Your Leicester Home: The Planning Application Process

We can help you find your ideal Leicester home and then give you the guidance on how you can turn someone else’s property into your dream dwelling. To start with, here is our guide to the planning application process.

Once you submit any application, there will be a number of different steps before the outcome is determined. The ultimate decision will be made by your local planning authority, and this will be done in line with the authority’s area development plan, unless there is a very good reason why this should not be considered.

The authority will initially check that the planning application you make is valid and that you have successfully paid the required fee. If all of this is acceptable, then you or your agent should receive an acknowledgement in a few days. Alternatively, you may receive a letter telling you what extra information or documents are required.

The authority has an obligation to publicise the majority of planning applications, and it must also hold them all on a public register. This means that the information you supply will be held on public file to be inspected if required by interested parties.

Your application will also appear on the internet, although your personal details will be blanked out in order to offer you some protection. Another place your application will make an appearance is on a weekly list compiled by the authority, and some applications will be advertised in our local newspaper, the Leicester Mercury, or on a notice fixed near to your property.

If your application required formal publicity, then the authority has to allow a minimum of 21 days for interested people to make comments.

The officer who is dealing with your application will visit your site, and your case officer may ask you to amend plans in order to raise your chances of gaining approval. You do not have to agree to the changes recommended, although it is important to remember that unsatisfactory proposals are likely to receive a refusal recommendation.

Your case officer will ultimately write their report recommending refusal or approval. If it is the latter, there may also be recommended conditions attached.

In most cases, the decision will be made by senior officers working for the planning authority, although sometimes the responsibility will lie with a council committee, especially if there is a large amount of public interest in your application.

Are you looking to buy or sell property in Leicester? Call us today at our office at Hinckley Road 01162 544 555, or Queens Road 01162 544 543.