Pre-application services

How to apply

  1. Complete one of the meeting request forms
  2. Email it to the address on the form with any supporting information

We'll let you know if your application is suitable for one of our pre-application services. If you're accepted, you pay a fee. All the income we get goes into improving our services. 

Meetings

We will issue an invoice for our fees and you will have 28 days to pay. Until we receive your payment, the meeting cannot be organised. Once we receive your payment, we can usually organise the meeting within 20 days. Your case officer will normally chair it and we are happy to discuss the agenda with you.

Depending on your case and if it is referable to the Mayor, our colleagues with specialisms may come to the meeting. We encourage you to allow us to invite the relevant local planning authority and keep them involved in discussions.

There are two types of meeting to choose from: initial screening or pre-application.

Initial screening

This meeting encourages early discussions with us about your site's local context and characteristics, and which transport impacts are most important for your development project.

The feedback we provide after the meeting helps you prioritise transport issues and plan detailed analysis likely to be needed later. For example, surveys, modelling and safety audits. It will be high level advice only, produced using basic information and generic assumptions.

You should consider booking and attending just after transport experts have been appointed in your development project team.

This meeting covers:

It doesn't replace or remove the need for a pre-application meeting with us to design and deliver a new development where transport issues are complex.

Pre-application

This meeting covers:

You should consider booking and attending a pre-application meeting once you've made some early progress on a Transport Assessment for your planned development.

There will usually be a site visit before this meeting takes place. We'll also invite a council officer unless you ask us not to.

Fees

Initial screening

  • £500 (plus VAT)

Pre-application

  • £5,000 (plus VAT) if an initial screening has taken place
  • £5,500 (plus VAT) for one-off meetings

We offer these discounts to public bodies:

  • £2,000 (plus VAT) if an initial screening has taken place
  • £3,000 (plus VAT) for one-off meetings

Non-referable applications/follow-up meetings

  • £2,000 (plus VAT). In cases where only written advice is necessary, this fee can be discounted by 50%

All fees are non-refundable.

Our advice

If we don't need to do any further research, we'll send you a detailed advice letter within 10 working days. This outlines any major transport issues and requirements we've agreed.

Your advice letter comes from the Director of Spatial Planning. It's never a response to any planning application.

Any views or opinions are given in good faith. They relate solely to transport issues.

The amount of detail in our letter will depend on the quality of information you give us initially.