What is pre-application advice?
Pre-application advice comes in several forms and can involve different stakeholders with varied focus areas, but as a general rule it helps applicants understand how national, county and local policy will apply to a particular site, and what good design looks like in that context. The Royal Town Planning Institute and Planning Aid stress that pre‑application engagement leads to better quality schemes and smoother determination, particularly for major or sensitive developments.
Through early, constructive dialogue, pre‑application engagement plays a key role in creating a more positive, efficient planning process – one that supports better places, clearer outcomes and more confident decision‑making for everyone involved.
Information about the relevant Local Planning Authorities in Kent, with links to their associated pre-application advice process can be found here. Key County-level stakeholders and associated pre-application advice processes can be found here.
What does this mean in practice in Kent?
Pre‑application advice plays a vital role in achieving well‑designed places which deliver the ambitions set out in Kent’s Sustainable Design Principles and work for Kent’s communities – now and in the future. It provides an opportunity for early, meaningful discussion before a planning application is submitted, helping proposals respond more effectively to their site, context and community.
Kent is a diverse county, with varied landscapes, historic towns, coastal communities and growing settlements. Pre‑application advice is important because it helps ensure new development responds positively to this complexity and supports the creation of high‑quality, sustainable places.
Pre‑application advice can help to:
- Encourage collaborative working and joined up thinking throughout the design and planning process, bringing together applicants, local authorities, designers, technical specialists and communities
- Align priorities and iron out potential conflicts, ensuring all aspects of the development supports long‑term sustainability and placemaking ambitions at a local and county level
- Clarify expectations by confirming how national, county and local policy will be applied to a specific site, and which best practice guidance is relevant
- Identify and address issues early, reducing the risk of delays, refusals or significant redesign later in the process
- Improve design quality and certainty by shaping early proposals around local character, landscape, heritage, infrastructure and environmental opportunities and constraints
- Embed sustainable design principles from the outset, ensuring proposals contribute to healthy, resilient and well‑designed places
- Support smoother decision‑making