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Apr 9 2008 by Graeme King, The Journal

IS your planning application valid? It’s an important question and one with significant consequences. Local planning authorities will not consider invalid applications and will invariably return them to the applicant for correction.

This has the obvious effect of delaying development, with the undesirable accompanying risks of missing critical dates and increasing costs.

While the validity of planning applications has always been a central issue, recent changes to the law mean the format of most planning applications in England now have to conform to increasingly strict requirements.

Planning authorities were previously free to design their own planning application forms and so those forms differed.

In the past, this has often meant those submitting planning applications in different council areas were required to provide varying information for very similar applications.

The difficulties and uncertainties facing applicants in such circumstances were recognised by the Government, which has now amended the law on planning applications by introducing a new mandatory standard planning application form. The use of the new form, known as 1APP became mandatory from April 6.

In addition to the 1APP planning application form, the requirements for validating planning applications have also been standardised. This will mean applicants can be increasingly certain as to which documents should accompany their application.

The changes have also introduced a national list of core requirements which must accompany any planning application in order to validate it, which include the requirement that it be accompanied by the appropriate fee.

Local planning authorities will also be able to require certain extra prescribed information on a local basis.

It is hoped that these changes will simplify the planning system, enabling certainty and consistency of approach to planning applications to be established.

However, it is important that the new mandatory requirements are followed, as planning applications which do not meet the new requirements will not be considered by local planning authorities until they conform with the rules.

If you are in any doubt about your obligations under the new rules, you should seek expert advice before submitting your application.

Frances Clark is a solicitor in the planning team at Ward Hadaway law firm in Newcastle.