total payable £720 | By agreement |
| Major Development - for residential developments of 10-99 dwellings or for other uses between 1,000-4,999 square metres of floorspace or a site area of between 1-2 hectares. | £200 plus VAT Total payable £240 | £600 plus VAT Total payable £720 | £100 plus VAT Total payable £120 |
| Minor Development - for residential developments of 2-9 dwellings or for other uses below 1,000 square metres of floorspace or a site area of below 1 hectare. | £100 plus VAT Total payable £120 | £300 plus VAT Total payable £360 | £50 plus VAT Total payable £60 |
| Single dwellings | £60 plus VAT Total payable £72 | £95 plus VAT Total payable £114 | £50 plus VAT Total payable £60 |
| Householder developments - including extensions or alterations to dwellings or outbuildings and other developments within the residential curtilage. | £35 plus VAT Total payable £42 | £50 plus VAT Total payable £60 | £50 plus VAT Total payable £60 |
| Advertisements | £35 plus VAT Total payable £42 | £50 plus VAT Total payable £60 | £50 plus VAT Total payable £60 |
| Listed Buildings and Conservation Area Consent - all advice prior to submission of these application types (not including advice on planning related matters) | No charge | No charge | No charge |
| Trees | No charge | No charge | No charge |
| Discharge of Conditions | No charge | No charge | No charge |
| Small Businesses - Up to 5 employees | No charge | No charge | No charge |
| Following Outcome of a Lawful Development Certificate Application | No charge | No charge | No charge |
| Permitted Development - proposals where an application is required due to an Article 4 direction or as a result of planning conditions. | No charge | No charge | No charge |
| Disabled Persons Requirements - Development must be required for the needs of disabled persons (exemption applies where planning fee would be exempt) | No charge | No charge | No charge |
| Parish Councils - For development required by and for Parish Councils. | No charge | No charge | No charge |
| Registered Charities - For development required by and for the Charity | No charge | No charge | No charge |
What you should provide with your submission
You will need to write to us and include the following as a minimum:
- Completed pre-application advice request application form
- Correct fee (see charging schedule above)
- Full site address and location plan (This link will open in a new window)(1:1250 scale) with the site outlined in red
- Draft of Design and Access Statement (not applicable to householder development)
- Sketch drawings providing details of the proposal. Floor plans for each floor of the proposed building together with at least sketch elevations that are sufficient to indicate the initial architectural approach and palette of materials. Drawings should also show any adjacent buildings and boundaries to identify the context of the scheme
- Photographs of the site and adjoining properties affected by the development
- Proposed developments involving 100 dwellings or more or 10,000 sq.m. floor space or more, should be accompanied by an initial outline for the proposalincluding, if possible, a draft Masterplan for the site
- Site history i.e. occupancy of the site where the proposal relates to a change of use
- For growth sites, sufficient information to enable us to complete a Planning Performance Agreement to be agreed between all key stakeholders.
Applying for pre-application planning advice
Once you have completed your application form and attached the relevant information (see above) please send your enquiry to the following postal address
South Cambridgeshire District Council
Planning & New Communities
South Cambridgeshire Hall
Cambourne Business Park
Cambourne
Cambridge
CB23 6EA
Or via email to the relevant email address denoted below:
| dcteameast@scambs.gov.uk (This link will open in a new window) | dcteamwest@scambs.gov.uk (This link will open in a new window) | Major Developments (This link will open in a new window) |
|---|---|---|
Abington Lt Abington Gt Babraham Balsham Bartlow Carlton Castle Camps Chittering Cottenham Duxford Fen Ditton Fulbourn Harston Hauxton Hildersham Hinxton Histon Horningsea Horseheath Ickleton Impington Landbeach Linton Milton Newton Oakington & Westwick Pampisford Rampton Sawston Shelford Gt Shelford Lt Shudy Camps Stapleford Stow cum Quy Teversham Thriplow Waterbeach Weston Colville West Wickham West Wratting Whittlesford Wilbraham Gt Wilbraham Lt & Six Mile Bottom | Abington Pigotts Arrington Bar Hill Barrington Barton Bassingbourn Bourn Boxworth Caldecote Cambourne Caxton Childerley Chishill Gt Chishill Lt Comberton Conington Coton Croxton Croydon Dry Drayton Elsworth Eltisley Eversden Gt Eversden Lt Fen Drayton Fowlmere Foxton Gamlingay Girton Gransden Lt Grantchester Graveley Harlton Hardwick Haslingfield Hatley Heydon Kingston Knapwell Litlington Lolworth Longstanton Longstowe Madingley Melbourn Meldreth Guilden Morden Steeple Morden Orwell Over Papworth Everard Papworth St Agnes Shepreth Shingay-cum-Wendy Swavesey Tadlow Toft Whaddon Willingham Wimpole | Cambourne Cambridge East North-west Cambridge Northstowe Orchard Park Southern Fringes |
What can you expect?
