Planning permission guidance (business)

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The Planning Portal includes a wide range of planning advice, including about:

The Planning Portal also provides advice about building regulations or you can contact contact our Building Control team.

Our Pre-Application Advice Service

In order to be able to provide this discretionary service we need to charge a fee. This includes for business and commercial developments and also for schemes that involve the construction of new dwellings, including the subdivision of gardens, or subdivision of existing buildings and also for unusual or complex householder developments.

In most cases we will try to respond to your request within 28 days. However, for major developments (as below) the process might take longer as these schemes normally need more research.

Potential benefits of using the pre-application advice service include:

An explanation of how planning policies, planning agreement tariffs / contributions, might affect your proposal.
It provides you with an opportunity to make changes to your proposal before you apply for planning permission.
It can help you with what information is needed when you submit a planning application, having regard to the Tyne and Wear Validation Requirements.
We may be able tell you where a proposal is likely to be unacceptable, for example where it fundamentally conflicts with relevant planning policy, potentially saving the cost of finalising the proposal for the submission of a planning application.
In the case of 'major' development proposals (10 or more dwellings, 1000 square metres or more of floor space, sites over 1 hectare in area or minerals/waste development) the opportunity to negotiate the terms of a Planning Performance Agreement (PPA) with the council.

Request pre-application advice

To help us respond to your request, please provide as much information as possible about your proposal.

As a general guide we suggest that the following should be submitted together with the fee:

Contact details for you or your appointed agent, including contact address, phone number and email address.
The address and a site location plan of the property / site.
A description of the proposal.
Drawings of the proposal. Please be aware if you don't supply scaled drawings (for example a proposed site layout for new housing development or existing and proposed elevations for an extension or alteration) this could adversely impact the quality and detail of the response we can provide.
Any other specific material you would wish us consider, for example any specialist reports that you have had produced.
For major or strategic development proposals, as described on the following fees page, we may require additional information and we will let you know if further details are required.

To request pre-application advice:

email: planningapplications@southtyneside.gov.uk
write to: Planning Group, South Tyneside Council, Town Hall and Civic Offices, Westoe Road, South Shields, NE33 2RL

Any plans or supporting documents must be sent in PDF file format. There is a 10mb file size limit (per PDF file or email, whichever is the greater). We can also accept requests on a CD by post (with files in the PDF file format).

Planning advice service charges (all fees shown include VAT)

Fees can be paid by:

Debit card - call us on 0191 424 7440
Cheque - make cheques payable to South Tyneside Council

The fee must be paid in advance of any work commencing on your enquiry.

If you require further advice from us following receipt of response letter, further charges will apply and these will be based £40 per hour or part thereof (inclusive of VAT).

Planning advice service charges
Type of development	Charge from 1 November 2023
Commercial Development - Change of use, advice letter only about whether planning permission is needed	£113
Unusual or complex householder proposals	£125
Minor Development: Residential development of 1 to 2 dwellings Residential development on sites of less than 0.25 hectare in area Non-residential development of less than 250 square metres Non-residential development of sites less than 0.25 hectare in area Change of use, less than 250 square metres Other minor development included listed buildings, if not a householder development	£273
Major Development [level 1]: Residential development of 3 to 9 dwellings Residential development on sites of more than 0.25 hectare in area but less than 0.5 hectare in area Non-residential development of more than 250 square metres but less than 500 square metres Non-residential development on sites of more than 0.25 hectare in area but less than 0.5 hectare in area Change of use, more than 250 square metres but less than 500 square metres	£889
Major Development [level 2]: Residential development of 10 to 99 dwellings Residential development on sites of more than 0.5 hectare in area but less than 2.5 hectares in area Non-residential development of more than 500 square metres but less than 2,500 square metres Non-residential development on sites of more than 0.5 hectare in area but less than 2.5 hectare in area Change of use, more than 500 square metres but less than 2,500 square metres	£1369
Strategic Development: Residential development of 100 or more dwellings Residential development on sites of more than 2.5 hectares in area Non-residential development of more than 2,500 square metres Non-residential development on sites of more than 2.5 hectares in area Change of use, more than 2,500 square metres	£2052
Business and commercial advice not falling within any of the above categories	Price on application

Status of advice

All pre-application advice is provided in good faith and is based on the information you provide.

Furthermore, all advice is given without prejudice to the formal consideration of any subsequent planning application, which would include a statutory publicity process being carried out and/or consultations with statutory agencies. For this reason this we cannot offer any guarantees about the outcome of a planning application when providing advice.

All requests for advice are potentially subject to disclosure in response to Freedom of Information or Environmental Information Regulations requests. Confidentiality cannot therefore be guaranteed when using the service.