Pre-Application Planning Advice: When to Use It and What It Costs in London

**What pre-application advice consists of**:

Pre-application advice (also called pre-app advice, preliminary planning enquiry, or a pre-application meeting, depending on the London borough) is a formal but non-statutory service offered by local planning authorities. You submit a description of your proposed development, often with sketch plans or concept drawings, and pay a fee; the planning authority reviews the proposal and provides a written response (and sometimes a meeting) setting out:

• •Whether the proposal is likely to be acceptable in principle
• •Which planning policies are relevant and how the proposal relates to them
• •What information will be required with the formal application (e.g., a Design and Access Statement, a daylight/sunlight assessment, an arboricultural report)
• •What aspects of the design need to be amended or addressed before submission
• •Whether the officer can support the scheme or has significant reservations

The pre-application response is informal — it does not bind the planning authority and is not a guarantee of approval. However, it provides a much more specific and considered view than the generic policy documents available online, and it reflects the individual planning officer's read of your specific site.

**When pre-application advice is worth paying for**:

For standard, straightforward householder applications (a standard rear extension on a non-constrained site, in a character area with clear policy, outside a Conservation Area), pre-application advice may not be necessary — the planning outcome is predictable from the policy framework. For these, a good architect familiar with the borough's policies can advise you on viability without a formal pre-app.

Pre-application advice is genuinely valuable for:

• •*Conservation Area applications*: Where the design must respond to Conservation Area character and the specific policy judgment of the borough's conservation officer matters — a pre-app meeting with the conservation officer saves significant abortive design cost if early feedback reveals a particular approach won't be supported
• •*Listed Building applications*: Listed Building Consent applications carry significant risk of refusal; understanding the conservation officer's view before committing to a design direction is essential
• •*Applications that push the boundaries of policy*: If the proposed extension is at or near PD limits, or is unusually large for the area, or has an unusual design character, understanding the officer's initial view helps you calibrate the risk
• •*Sites with complex constraints*: Tree Preservation Orders (TPOs), flood zones, archaeological potential, or sites close to a party wall with structural complications — a pre-app identifies the additional information required
• •*Larger residential projects*: HMO conversions, flat conversions, new builds, or significant house alterations — where the planning assessment is more complex and the investment in design is larger, a pre-app helps avoid abortive work
• •*First-time applicants*: For a homeowner who has not navigated the planning system before and is investing significantly in a design, a pre-app provides confidence and direction before the architect's fees escalate on a design direction that turns out to be problematic

**Pre-application advice fees across London**:

Pre-application advice is not free — London boroughs charge for it, and fees vary significantly. As of 2025:

| Application type | Typical fee range (London) | |---|---| | Written enquiry only (no meeting) — householder | £50–£250 | | Written enquiry + meeting — householder extensions | £150–£600 | | Conservation Area householder | £200–£800 | | Listed Building Consent applications | £300–£1,000 | | Small residential development (2–9 units) | £500–£2,000 |

• *Borough-specific notes*:
• •Some inner London boroughs (City of Westminster, Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, London Borough of Camden) charge significantly more — especially for Conservation Area and listed building advice
• •Some outer London boroughs (Havering, Sutton, Bromley) charge at the lower end of the range
• •Some boroughs offer a 'duty planner' service (typically a 15–30 minute call with a planning officer) free of charge or at low cost — useful for a quick steer before committing to a full pre-app fee
• •Check the specific borough's planning website for current fees — they are updated periodically

**Timescales for pre-application responses**:

• Most London boroughs commit to responding to pre-application enquiries within:
• •15–20 working days for written-only responses to householder enquiries
• •20–30 working days for enquiries requiring a meeting
• •Some boroughs (particularly those with high application volumes — Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Lambeth, Southwark) may take longer

Pre-application timescales are not statutory — the planning authority is not bound by a legal deadline as it is for formal applications. Factor the pre-application stage into the overall project programme: if a pre-app takes 6–8 weeks, the design development period (to respond to the feedback), the formal application, and the determination period (8 weeks for householder applications) means the planning stage alone takes 4–6 months before any building work can start.

**What to submit with a pre-application enquiry**:

• A well-prepared pre-application enquiry gives the planning officer enough to form a specific, useful view. The minimum:
• •Site location plan (1:1250) showing the property in context
• •Existing floor plans and elevations
• •Proposed concept drawings (not necessarily fully detailed — but sufficient to show massing, footprint, height, window positions, and proposed materials)
• •A brief description of the proposal and any key design rationale

For Conservation Area applications: also submit the Conservation Area Appraisal assessment (how the proposal responds to the character analysis in the adopted Conservation Area Appraisal for the area) and photographs of the site and the setting.

**Reading the pre-application response**:

• Pre-application responses range in quality from brief and generic to highly specific. A good pre-app response from a London planning officer should:
• •Identify which planning policies are directly relevant to your site
• •Comment on the principle of the development (is it likely to be acceptable?)
• •Identify the key design issues to address in the formal application
• •Specify what supporting documents will be required
• •Indicate (sometimes obliquely) whether the officer is supportive, neutral, or opposed

When an officer says 'the scheme raises concerns regarding X' or 'it would be difficult to support the proposal as currently drawn without further justification of Y', this is pre-application language for 'as currently designed, this will likely be refused unless you address X or Y.'

When an officer says 'the principle of the development appears acceptable in this location, subject to the detailed design being considered in more detail,' this is a positive steer — amend the design to address the detailed comments and submit.

**Using the feedback to amend the design**:

The value of pre-application advice is only realised if the formal application responds to the feedback. A common mistake is to spend money on a pre-app and then submit the same scheme without the amendments the officer identified. The formal application outcome then reflects the pre-app's concerns.

• Work with your architect to:
• •Directly address each concern raised in the pre-application response
• •If a concern was raised about materials — specify the proposed materials explicitly in the formal application
• •If a concern was raised about daylight/sunlight — commission the BRE 209 assessment and include it with the formal application
• •If a concern was raised about Conservation Area character — explain in the Design and Access Statement specifically how the design responds to the Conservation Area Appraisal

**Using the pre-application response in the formal application**:

In the formal planning application's Design and Access Statement, reference the pre-application advice: 'Following pre-application consultation with [borough] Planning on [date], the scheme has been amended to address the officer's concerns regarding [X]. The application is submitted in light of the officer's view that [specific positive statement from the pre-app response].'

Referencing the pre-application consultation in the formal submission demonstrates a responsible, policy-engaged approach — and if the officer who responds to the pre-app is the same officer who determines the application (common for householder work), it reinforces continuity.