What Happens at a Pre-Application Planning Meeting?

Meta title: What Happens at a Pre-Application Planning Meeting? | RCB Design & Build Word count: ~760

Most homeowners who are planning an extension or significant refurbishment go straight from appointing an architect to submitting a planning application. What many do not realise is that there is a step in between — one that can save weeks of back-and-forth, reduce the risk of refusal, and materially improve the quality of what gets approved.

It is called a pre-application meeting, and it is more useful than most people expect.

What a Pre-Application Meeting Is

A pre-application meeting — commonly called a pre-app — is a formal consultation with the Local Planning Authority (LPA) before a planning application is submitted. It is an opportunity to get an early, informal view from the planning officer on whether your proposed scheme is likely to be supported, and to identify any issues — design, heritage, scale, or otherwise — before you commit to a full application.

Pre-application services are encouraged under the National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG) and are offered by all London boroughs under powers derived from the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (s.293A, as inserted by the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004). They are not mandatory, and not every project needs one — but for the right project, they are one of the most efficient investments in the pre-construction process.

When a Pre-Application Meeting Is Worth Doing

Conservation areas. If your property is in a conservation area — and London has hundreds of them, including Highgate, Hampstead, the Ladbroke Estate, Canonbury, and many more — a pre-app gives you a direct line to the officer's view on design approach before your architect commits to detailed drawings. In Article 4 designation areas, where permitted development rights are removed, this is particularly valuable.

Listed buildings. Works to a listed building require a Listed Building Consent application running in parallel with any planning application. The planning officer's view on heritage impact — before design is finalised — can prevent significant wasted fees and avoidable refusals.

Unusual or contentious schemes. If your proposed scheme involves basement excavation, significant massing close to a boundary, a contentious change of use, or anything likely to attract neighbour objections, a pre-app allows you to test the officer's position before going public with a full application.

Change of use. A material change of use under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (s.55) — for example, converting a house to flats, or changing the use of a commercial property — may trigger obligations around Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), affordable housing contributions, or other planning gain requirements. A pre-app is the right time to understand these before they become surprises.

What a Pre-Application Meeting Is Not

This is important: pre-application advice is not binding. The planning officer who advises you informally is not the decision-maker. A different officer — or the planning committee — may reach a different conclusion when the formal application is considered. The pre-app gives you useful intelligence; it does not give you approval.

It is also not a substitute for a properly prepared planning application. An officer can tell you whether your approach is heading in the right direction, but they will not design your extension or tell you exactly what to submit.

How to Request a Pre-Application Meeting

Every London borough has its own pre-application service with its own fee schedule. For householder-level projects, pre-app fees typically range from approximately £50 to £500 depending on the borough — Westminster, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and Camden tend to be at the higher end, reflecting their more complex heritage and conservation environments.

Some boroughs offer written advice only; others offer a meeting with the case officer. Written advice is recorded and can be referenced throughout the application process, which is often more useful than a meeting alone.

For larger schemes — those involving listed buildings, significant new build in sensitive areas, or above a certain threshold of units — some boroughs and the Greater London Authority operate design review panel services, where independent design experts provide pre-submission feedback on design quality. These are separate from the standard planning pre-app process but serve a complementary function.

What to Bring

The more information you bring to a pre-app, the more useful the response will be. At minimum: sketch drawings showing the proposed layout and elevations, site photographs, and a brief description of what you are trying to achieve. If the site is in a conservation area or involves a listed building, a draft design rationale or heritage statement adds significant value. You do not need full planning drawings — that is the point of the pre-app.

Allow four to eight weeks for a written pre-application response at most London boroughs. That timeline means the pre-app should be initiated before your architect completes detailed drawings — so that any feedback can be incorporated without abortive cost.

At RCB Design & Build, for any project in a conservation area or involving a listed building, we build pre-application consultation into the pre-construction programme as a matter of course. It reduces the risk of wasted design fees, prevents avoidable planning delays, and means that when the application goes in, we have already had an intelligent conversation with the authority about the scheme.