Where can I meet a Planning Officer to get advice on planning applications?

The Council is the Local Planning Authority for the District and the Estate Administrators for the Welwyn Garden City Scheme of Management.  It deals with applications for planning permission, Listed Building and Conservation Area consent and Estate Management consent

You can meet the Duty Planning Officer at the council offices reception in Welwyn Garden City.  The street address is:

The Council Offices
The Campus
Welwyn Garden City
Hertfordshire
AL8 6AE

The Duty Planning Officer is available Monday to Thursday from 9am to 5pm and Friday 9am to 4.30pm, and there is no need to make an appointment.

Please telephone 01707 357000 for more information or to speak to the Duty Planning Officer.

Pre-Application Advice

We welcome and encourage discussion before applications are submitted for all types of schemes.

The paragraphs below marked with an * do not relate to Estate Management Consent.

*The Statement of Community Involvement adopted January 2007 details that for all types of application (major, minor (including householders), listed building and conservation area consent) the council will give general advice by phone/in person in main offices usually by prior appointment.  This means that we can advise future applicants of:

• The planning and appeal process
• The relevant land designation
• Specific planning constraints i.e. Green Belt, Site of Special Scientific Interest
• Where the building is listed or in a conservation area or covered by the Estate Management Scheme
• The relevant policies for that area
• Details that would be required to be submitted with an application

We will not be able to give you our opinion as to whether a scheme is likely or unlikely to be approved. All questions of this nature should be made in writing  – and even then, the advice will be given informally and without prejudice to the formal decision making process. 

Should the query relate to a ‘major’ site which is likely to involve financial contributions or more complex work/application, then a formal meeting should be arranged with an appropriate officer, to enable more detailed advice (i.e. to ensure that all necessary documents, including s106/unilateral undertaking are submitted with the application).  Seven days before the meeting, the following details should be submitted to enable consultation with the relevant bodies:

• A description of the proposed development and schedule of the proposed uses;
• A site location plan (1:1250)
• Photographs and sketch drawings showing the site, buildings and trees as existing, together with a schedule of uses;
• Outline of proposal (on plans scale 1:200)
• Sketch drawings showing height / scale of development

The Planning Officer will negotiate, with the applicant/agent, changes to an application after it is submitted provided the change is very minor and the works are not retrospective. As we encourage pre-application discussions we will not normally discuss changes to an application during the course of its consideration. This is the reason most applications (unless they are major applications) can be determined within eight weeks. If changes were made, then people would have to be consulted again on those changes and the planning application would not be able to be determined within the time scale laid down by the government.

We are happy to discuss changes to a scheme following a refusal. In these cases, you should first contact the original case officer as they will be familiar with the site. An appointment should be arranged, again with amended plans submitted prior to the meeting. 

You may also find that this website gives information which will form the basis for making planning decisions such as:

• The relevant land designation
• The Planning Process & Appeal Process
• Whether the building is listed or in a conservation area
• The relevant policies for the district
• Details that would be required to be submitted with a planning application
• How to find out if the property is in a flood risk area or chalk mining area.

For householder requests, major and minor and other developments, Estate Management and conservation area consent please contact the Development Control Team.

*Large-scale major developments (Residential development of more than 200 residential units or a site area of over 4 hectares, for all other uses a floor space of over 10,000 square metres or a site area over 2 hectares) please contact the Special Projects Team. For large scale development proposals, initial contact should be made by phone, and followed up in writing, to establish the best approach for pre-application guidance including of all relevant bodies. The use of Planning Performance Agreements will be encouraged.