A large part of our work involves giving pre-application advice on a wide range of planning proposals. To help us make better use of our resources, we’re changing what we provide pre-application advice on.
Changes to pre-application advice
The Planning and Building Standards Customer Service Charter approved by Planning Committee in December last year sets out the level of service you should expect.
Pre-application advice for major developments will continue to be handled by the relevant area team. For other pre-application advice, the charter states:
- Pre-application advice will normally be restricted to large, unusual or contentious cases or on smaller complex cases where policies or guidance are open to interpretation
- We will generally not give advice on the following types of development as we have guidance online
- householder development
- windows
- driveways
- straightforward change of uses
- adverts
- When asking for advice, you should use the pre-application advice form to ensure we get all the information we need
- We will send the enquiry to the relevant area team who will decide if a meeting is necessary
- We will advise you to where to find information online
- We will provide a formal response for more complex proposals
- We aim to respond within 10 working days
- We advise on the use of professional agents to assess if permission is needed and to make the appropriate application/s
Our helpdesk planner at the Planning and Building Standards reception area (9am-1pm) can offer general planning guidance but is unable to give pre-application advice. For more detailed advice you can send us a pre-application form if it meets the above criteria.
How we deal with requests for pre-application advice is part of a number of changes we’re introducing and we’ll keep you informed on the blog as these happen.
Planning Edinburgh 