Making an Application (Resident)

The type, size and complexity of an application will determine how a decision is made. There are three ways in which a decision can be made:

1. Our Planning Committee will consider all major applications and others it feels may be of significance for the council area.
2. A planning officer may have the authority to determine smaller, more straightforward applications.
3. The Department for Infrastructure will make decisions that have regional significance.

Our Scheme of Delegation document sets out full details.

We offer a pre-application discussion service for you to speak with a planning officer and discuss proposals before you make an application.

If you would like to make an appointment, contact our office or email

If you’d like to speak to our planning committee about a planning application.  You will need to have the application reference number and you must submit the request before mid-day 2 days before the committee meeting.

Work can start as soon as you have received approval of a valid application.  It is suggested that you get plans approved before works start to give you some protection against having to make costly alterations if your drawings submitted happen not to comply with the Building Regulations.  You must tell us when you are starting the work and request site inspections at various stages.

When all building regulation fees have been paid, the work is complete and we are satisfied with it, you will be issued a completion certificate confirming that it meets Building Regulations.

Suitable for work on domestic and non-domestic properties.  Some minor work to domestic properties may be covered by a building notice application.

Full plans applications are required for projects such as:

• building a new property
• changing the use of a property (e.g. converting a dwelling into an office or a shop)
• conversion of a house into flats
• an extension where the floor area of the dwelling is increased by more than 10m², or
• an extension that creates a new storey greater than 3m² in floor area and requires access by stairs, for example a roof-space conversion

Along with a full plans application, you must provide duplicate copies of the full construction drawings of your proposals, a location map, an estimated cost of works and the fee for the application.  This is paid in two parts, the plan fee when you make your application and an inspection fee when the work starts.

We then assess the plans and aim to deal with your application as promptly as possible.  Your application will then either be approved, rejected or you will be asked for more information.

Approved – We will send you/your agent approval documents which include a ‘notice of approval’ and a stamped, approved copy of your drawings.

Rejected – We will send you/your agent a rejection notice.  The notice will list the reasons for rejecting your application and will give details of the appeals procedure.  Rejection may be because, for example, your application does not contain enough information or detail, has design problems, or does not cover fire-safety issues correctly.  New drawings/designs correcting any issues needs to be submitted before your application can be approved.

Full plans application form and guidance notes:

A Building Notice application can be used for works of a minor nature to domestic dwellings without the submission of fully designed plans.

The use of a Building Notice cannot be used for:

• the erection of a new dwelling
• the change of use from an existing dwelling
• an extension of a domestic dwelling where the floor area is increased by more than 10m²
• an extension to create a new storey in a dwelling (roof space conversion) which will be accessed by a fixed stair
• commercial or industrial work

Although fully designed drawings are not necessarily always required with a Building Notice application, we may ask for information such as structural calculations or thermal performance specifications to ensure that the proposed works meet the requirements of the Building Regulations.

We will issue a completion certificate for the works following the satisfactory assessment and completion of the works on site confirming their compliance with the building regulations.

Building notice application form and guidance notes:

Suitable when work has already been carried out to a property but building regulations approval had not been applied for before it was done.  The work is inspected to ensure it meets the building regulations that were in place at the time it was carried out and if it does a regularisation certificate (retrospective approval) is issued.

Please note: the fee for a regularisation certificate is 20% more than it would have been if you had applied for approval for the work before it was started.

Regularisation application form and guidance notes: