What Is Pre-Application Advice?
Pre-application advice (often called pre-app advice) is a service offered by local planning authorities in England and Wales that allows applicants to discuss a proposed development with a planning officer before submitting a formal planning application. The advice is paid for separately from the planning application fee and is not binding — but it gives you a clear steer on the likely direction of a formal decision before you have spent money on full planning drawings and an application.
Most local authorities in Greater London offer pre-application services, though the structure, cost, and turnaround time vary. Some boroughs offer basic written pre-app advice for smaller proposals, while others provide face-to-face meetings with a planning officer for larger or more complex schemes.
What Can You Learn From Pre-Application Advice?
A pre-application meeting or response typically covers whether the principle of development is acceptable on the site, what the key planning policy issues are, what design or technical matters the authority is likely to focus on, what supporting information or assessments they would expect to see with a formal application, and whether there are any obvious reasons why the proposal is unlikely to succeed.
A good pre-app response does not tell you whether you will get planning permission — the planning officer is not able to pre-determine a formal application. But it can tell you whether your scheme is broadly on the right track, or whether there are fundamental issues that need to be resolved before making a formal application.
When Is Pre-Application Advice Most Valuable?
Pre-app advice is most valuable for proposals that are in some way unusual, complex, or contentious. This includes developments in conservation areas, proposals affecting listed buildings or their settings, schemes in areas where policy is particularly restrictive or where there is local sensitivity, and larger extensions or changes of use where policy compliance is not straightforward.
For a straightforward single-storey rear extension on a standard terrace where you are confident the scheme meets all permitted development criteria or is clearly policy-compliant, pre-app advice may not add much value. The cost and time involved may not be proportionate.
For a rear mansard loft conversion on a listed property in a conservation area, or an unusual extension on a complex site, pre-app advice could save significant expense by identifying problems before you commit to a formal application.
The Cost and Timescale of Pre-Application Advice
Costs vary by borough and by the scale of the proposal. For a small residential extension or loft conversion in a typical London borough, a written pre-app response might cost between a few hundred and a thousand pounds. Larger or more complex proposals attract higher fees. Turnaround times also vary — some authorities respond within four to six weeks, others take longer.
You can get pre-app advice from the local planning authority directly, but you can also engage a planning consultant to manage the process. A planning consultant can help you frame the pre-app submission effectively, interpret the response, and advise on how to adjust the scheme in response to concerns raised.
Pre-Application Advice and Your Planning Application
If you have obtained pre-app advice, the formal planning application should reflect and respond to the issues raised. If the officer raised concerns about the height of a proposed dormer, your formal application should either show how the design has been adjusted to address those concerns, or provide a clear justification for why the original design is nevertheless acceptable.
Pre-app advice does not guarantee that the same officer will assess your formal application, and responses are not binding. However, most local authorities treat pre-app advice as a material consideration in the formal decision-making process, and ignoring clear advice given at pre-app stage is unlikely to help your application.
Getting the Right Support
At RCB Design and Build, we coordinate with planning consultants and architects where pre-application advice is part of the early-stage work on a project. For clients working on more complex proposals, we help structure the pre-app submission and translate the advice into design decisions that strengthen the formal application. Contact us to discuss how we approach planning support within our design-and-build service.