The Planning Portal
The Planning Portal is the UK Government's online planning resource for England. You can use the Planning Portal to learn about the planning process, research government policy and apply for planning permission. Applicants can also use the Planning Portal to appeal our decision.
- Planning Portal - Information for Professional users
- Planning Portal - Applying Online Videos
- Planning Portal - Support Information
Why use the Planning Portal?
- The Planning Portal is free to use (the application fee is still payable)
- The Planning Portal provides the correct forms and informs you of the correct fee, lessening the chance of your application being invalid.
- The paper-less online system is easy to use and allows you to attach your plans to your application, saving you the hassle of sending multiple sets through the post.
- It takes a quarter of the usual time to make an online application.
- You receive an instant confirmation email from the Planning Portal once you have submitted the application and another one within one working day once we have downloaded and received it from the Planning Portal.
- Agents and Architects could save on average £102 per application by freeing up time to work on other proposals.
What else should I consider?
Online applications differ from ones made in hardcopy as they are submitted electronically to the council. This method allows the council to quickly & easily consult Statutory Consultees, in doing so speeding up the decision making process.
This also provides savings for both the applicant/agent and the authority, but only if the following is included as part of the plans.
- Dimensions are included in Metric.
- Scale bars for each scale used (enables electronic measuring of plans).
- Direction of North
- The Paper size next to the scale i.e. A1@1:500 & 1:100 (ensures the plan is printed at the correct size).
Other important information
Having considered information from the Planning Portal, you should confirm your conclusions with Planning Officers at Solihull before submitting an application or believing that you do not need to submit one and start work.