National planning requirements validation guidance
Planning Guidance for applicants and agents
The information in this guide gives you an overview to help you provide the correct documents to meet all National requirements for validation when submitting a planning application. You can find the full government guidance on information requirements and validation on GOV.UK.
- Application form
- You must submit a completed application form.
- Note: you must sign and date the ownership certificates and declaration.
- Fee
- The correct fee must be submitted with the application. See the Planning Portal or our website for further information.
- Plans, drawings and supporting information
- The table below lists the types of plans, drawings and supporting information that might be required. You must provide enough information to describe your proposal.
- All plans and drawings must have a scale bar, key dimensions, the direction of North, original paper size and scale (e.g. 1:200 at A3) clearly marked on them.
- While not compulsory, submitting plans and drawings on A3 will help process your application more efficiently. For example, consider placing fewer elevations on smaller pages sizes, even if this means submitting more documents. We would also recommend only using colour where necessary as this can greatly increase file sizes.
Electronic supporting documents limitations
When making electronic submission of supporting documents individual files should not be larger than 5MB.
Only the following file types can be submitted electronically for applications:
- images/plans: pdf, bmp, gif, jpg/jpeg, png, tif/tiff
- documents: pdf, rtf, txt, xls, plt
Note: the current ‘docx’, ‘docm’, ‘xlsx’ and ‘xlsm’ Microsoft Office formats are not accepted, therefore please upload your documents in the legacy ‘doc’ and ‘xls’ formats or convert to a PDF.
General guidance
The lists below provide general guidance. We encourage applicants to seek pre-application advice to ascertain the exact level of information required for your proposal. Please note that failure to submit the relevant surveys/information required specific to your application may result in the application not being registered as valid and may delay the determination of your application.
Plans and drawings
- Location Plan (scale 1:2500 or 1:1250) with site outlined in red and north point
- Block Plan (scale 1:500) or Site Plan (scale 1:200) – if the proposal will alter an existing building footprint or create a new building footprint
- Site Levels (scale 1:200) – if the proposal will lead to a change in the level of the land or the proposed development is on land of differing levels
- Floor Plans – Existing and Proposed (scale 1:50 or 1:100) – if the proposal will create, alter or add to a floor
- Elevation Drawings – Existing and Proposed (scale 1:50 or 1:100) – if the proposal will create, alter or add to a building
- Design and Access Statement for; any major application, OR; any application for one or more dwelling houses or for the provision of 100 sqm or more of floor space in a conservation area
You may also need to provide the following additional information based on the below guidelines
- Heritage Statement - including photographs and a schedule of works, if the proposal will affect a conservation area, a listed building or a scheduled monument (including its setting)
- Biodiversity Gain Plan (BNG) - under the Environment Act 2021 and supporting Statutory Instruments, Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is now mandatory for most development. The legislation requires a minimum 10% gain in biodiversity from applicable development either onsite, offsite or a combination of both.
- Flood Risk Assessment - if the site is in the Environment Agency’s Flood Zones 2 or 3 or is identified as being at flood risk in surface water mapping, or if the site area is over 1 hectare. You can find guidance on completing a completing a flood risk assessment here
- Ecology and Protected Species Survey - if the development is likely to affect statutorily protected species, or is in a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Protection Area (SPA) or other designation
- Tree Survey - if there are trees or a Tree Preservation Order (TPO) on or affecting the site
BNG provided under the mandatory requirements offsite and significant BNG onsite must be secured by a legal agreement for 30 years under an approved Habitat Management and Monitoring Plan (HMMP).
The council has been applying BNG principles to development since 2019 relying on existing polices and an interim project for offsite net gain provision to require a 10% gain in biodiversity.
The council’s approach to BNG for all applicable development now follows the Statutory Instruments and supporting guidance.
More guidance on Biodiversity Net Gain can be found at: