Shaping your future application

Our ‘shaping your future application’ service can significantly enhance the likelihood of obtaining planning permission by:

• Getting advice from a planning officer.
• Identifying any potential issues early.
• Explaining how planning policies apply to your proposal.
• Helping streamline the formal application process.
• Providing clear guidance on validation requirements.

The service includes:

You can have a meeting with a planning officer, either on site or via Microsoft Teams, followed by a summary email. This part of the service lets you explore your options before deciding whether to move forward with a full pre-application enquiry or planning application.

In some cases, we may refer your proposal to the Torbay Design Review Panel. If we do, there’s an extra fee to cover the cost of using the Panel.

Proposals are charged at the hourly rate of £115 including VAT. As a minimum we would expect one meeting with a follow up email with a total charge of £230.

This element of the service is a way of testing options at a high level. You can then commit to the next pre-application stage or full application process.

Major Developments

Not all proposals will be suitable for this service, particularly complex, major schemes. In these cases, Officers can provide a broader opinion as to whether the proposal is acceptable in principle and what level of information is required to progress a proposed scheme. It will be at the Officers discretion to determine whether we apply our hourly rate or advise that a pre-application enquiry is a more suitable route which would allow for wider consultation and a more detailed response.

Once paid, pre-application fees are non-refundable. The advice given is informal and not legally binding.