1APP – The New National Standard Planning Application Form
The Government has changed the way in which planning applications are submitted.
As from 6 May 2008, the National Standard Planning Application Form became the only official method of submitting a planning application for most types of planning consent for all local planning authorities in England. The standard form is intended to make the process of submitting a planning application easier by asking standard questions and ending confusion over individual local planning authority requirements and differing guidance.
The Authority has adopted the 1APP application forms which should make it easier for applicants to submit their application on-line via the Planning Portal. The Planning Portal will guide applicants through the information required and this should help to reduce the number of incomplete planning applications received by the Authority.
In all other cases, the Authority’s 1APP application form can be downloaded from our website and are available from our planning office here at South Efford House.
Different types and scales of application will require different levels of information and supporting documentation to be submitted. Under the new 1APP arrangements these comprise a national core list (the national requirements) and additional items required by each local planning authority (the local requirements). The Authority has now adopted a list of local requirements.
Details of the relevant national and local requirements for supporting information (and when they are required) are set out next to each type of planning application on our Application Forms page. These lists require the submission of certain documents before an application can be registered. So if an application is submitted which does not accord with either the national or adopted local requirements, then the Authority is entitled to declare the application invalid.
Further information on 1APP can be found on the Planning Portal website and at the Department of Communities and Local Government, where Guidance for The Validation of Planning Applications (December 2007) can be found
