You may need planning permission from us to start your building or alteration work. Not all projects need planning permission, but if you do need permission you will need to send an application to us and get our approval. We call this development control and our Development Control team is in charge of this process.
You may also need Building Regulations approval for building works or alteration. Please visit the Building Regulations and Control pages for deatils.
You can speak to Development Control using the following contact information but first you may like to read through the quick guide to planning permission below
Telephone: 01327 322132 (Customer Services Officer)
Email: development.control@southnorthants.gov.uk
Development Control
South Northamptonshire Council
Springfields
Towcester NN12 6AE
For a quick guide to how all this works, click on the links below or visit the Planning Portal. The Planning Portal has lots of general planning advice and useful tools to help you find out if you need planning permission for general items such as extensions and satelite dishes.
Not all development needs planning permission. You don't need planning permission for most internal work to buildings unless the building is listed. You don’t need planning permissions for some external changes such as putting in telephone connections or alarm boxes. Some other building projects you might undertake also do not need permission and are refered to as "permitted development", for futher information about whether planning permission is needed click on the links below. These links will take you to the governments advice website which contains helpful frequently asked questions and case studies.
There are some special rules for signs, hedges, protected trees and listed buildings. Please go to our Signs, Hedges, Protected trees and Listed Buildings section. If you are still not sure about any work involving these please talk to us.
If you are thinking about making a planning application or want to know if you need planning permission, talk to us first. We can give you guidance and help you get things right first time, saving time and money in the long run. It is worth talking to one of our trained people for some initial advice. We have form for householders to use to ask if they will need to apply formally for planning permission. You can download this form by clicking on Pre-Application Advice Form (pdf).
We will give you informal advice in line with council policies, and even tell you if your application will have little or no chance of success. We will give you a clear idea of our likely recommendation should you put in a formal application. Of course this informal advice cannot be binding and your application will have to go through the process in the normal way.
You can also get advice from The Government’s Department for Communities and Local Government. It has produced a useful guide, download it at Planning for Householder's.
The Planning Portal also offers a host of useful tools and advice for both householder and business people.
South Northamptonshire Council uses the 1App National Standard Application Forms both for paper and online submission of planning applications. On the 6th April 2008 1App forms became mandatory and therefore we can no longer accept old style forms.
For more information click on Planning application forms and check fees at Planning Fees.
Our local requirements for documnets that must be submitted with your planning application can be found by clicking here :
Decisions on planning applications are taken by the Development Control Committee of Councillors. However in practice 90% of decisions are delgated to planning officers. We carefully assess each planning application in line with national, county and local planning rules and policies. We take into account the views of the public and neighbours, and bodies such as the Environment Agency (which has duties to protect us all from flooding).
When councillors are asked to make the decision they will be given a detailed report on the application prepared by a professional planner. The professional expert will recommend a decision but councilliors can decide to make a different decision. You may want to look at our Planning Meetings information for more details of how the committee works.
We have got a very simple diagram of how the whole process works with rough timings. You can download this by clicking on Planning Application Process Diagram (.doc).
Applicants will be told about decisions and the reasons they have been made. Anyone can check on decisions by going to List of planning applications and decisions (we try and update this the day after committee) or checking the planning register.
If you think the Council has made an unreasonable decision about your planning application, you can appeal to the Secretary of State (top central government minister). Appeals must be made within six months of the date of the notice of decision.
The Planning Inspectorate website has two excellent guides that can be downloaded, called ‘Making your planning appeal’ and ‘Guide to taking part in planning appeals’.
You can also appeal on-line at the Planning Portal web site.
The views of local people are very important and are taken seriously by the council when it looks at planning applications. We welcome your comments, whether you support or oppose a particular planning application.
To help you get your views across to us, we have put together some do's and don'ts. You can find them by clicking on Commenting on planning applications.
If our planning system is to work fairly for all, we have to take action against those who break the planning rules.
We have an Enforcement Team that does this, working within an Enforcement Policy – and it has powers to take action. If you want to see this policy go to Planning Enforcement Policy pages.
That said, most cases can be sorted out by talking it all through.
We are also keen to know if you have spotted something that you think breaks the planning rules.
You can report it to us using the online form or contact us at:
Phone: 01327 322132 (Customer Services Officer)
Email: development.control@southnorthants.gov.uk
Development Control Section
South Northamptonshire Council
Springfields
Towcester NN12 6AE