Our new Building Control Portal is coming on 29 April, complete with handy features to simplify building control for you and your colleagues… Single sign-on  With the new portal, accessing planning and building control applications will be simpler than ever before, with all applications held in one place, behind a single sign-on.   Now you can effortlessly view, create and edit both types of applications, toggling between the two, using one unified platform.  If you already have a Planning Portal account, your existing login credentials will give you access to the combined ..read more

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) regulations, which came into force in February of this year, mean that planning applicants must prove their proposals will enhance biodiversity, rather than merely mitigating any negative impacts associated with their projects.  As of 2 April, the exemption that had previously allowed ‘small site’ applications to bypass BNG requirements has been lifted.   For residential developments, small sites are defined as those with:  Between 1 and 9 dwellings on a site area of less than one hectare Where the number of dwellings is unknown, a site area of ..read more

This week, a key study highlighted that a large portion of local authorities have not sufficiently accounted for older and senior citizens in their local plans, a large battery storage scheme was approved in East Devon whilst Windsor and Maidenhead rejected a large film complex, and SuDS guidance was introduced in Cheshire. Read on to find out more… Key applications and decisions  Quickly catch up on the important submissions and determinations taking place across the country.  Approvals East Devon District Council grants permission for large battery energy storage scheme  The ..read more

The Planning Portal team is dedicated to constantly improving our services in collaboration with local authorities. A key focus area is reducing the level of invalid planning applications. To support this initiative, we have developed a user-friendly video guide to empower applicants with the knowledge and tools necessary for a successful submission, first time.  Since December 2023, applicants no longer get a ‘free go’ for repeat applications within 12 months, making it even more important to get applications correct in the first instance to avoid invalidation and additional charges. Th ..read more

In Spring this year, Planning Portal are launching our new building control application portal.  We are committed to easing the process of making and submitting online applications for everyone across planning and building control, with consistent, innovative digital service delivery, building upon our proven success of transforming planning application submissions. We now facilitate over 90 percent of all planning applications nationally.  Since the launch of our updated planning application and payment service in 2018, we have revolutionised planning by addressing what was formerl ..read more

Tech start-up Joe’s Blooms has today launched the world’s first digital tool to help SME developers comply with biodiversity net gain (BNG) laws, ahead of the new policy becoming mandatory for small sites on April 2.  The Biodiversity Net Gain Tool streamlines the BNG process, producing all the site-specific data and legal documents developers of small sites need to secure planning permission under the scheme in minutes. The tool produces a Biodiversity Gain Plan (BGP) and all the supplementary documents needed to submit a planning application to a Local Planning Auth ..read more

Welcome to February’s issue of the Planning Portal Market Insight Report, where we report on the latest figures for applications submitted online via the Planning Portal.  There was a total of 50,431 applications submitted through the Planning Portal in February 2024. This is 1% higher than the total number of applications that were submitted in February 2023, and shows some recovery from January, which received 5% less applications than the same month in the previous year.  Excluding Works to Protected Trees and Telecoms applications, the total number of applications for February w ..read more

At Planning Portal, we are committed to promoting sustainable practices within the built environment sector. We know we provide a service that is integral to national planning and building, and therefore recognise the pivotal role we can play in mitigating the environmental impact of our industries and fostering sustainable practices wherever possible. Our company mission puts sustainability at its heart – by digitising planning and building control processes over the last six years, our efforts have significantly contributed to reducing waste in the early stages of projects. However, constru ..read more

In Spring this year we’re launching a new, combined portal for both planning and building control applications.   We’ve been excited to introduce this update to the industry for a while, because we know it will make life for our users simpler – saving time and streamlining processes for everybody.  Fully compliant applications  Our updated Building Control Portal will contain all the additional information requirements necessary for Full Plans to be compliant with recently updated legislation, which took effect on 1 October 2023.  Just as before, if users are submitting fo ..read more

The service fee for making an application through Planning Portal will rise by £6, to £70 including VAT, from 1 April 2024. This adjustment is essential to sustainably enhance the dependable digital services that underpin the national built environment industry.  Planning Portal rely on income from service fees to provide, maintain and enhance the robust and user-friendly platform that meets the needs of built environment professionals, householders and local planning authorities.  Last year saw considerable investment in Planning Portal in response to our ongoing discussions wi ..read more