Pre-application advice

Pre-application advice is often very helpful to a potential applicant.  It can help weed out unsuitable proposals; provide better quality applications which stand a better chance of a successful outcome; and speed up the decision making process after submission.

Our Planning Information Office staff at LDC Planning Department, Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes will provide all the help and assistance they can with enquiries.  We are open Monday to Friday from 0900 to 1700 (1630 on Fridays).  However, if you want to meet with a Planning Officer, you will normally need to make an appointment in advance either by phone on 01273 471600 or via planning@lewes.gov.uk.

As from 1 April 2006, we will be providing formalised pre-application advice on major development proposals involving 10 or more dwellings, or more than 1000 square metres of commercial floorspace.  Provision of pre-application advice on such large proposals consumes significant amounts of planning officer time and, in order to provide a consistent and high standard of service, the Council has decided that the cost should be recovered directly and not fall as a general cost to the council taxpayer.  Use the following PDF link for more details of our charging arrangements -  Details on Charging Arrangements (63.5kb)

The Council considers that such applications are primarily of benefit to the applicant and, indeed, may save them time and money in avoiding submission of incomplete or unacceptable proposals.

As well as introducing charges for pre-application decisions for major development, we are also introducing a “One Stop Shop for Development Consents” to improve our service to applicants.  Use the the following PDF link for more details -  Details on One Stop Shop (73kb)

The charging scheme will not apply to pre-application discussions in connection with minor applications or householder applications (e.g. small house extensions or alterations, small scale business development, listed building consent applications, advertisements, trees, certificates of lawfulness, or advice to residents on business affected by development).  Such advice will continue to be provided free of charge.

Details of how to make a request for pre-application advice in connection with major development proposals can be found by downloading the Pre-application advice documents (please see the 'Relevant documents' section to the right of this page).

Planning application forms >