Pre-application advice

What is it?

Pre-application advice is an opportunity to seek planning guidance from the Council on your particular planning application.

How do I apply for it?

Simply download the 'Pre-application Guidance and Form' from the right hand-side of this page and send this to:

Development Management Team, Wokingham Borough Council, PO Box 157, Shute End, Wokingham, RG40 1WR. 

How much does it cost?

Fees for pre-application advice have been introduced and apply from 1st August 2012. 

What should I expect?

Depending on which pre-application 'option' you choose (more or less detailed guidance), the Council will advise you of the relevant planning policies you will need to consider along with what information you should send the Council as part of a formal planning application.  

How long will it take?

Householder applications are likely to take four weeks for a response following submission of a request for pre-application advice.

Non-householder proposals may require five weeks in order to provide you with a comprehensive response depending on consultation response speeds. This may however be balanced against the time and cost implications that you could incur by submitting an inappropriate planning application.    

Why seek pre-application advice?

Pre-application advice will identify the planning issues associated with your proposal and your particular property or piece of land. This is useful for:

• Ensuring that your proposal is appropriate, realisitic and acceptable in principle

• Flagging up any changes that you might need to make to your proposal before submitting a planning application

• Improving the standard of your application by identifying what information you will need to provide the Council with to make a decision

• Saving yourself money - seeking pre-application advice may help save costs later if you have a better understanding of the planning issues affecting your proposal