- Acknowledgement of receipt of submission including reference number and case officer (email address to be included upon application form);
- Where necessary the case officer will make contact to arrange a meeting time, date and venue, request additional information and/or advise how long it will take to respond to your enquiry;
- We aim to provide a formal response within 10 working days, unless an alternative timescale has been agreed between the parties, for example, to allow consultation with other organisations or individuals.
How will the advice be structured?
The matters, which could be subject to pre-application discussions, include:
- Whether the proposed type of development is acceptable in principle
- Relevant planning history of the site
- The surrounding context of the site
- Relevant policies and constraints
- Recommended consultations before the application is submitted
- Issues relevant to the type and scale of proposed development, such as: urban design (encapsulates design and its surroundings), amenity, transport and environmental issues including noise, contamination, flooding, drainage and biodiversity
- Likely developer contributions (where necessary)
- Case Officer conclusions
- For growth site projects, a Planning Performance Agreement approach will be set out with project management details and a community engagement strategy outlined
- Growth site projects will be taken to the Design Quality Panel and detailed feedback provided as part of the Council's response
General Advice
There are some general points, which you should take into account before you contact us:
- Try to contact us at the earliest reasonable opportunity in your project
- Undertake some initial research yourself by using the planning pages on the Council's website
- Sound out the views of those that may be affected by your proposals
- The more information you can give us, the more helpful and accurate our response can be. The key to the success of this service will be providing adequate information in advance, and
- On complex issues be prepared to seek private professional help - our service is not intended to be an alternative to employing professional consultants.
Disclaimer
- Planning permission does not over-ride the need to obtain any necessary approvals under the Building Regulations, Party Wall Act or any other relevant legislation.
- Separate approval may also be required in other areas, for example, restrictive covenants, shared agreements, easements, rights of way etc.
- You should be aware that any advice given by the Council in relation to pre-application enquiries will be based on the case officer's professional judgement and will not constitute a formal response or decision of the Council with regard to any future planning applications. Any views or opinions expressed, are given without prejudice to the consideration by the Council of any formal planning application, which will be subject to wider consultation and publicity. Although the case officer may indicate the likely outcome of a formal planning application, no guarantees can or will be given about the decision that will be made on any such application.
- It should be noted that policies, constraints etc. change from time to time and may affect the advice given. The weight that can be given to pre-application advice will therefore decline over time
- The Council positively encourages applicants to enter into pre-application discussions but if a major or minor application is submitted without such discussions, the Council may determine the application as submitted without post submission discussions.
- Any advice given in relation to the planning history of the site, planning constraints or statutory designations does not constitute a formal response under the provisions of the Local Land Charges Act 1975.
- The provisions of The Freedom of Information Act bind the Council, as a public authority, and therefore it should be presumed that information supplied to the Council is likely to be disclosable under the above Act. If you want information to remain confidential, you should state clearly why. Information sent to the Council "in confidence" may still be disclosable under the above Act. Before sending such information you are advised to take legal advice if there are fears that disclosure would prejudice you in some commercial way
- The written advice will depend upon the information presented (please see 'what you should provide'). Advice will usually be in the form of a written report considering the areas identified above.
Freedom of Information Act
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires us to make all documents available to members of the public, if requested. Pre-application advice can only be treated as confidential if there are clearly demonstrable issues of commercial sensitivity or other significant reasons why this information may not be made public. (Any enquiry in this category should be clearly marked as confidential). If a planning application is made as a result of pre-application advice, all documentation may be publicly available, as they will form background papers to the application.
Our Commitment to You
If the Council exceeds a period of 8 weeks to provide a written response (unless a longer period of time has been agreed in writing), and is at fault, a refund will be given to show our commitment to this service.
For further information on the Pre-application Advice procedure please call our Duty Planning Officer on 0345 045 5215 or, for growth site projects contact the New Communities (Planning) Team on 01954 713156.
