Pre-application planning advice

We have conferencing facilities to hold pre-application meetings remotely.

We encourage developers to seek advice before application.

We have decided the council tax payer should not finance the cost of this service. We charge a fee for pre-application advice on some development proposals and briefs.

Please download our guidance notes for more information:

The Benefits of pre-application advice

Pre-application discussions and/or written advice can benefit you by:

• identifying the planning issues and requirements, speeding up the development process
• helping to minimise extra planning application costs
• avoiding wasted applications.

For pre-application queries, contact planning.preapp@barnet.gov.uk.

Request pre-application advice

We also offer a Fast Track service to speed up the administration and review of pre-planning submissions.

Information required with pre-application request

The Council will require sufficient information to be provided to enable a quality advice service to be provided. This includes:

• A description of the proposed development and schedule of proposed uses
• A site location plan (scale 1:1250)
• Photographs and sketch drawings showing the site, buildings and trees as existing, together with the schedule of uses.
• Outline of proposal (on plans scale 1:200).

Charges

Download the Guidance Notes and Fees Schedule to see the pre-application charges:

We base our charges for pre-application advice on the size and complexity of the proposed development, and if we include a face-to-face meeting. Extra charges may also apply where meetings include more specialist advice.

You must pay the standard fee before the first meeting. The standard fee includes the case officer's time to complete the investigation, have the meeting and write the final comments.

You can pay this online. You can also pay by phone on 020 8359 3000. Payment must be made by card. 

Procedures and level of service

You need to submit the form together with the fee and all relevant information. You should request any specialist advice you need at this stage.

When we receive your request we will send an acknowledgement letter to you within 2 working days. The letter will tell you whether we have accepted your submission or if we need further information. It will also give you the contact details for the planning case officer.

The service has the right to decline a request for pre-application advice where we think it is either appropriate or necessary.

Disclosure of pre-applications

We treat all details of pre-application discussions as commercially sensitive and do not make them public.

But, we may receive a request for information about enquiries that we have had for pre-application advice and any advice given. Subject to certain exemptions, we have to provide this information by law. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) protects personal data from disclosure.

It is important, that you let us know, in writing about any information which you consider may prejudice your commercial interests. Or any which you consider would breach confidentiality.

You should also set out the reasons why, and for what period, you consider the information falls into these categories.

If we receive a Freedom of Information request, we will then decide whether the information is exempt.

Exemptions

Exemptions usually apply to:

• commercially sensitive and confidential information.

• any information which, if disclosed, may prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs. This can be particularly important at the start of major applications where a lot of exploratory discussion takes place. We may not disclose information that is likely to prejudice the decision making process of a later planning application.

Apart from these exemptions, any recorded information from these discussions will be disclosable.

When we receive a planning application for a similar scheme on a site the pre-application advice will be disclosable.