Before you apply
Once a land owner, developer, potential purchaser of a property or another party have an idea of a potential proposal for the development or the reuse of an existing building or land, they will need to undertake a number of stages before submitting an application.
The first stage should be to confirm if planning permission or any other form of consent is required. Advice can be sought from a private planning agent and/or from the Local Planning Authority (the council) through our pre-application planning advice service.
If consent is required, research should be undertaken into the site, its surroundings, and relevant planning policy to identify any factors which may affect the type, scale, form and appearance of any development on the site. These factors should be used to inform the design process and the scope of development proposed.
Guidance on whether a scheme may be acceptable (or not) can also be sought through our pre-application planning advice service.
On schemes that are larger, more complex or potentially more controversial, early community consultation is also recommended, as advocated by the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF).
Some schemes, such as larger proposals, single-dwelling schemes proposed under Paragraph 79 of the NPPF and other proposals where design is likely to be particularly sensitive, maybe reviewed by the Suffolk Design Review Panel, as part of this pre-submission stage.
Once an application considers that their proposal is ready, they will submit a formal application to the Local Planning Authority for consideration.