We will aim to acknowledge receipt of your application within a few days. If there are any problems with the information you've sent us we will contact you and let you know what you need to do to put this right. If you have appointed agents to submit the application on your behalf, we will carry out all correspondence and contact with them.

During the first week, we send out letters to neighbours, arrange site notices and press notices to be displayed (which of these we do depends on the type of application). We also consult specialist organisations, Parish Councils and Planning Panels, and different sections of the council on the development proposed. Generally, these groups and individuals have three weeks to respond.

We may need to contact you or your representative about changes that need to be made to make your application acceptable. Each application has a case officer assigned to it and they will arrange this with you or your agent, and in some cases with those that have responded to the consultation on the proposal.

If you have questions about the progress of your proposal you can speak to the case officer. Contact information is included in the acknowledgment we send to you when we receive your application.

Whilst we are consulting on the proposal, the case officer will visit the site and assess the proposal. Once the consultation process has ended, we will consider the proposal against council policies contained in the Draft Local Plan and any other policies and relevant documents and standards.

If you want to know more about the general principles involved, you can visit the Planning portal website for help and advice.