Householder Pre-Application Advice
We are unable to offer refunds on our pre-application service once we have validated your request.
Use this form to apply for Pre-Application advice for work to an existing dwelling. For all other developments, including change of use, see our Developer’s Pre-Application Advice page.
This page contains details on how to apply, what levels of service we can offer and how much it will cost.
Permitted Development
This indicates that planning permission is not typically required. Note that certain criteria will often need to be met for the work to be considered permitted development – if your planned work does not meet these criteria then it does not fall under permitted development and planning permission will be required.
You are strongly advised to read a technical guidance document produced by the Government to help understand how permitted development rules might apply to your circumstances.
Boundary of the property
This means the edge of the area of enclosed space surrounding the house. For example, a wall or fence between houses or gardens, or the wall of an adjoining building.
Please note that this is not a legal definition and a determination as to what constitutes the boundary may be made by Cambridge City or South Cambridgeshire Council.
You may also see the term ‘curtilage’ used on the Planning Portal instead of ‘boundary’.
Highway
Under common law a highway is defined as 'a way over which there exists a public right of passage'. A highway can be a road or a footpath. It does not have to be a drivable route.
Essentially, there are three types of highway:
- A road or footpath maintainable at the public expense – referred to as 'adopted'
- A road or footpath maintainable at private expense – referred to as 'unadopted'
- A private street/footway or footpath
The first two are the same with the difference being as to who maintains it. A private road is considered a highway unless it is truly a private piece of land owned by one or more parties. More often these ‘private’ roads are simply unadopted roads.
Conservation areas and listed buildings
To check if your house falls within a conservation area or any other site constraints, please use our database. Select the ‘Property’ tab to carry out a search. If your property is in a conservation area or is a listed building, this will be indicated under the ‘Constraints’ tab.
Alternatively, you can use our mapping tool.
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How to apply
You can only apply by using our online form. You will be required to submit a location plan, details of your proposal together with an appropriate fee. Please note that only one scheme for each application can be submitted. Only the documents you submit with the form will be considered in providing the response.
We can provide different levels of advice depending on how much detail and support you want.
Charges for Householder Pre-Application Advice
All fees include 20% VAT.
Level 1: £221
- Desktop Assessment
- Full planning history for the site
- Consideration of relevant policies
- Any site constraints
- Officer opinion on proposal
- Guideline for validation requirements
A response will only be provided on what has been submitted. This level does not include a meeting, site visit or advice from internal specialists. This option cannot be used if your property is a Listed Building.
Level 2: £419
- Desktop Assessment
- Full planning history for the site
- Consideration of relevant policies
- Any site constraints
- Officer opinion on proposal
- Guideline for validation requirements
- Officer Site visit (at their discretion)
- Consultation of relevant internal specialists
This level does not include a meeting. A response will only be provided on what has been submitted.
Level 3: £509
- Desktop Assessment
- Full planning history for the site
- Consideration of relevant policies
- Any site constraints
- Officer opinion on proposal
- Guideline for validation requirements
- Officer Site visit (at their discretion)
- Consultation of relevant internal specialists
- Meeting with case officer (1hr maximum)
A response will only be provided on what has been submitted.
For householder and small business queries, we offer 15 minutes of free advice and guidance with a planning officer. This should be used for advice in the very early stages of your planning application (typically prior to having had plans drawn up), or where you have a question around a particular aspect of planning, including queries related to permitted development.
The cost of the time we take to provide advice is not covered by the statutory fee for making a planning application. The charge covers our costs for providing the advice and so it is not met by council tax payers generally.
The scale of fees is based on the size of the proposal and the level of detail that is sought. We currently offer free Level 1 advice for small charities and applications specifically required for the needs of disabled persons.
How long does it take?
After you have submitted and paid for your request for pre-application advice, we will aim to acknowledge that we have received your application and tell you which case officer has been allocated to your case, within 5 workings days.
When your pre-application has been acknowledged, we will aim to provide a written response within 4 weeks for Level 1 householder advice and 6 weeks for other types of advice.
Disclosing information
The Greater Cambridge Shared Planning Service does not publicise details of pre-application discussions until a planning application has been submitted.
The advice we provide under this service is generally confidential until a related application is submitted and development proposals are publicly available. From January 2023 we automatically publish any advice we have provided once the related application is submitted. At that point there is normally no reason under any legislation to insist the advice is confidential.
We may continue to receive requests for advice to be disclosed at earlier stages, which will need to be assessed individually under the legislation. If you think there are sufficient reasons under the legislation that your request and advice should remain confidential at those earlier stages please advise us in writing of the reasons at the time of your request. We will not respond at the time of your request but will take it into account when deciding whether to release information earlier than usual.