The sections of the Regulations relating to Pre-application Consultation came into force on 06 April 2009, and have the following effect:
Statutory Pre-Application Consultation is required for "major" and "national" categories of development. This involves submitting a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN) to the Council and consulting with any Community Council in the area at least 12 weeks ahead of any application. The Notice gives comprehensive details of what sort of consultation will be undertaken and must be agreed with the Council who may require additional steps to be taken. Applications for "major" development submitted after 03 August must include a Pre-Application Consultation Report which demonstrates that the minimum statutory requirements and other requirements specified by the Council have been undertaken.
Any application requiring such a Report cannot be progressed until the Report evidencing that the statutory requirements have been met is provided to the Council.
Prior to submitting a PAN a prospective applicant may ask the Council for a Screening Notice to ascertain if statutory pre-application consultation is necessary.
In respect of "national" and "major" applications, the Council will possibly wish to enter into Processing Agreements. These are voluntarily concluded between the Council and the applicant and relate to issues such as information requirements, timescales and responsibilities of parties. A Processing Agreement is a form of "project managing" major applications.
Informal or Discretionary Pre-Application Discussion
The Council positively encourages applicants and prospective applicants to enter into discussions with its planning staff in advance of making an application for any scale of development and to maintain close contact with the appointed case officer throughout the processing of the application.