Pre-application advice is informal, paid guidance from the local planning authority about whether a proposed development is likely to receive planning permission. You submit a description and plans of what you want to do, pay a fee, and the council assigns a planning officer to review the proposal and provide written feedback. It is not a planning decision. It carries no legal weight. The council cannot be held to it. But used correctly, it is one of the most valuable tools in the planning process — because it tells you what the officer thinks before you commit to the cost of a full application.
Pre-application advice fees vary significantly between councils and by the scale of the proposal. Householder pre-application advice — covering extensions, outbuildings, and other works to a dwelling — typically costs between £100 and £400 depending on the authority. Minor commercial and change of use proposals typically range from £300 to £600. Major development proposals can cost £1,000 to £5,000 or more. Some councils offer free pre-application advice for small householder projects. The fee buys you a written response from an officer — it does not guarantee a site visit or a meeting, though some councils include these at higher fee levels.
A good pre-application response tells you the officer view on whether the principle of the development is acceptable in planning terms, what the key policy issues are, what information will be required in support of a full application, and whether there are specific design or technical issues to resolve before applying. It can reveal material considerations you had not anticipated — a heritage designation, a flood zone issue, a highway concern — before you have committed to the cost of a full application and detailed drawings.
Pre-application advice is the officer view, not the decision. Planning applications are determined by the planning authority — sometimes by an officer under delegated authority, sometimes by the elected planning committee. An officer who gives positive pre-application advice may not be the officer who determines the application. The officer view may change between pre-application and determination. A committee may overturn an officer recommendation. Pre-application advice that says your proposal is likely to be supported is not a guarantee of permission.
It is worth paying for when the proposal is complex, unusual, or policy-sensitive and you genuinely do not know whether planning permission is achievable. It is worth paying for when the cost of a refused application — in fees, drawn costs, and lost time — would be material relative to the pre-application fee. It is worth paying for when you are considering a significant financial commitment conditional on planning permission and want to understand the risk before committing. It is not worth paying for straightforward householder applications in areas where the policy position is clear — a standard rear extension on a non-listed property outside a conservation area, for example.
Before spending money on pre-application advice, the most valuable intelligence you can have is the planning history for your site and the cluster of comparable decisions in your area. The planning history tells you what the council has already decided on your specific site, what conditions and restrictions already apply to it, what the officer reasoning has been in previous decisions, and what comparable sites nearby have been approved and refused. This information shapes whether pre-application advice adds value and what you ask. We retrieve the full planning history and a cluster analysis of comparable decisions for any UK site before pre-application.
Before you make any decisions, we retrieve the complete planning history for your property — including conditions, enforcement records, and legacy data that standard searches miss.
Get your planning history report — from £149 →