Pre-application advice and charging

The county council welcome and encourage pre-application advice discussion before a planning application is submitted to us.

We introduced a charging scheme for pre-application discussions relating to minerals and waste (county matter) development proposals in 2022. The fee for this service depends on the scale of the development.

Scope of the Pre-Application Service

The service includes options for pre-application engagement depending on the scale of the proposed development and is set out in the table below.

The advice will be based on the information available about the proposal and discussions that have taken place. Full details on the information to be provided as part of the service is detailed in our Service Guide:

Pre-Application Advice Service Guide PDF, 498.29 KB Opens new window

Pre-application service charges

These fees do not include VAT and that VAT will be added at the time of payment.

Category	Description of development	Scope of Service	Cost
Basic advice	Any scale of development	Confirmation as to whether planning permission is required Advice for any proposal for which there is no planning fee	Free
History search	Any scale of development	Review of site history and provision of documents electronically	£275
Band A	Development up to 5,000 tonnes per annum, or new floorspace up to 150sqm (whichever is lower) Minor variations non-compliance to existing schemes Installation of plant and machinery Other development not falling within "Band B" or "Band C" categories Site area: less than 0.5ha	Planning advice only Planning advice plus specialist advice	£275 £440
Band B	Development of 5,000 - 30,000 tonnes per annum, or new floorspace of 151 - 500sqm (whichever is lower) Site area 0.5 - 1ha	Planning advice only Planning advice plus specialist advice	£495 £825
Band C	Development in excess of 30,000 tonnes per annum, or new floorspace in excess of 500sqm (whichever is lower) All EIA development (or when not screened, exceeding thresholds in Column 2 of the Regulations) Site area 1ha+	Planning advice only Planning advice plus specialist advice	£880 £1,375

Additional charges:

Site visit: £220 (per visit)
Follow up advice or meeting: £220 (per additional advice/meeting)

How to apply and what is required

To request pre-application planning advice please use our online application form below, which also takes the required payment.

If you are seeking Basic Advice (as set out in the table above) please contact the Planning Team directly via the contact details provided at the bottom of this page.

Read the Service Guide to work out which type of advice you need to request for the scale of your development: planning advice only, or planning advice plus specialist advice.

What you will need to provide in the application form:

Site location plan (scale 1:1250 or 1:2500) with site boundary indicated
Proposed site layout drawing (including access)
Site area and gross internal floorspace
Waste proposals: facility throughput, waste types, waste processes, access, movements
Mineral proposals: extraction quantities, timescale, processing activities, access, HGV movements

In addition, the following information would be useful:

Details of the current use of land and buildings
Sketch drawings showing height/scale of development and elevational treatment
Information relating to any necessary Environmental Statement
Photographs and/or drawings showing site, buildings and trees as existing

It is recognised that in some cases not all the information will be available, but the more information that you provided at this stage will help use deliver a more tailored and site-specific response.

Our online request form requests authorisation for a payment for the services selected, but no funds are taken. The amount is taken or cancelled automatically when your request is assessed:

Pre-application Advice - Online request form

Our response

Within 5 working days of receipt of the pre-application request form, required documentation and relevant fee you will be sent a formal acknowledgement to confirm that:

your request for pre-application advice has been received;
that the fee is correct, or where the fee is incorrect what the amount outstanding to be paid is;
if any additional information may be required;
confirmation of the case officer handling the request.

We will aim to provide advice within 28 days of receiving a valid request.

Enquiries

Please send any enquiries to our Planning team via email at planningcontrol@leics.gov.uk or contact us by telephone on 0116 305 1085.

Planning permission