ABSTRACT
Planning application fees are set by central government nationally, but offering an early consultation is a voluntary service by local authorities who can set their own charges. To get approval under the building regulations, whoever designs and builds a person's alterations has to comply with the Approved Documents and no more. Most local authorities have stopped providing preliminary advice without charging a fee, because of limited resources, but most will agree to give initial comments at a price. Almost all applications for alterations to private houses are for detailed approval, otherwise known as ‘full’ planning approval, and are made up of a set of drawings describing the external appearance of the proposal and plans of the internal layout. The alternative, an outline application, can often be nothing more than a set of completed forms and an Ordnance Survey map with the site outlined in a red line.
