Service
Planning Applications
A planning application is the formal request to your local council to grant permission for building work. AVA Home Design prepares and submits planning applications across twelve London and Home Counties councils, including pre-application advice, householder applications, full applications, prior approvals and appeals.
Most of the homeowners we work with come to us because they want a project approved first time. We submit applications via the Planning Portal, follow them through the council's decision process, handle officer queries, and prepare any supporting reports the council asks for.
Where an application is refused, we advise on whether to revise and resubmit or to appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. We have won appeals for clients where the inspector noted the design as "an example of a good design".
Types
- Householder planning applications
- For extensions, conversions and outbuildings on existing houses.
- Full planning applications
- For new build houses, change of use, and works that fall outside householder rules.
- Lawful Development Certificate
- For confirming that a proposal is permitted development, or that an existing use is lawful.
- Prior approval
- For specific permitted development rights that still require council notification, for example larger single-storey rear extensions.
- Appeals
- Written representations to the Planning Inspectorate against a refusal.
Frequently asked questions
- How long does a planning decision take?
- The statutory period is 8 weeks for non-major development and 13 weeks for major development, beginning the day immediately following the day the application is received. Validation comes first and can add up to 2 weeks. Councils often ask you to agree an extension of time; that agreement has to be in writing and set out when a decision is expected.
- What happens if the council misses the deadline?
- You have two levers. Government guidance is that no application should spend more than a year with decision-makers including any appeal, and that a non-major application left undetermined after 16 weeks without an agreed extension has its fee refunded to the applicant. You can also appeal against non-determination once the statutory period has passed. In practice a well-timed chase usually works faster than either.
- What is the difference between validation and determination?
- Validation is the council checking your submission is complete: correct forms, fee, ownership certificates, and drawings at the right scales with a scale bar and north point. The clock for determination only starts once the application is valid. Most delays we see are validation delays, caused by a missing document rather than anything to do with the merits of the design.
- What is permitted development?
- Permitted development rights allow certain extensions, loft conversions, outbuildings and changes of use without a full planning application, subject to size and design conditions. Article 4 directions remove some of these rights in conservation areas and HMO-restricted zones. We check at concept stage which route applies.
- Can you help if my application has been refused?
- Yes. We review the refusal reasons, advise whether the decision is appealable on planning grounds or whether a revised application would have a better chance, and prepare the appeal statement of case if you choose to proceed.
- What does a planning application cost?
- The council fee is set nationally and paid to the council, not to us. From 1 April 2026 it is £548 to enlarge, improve or alter a single dwellinghouse, £1,083 where the application covers two or more dwellinghouses, and £272 for works within the curtilage such as an outbuilding, fence or wall. Fees are indexed annually each April, so check the current schedule before budgeting. Our design fees are quoted as a fixed price up front, and building regulations charges are separate again.
- Which route do I need: permitted development, prior approval, or a full application?
- Permitted development means no application at all, if your scheme stays inside the size and design limits and no Article 4 direction, conservation area or Green Belt designation removes the right. Prior approval is a middle route where a specific right still requires you to notify the council, as with larger single-storey rear extensions. A full or householder application is everything else. Which route you are on changes your timescale and your cost more than anything else in the application, so it is the first thing we settle.
- Is it worth paying for pre-application advice?
- Often, on anything contentious. A pre-application response tells you how the officer reads your site before you have committed to a design, and their concerns are usually the ones that would otherwise appear as refusal reasons. On a straightforward householder extension it is usually not worth the fee or the added weeks. We will tell you which of the two your project is.