Planning Services

The service has four main areas of activity:

Local Development Framework (link to Home Page)

Preparation of the District Development Plan

Key issues:

Development Control (link to Planning Applications page)

Key issue:

  • Major planning applications at Fairfield Hospital Site, Land South of Stotfold, Land East of Biggleswade and The Wixams

Building Control

  • Operates in a competitive and semi-privatised environment with outside competition
  • Determination of applications under the Building Regulations
  • Inspection of structures including dangerous ones
  • Access for the disabled; Fire safety and means of escape
  • Street naming
  • Drainage schemes

Key issues:

  • Implementation of online applications process as part of E-government
  • Partnership development
  • Flood vulnerable drainage site schemes

Special Projects

Key issues:

Making a planning application

It is often useful before making a planning application to discuss your proposal with our planning officers. They are quite happy to help you check whether your proposals for alterations to your home or for new development require planning permission. Contact details are shown below. Larger development will require a design statement and other information, so always contact us before making an application.

Link to Mid Beds Office Contact Information

Planning Duty Officers will be available at the Ampthill and Biggleswade PoPs on Wednesday afternoons only between 1.30 and 4.30 pm. Appointments can be made through the Customer Services Team on 01462 611222, and will be limited to 20 minutes duration.

Our Planning Administration staff are available during office hours and can assist with general planning enquiries.

If you do need to make an application, you will be sent forms and information on what type of plans are required, or you can pick them up from the Citizone PoPs at Ampthill or Biggleswade. When you hand them in you will need to pay a fee towards administration costs. The fee is fixed by central government.

You will need to submit six copies of completed forms and any relevant plans accompanying the application. For Householder applications only four copies of forms and plans are required. If you use an agent or an architect to submit your application, all correspondence will go to them and they should keep you in touch with the progress of your application. You can still contact us directly if you wish.

To ensure your application is valid you must:

  • complete six copies of the forms (four for Householder applications);
  • submit six copies of appropriate plans to illustrate your application (four for Householder applications);
  • complete a certificate stating that you own the property or you have told the person who does of your application (served notice on them);
  • Please use the relevant VALIDATION CHECKLIST. These checklists are designed to help you to ensure that all required items are supplied at the time the application is submitted.

Application forms, guidance notes and checklists

You may need to provide additional information and require approvals or consents such as Building Regulations or Listed Building Consent. If your application is invalid we will tell you what you need to do to make it valid.

Our Acknowledgement Letter

Within three days of your valid application we will acknowledge it with a letter telling you:

  • the name of your case officer handling your application;
  • a reference number you should quote when contacting us; it looks like this: 03/00382/FULL;
  • a date by which your application should be dealt with. Most categories of application should be dealt with within eight weeks, and some within 13 weeks, but if we consider a decision might take longer we will contact you to seek an agreement to extend this period;
  • your right to appeal against our decision.

Assessing your application

This involves:

  • your case officer visiting the site of the application to assess the impact of the proposal on the locality and the accuracy of your plans;
  • consulting your neighbours, the local town or parish council and other interested parties. This usually takes 21 days but some statutory consultations can take 28 days;
  • carry out a technical assessment of your proposal. Sometimes minor changes need to be made to make it acceptable and we will write to you giving you the chance to submit amended plans at no extra cost. If significant changes are required we will advise you to withdraw the application and resubmit a fresh application. If it is not withdrawn you may find it refused.

Your application will be decided in one of two ways:

  • by the Director of Environmental & Planning Services under his delegated powers. Over 85% of applications are dealt with this way, including most domestic applications;
  • by the Development Control Committee, made up of councillors from your local area. This meets every four weeks and you are encouraged to speak in support of your application. You will be told the date of the meeting where your application will be discussed. Your local Town or Parish Council and any objectors to your application have the right to speak too. If you would like to speak about your application you should contact the Customer Services Team by telephone, fax or in person by 10am on the day of the meeting. Full details are included in our leaflet, "Have your say - Speaking at Planning Meetings", a copy of which will be sent to you when you are told the date of the meeting.

The Decision Notice

When a decision has been made by the committee we aim to send you a formal decision notice within 48 hours. All decisions made by officers are sent out within 24 hours. This includes:

  • details of the decision
  • any conditions upon which permission has been granted and which must be adhered to when undertaking your proposal
  • if it has been refused, the reasons why it was refused
  • information about appealing against our decision if you wish

Appealing

If your application is refused, or approved with conditions that you do not agree with, you may appeal to the Secretary of State. Details of this process are provided with the decision notice and information can be found on the Planning Inspectorate's website.

If you have a problem

Please contact us if you are not happy with the standard of service you receive or if you have any comments, compliments or suggestions to make.

If you wish to make a formal complaint about the Council's services, you should contact Kathrin John, Corporate Complaints Officer, on 08452 30 40 40.

You can also contact your local District Councillor - contact details can be found under the "About your Council" banner at the top of this page.

If you are still dissatisfied you can contact the Local Government Ombudsman: The Oaks, No. 2 Westwood Way, Westwood Business Park, Coventry CV4 8JB. Tel: 024 7669 5999, Fax: 024 7669 5902.