Advice for developers and householders

Pre-application advice

We encourage all applicants to discuss their planning proposals with us before they make a formal application.

For more details on what advice we can give and what you'll need to do before submitting your development proposals, please see our pre-application advice page.

Local validation list

Before you apply for planning, check our local validation list to see what documents you should include with your application. If you don't send the correct documents, your application will be invalid.

Ordnance Survey maps

You will need to submit site location plan and possibly a block plan when you send us your planning application. Most maps use Ordnance Survey data, which is protected by crown copyright. If you are submitting maps with Ordnance Survey data as part of your planning application, you must show the Ordnance Survey licence number on the plans.

If you do not show the Ordnance Survey licence number on the plans, or we believe that the data does not have the correct licence, your application will not be valid. It is an offence to use Ordnance Survey data without the appropriate licence. We will notify you if your application is invalid for this reason.

You can buy map extracts from any Ordnance Survey supplier online, or by using the planning portal if you are submitting a planning application electronically.

Please visit the Ordnance Survey website for more information about crown copyright.

Statement of community involvement

We strongly encourage developers to carry out consultation with the local community for major or controversial development proposals before applying for planning permission. The type of development to which this applies is set out in our Statement of Community Involvement.

If you have carried out local public consultation about your proposal, you should include a statement about what you did and the results of the consultation. You should include copies of correspondence.

You should also include the results of any consultation you carried out with statutory and non-statutory organisations.

Car and cycle parking standards

As part of the Rushmoor Plan, we have produced a supplementary planning document (SPD) setting out the parking standards for cars and cycles for development in Aldershot and Farnborough.

Rubbish and recycling bins at new or converted properties

If you are a developer of new or converted properties, you will need to buy rubbish and recycling bins for the development, as we do not provide them free-of-charge. You can find out more on our rubbish and recycling bins at new or converted properties page.

Financial contributions

In most cases, we will seek financial contributions to mitigate some of the consequences of your development through a section 106 legal agreement or a unilateral undertaking. The most common contributions we seek relate to:

• Contributions towards improving the transport network, as set out in our supplementary planning document on transport contributions
• Contributions in lieu of providing on-site open space. You can find details of this on our Financial contributions for open space page
• Contributions to address the impact of residential development on the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area (SPA) as explained in our Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy.

Please visit our unilateral undertaking page if we have advised you to do a unilateral undertaking as part of your planning application.

Legal agreements

Pre-application advice from the planning officer may include that you need a legal agreement or planning obligation before we can grant permission. This may be, for example, a Section 106 Agreement or a Unilateral Undertaking under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

If this is the case, please supply the following information:

• Your proposed terms of the legal agreement, or
• A draft legal agreement. Please discuss this with the planning officer before you submit it, as we are developing standard clauses for legal agreements
• Copies of the 'title deeds'
• If there are any charges, mortgages or other securities on the land, you should supply the names and addresses of the charges/ mortgagees/ or holders of the security. This is because they will have to be added as parties to the agreement and/or consent to its terms, or give a Consent to Dealing, as appropriate
• A Unilateral Undertaking - this may be appropriate if you are only making a payment, so please check with us
• An undertaking to pay our legal costs for preparing a Section 106 agreement or a Unilateral Undertaking
• If you, or your clients, are represented by solicitors, the contact address and name of the person dealing with the matter

Designing out crime - designing in community safety

For guidance on how you can reduce crime and disorder when you are designing new developments, see our designing out crime - designing in community safety document.

Good homes charter

Our good homes charter - June 2015 document sets out what we expect from developers of mixed tenure homes in Rushmoor through good practice and our planning requirements. We encourage all developers to sign up. For more information, please contact our Planning team using the contact details below.

Site visits by the Development Management Committee

Our Development Management Committee may want to visit the site of a proposed development before deciding on a planning application. Our page, site visits by the Development Management Committee gives more information on what happens during a visit.

Building regulations

Building regulations cover the control of building works for fire resistance, structural stability, ventilation, thermal insulation and drainage, rather than the site, design and external appearance of the building.

In many cases, you will also need building regulations approval for work carried out. For more details, see our building regulations page or contact our building control team using the contact details below.

We deal with applications for building regulations approval separately to planning applications, so you will need to submit additional forms and plans.

It is possible that we could refuse planning permission and give building regulations approval for a specific proposal (and vice versa). It is up to you to make sure that you have all the necessary consent before starting work.