Apply & pay for Planning Permission

We provide a Pre Application Advice service for Householder and non-householder applications. The Pre Application Forms can be downloaded from our page Planning application guides and forms.  The completed form should be returned to development.central@fife.gov.uk

This is a chargeable service.  The fee for a non-householder pre-application costs half the planning application fee for the proposal up to a maximum of £500 for any Local Application.  The fee for Major Applications costs half the planning application fee for the proposal up to a maximum of £800, unless the proposal is for 100 or more units in which case the fee will be £1,200.   The fee for a householder proposal is £60.  Householder proposals must relate to existing dwellings only, but do not include any change of use.  A list of all our fees can be found within the Costs and How to Pay section on this page.

If you are trying to find out if a proposal requires planning permission then you should complete a Certificate of Lawfulness application.  Details can be found on Scottish Government’s ePlanning portal at ePlanning.scot.

The benefits of pre-application advice include:

• It gives you the opportunity to understand how policies and guidance will be applied to your development proposal
• It can identify at an early stage where there is a need for specialist input, for example contamination, transport, ecology, etc.
• It may flag up that the proposal is unacceptable which could save the cost of submitting a formal application
• It may lead to a reduction in time dealing with the formal application

Advice we will provide:

• An assessment of the planning merits of a proposal
• How the proposal relates to key local plan policies and guidance
• Details of submission requirements
• Advice on the likely timescale for completing the planning process
• An outline of the material planning issues

Please be aware that pre-application advice will be made at officer level only and cannot guarantee whether an application will ultimately be successful.  We will not seek input from external stakeholders (e.g. Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Natural Heritage) at this stage.

What do you need to submit with your Pre-application Request:

• A completed application form
• A clear description of the proposed development
• The address of the application site
• An ordnance survey based location plan at a scale of 1:1250 or 1:2500 which outlines the application site in RED
• Details of the means of access to the site
• It would be helpful if you can provide as much information as possible as this will allow us to provide more specific pre application advice.

We would expect to deal with your pre-application enquiry within the following timescales:

Householder and Listed Building Pre-application - 20 working days
Other Local Pre-application - 30 working days
Major Pre-application - 40 working days

Some cases may be more complex and take longer to consider. If this happens, the case officer will contact you and explain why it is not possible to respond within the stated timescales.

Publications

• Pre Application Service

Permitted Development Rights allow some householder development work to be undertaken without the need for planning permission.   Flowcharts which describe each type of development can be found on the Scottish Government website here:  https://www.gov.scot/publications/permitted-development-guidance-flowcharts/

We advise you to check this information before starting any work.  Further information can be found on the Scottish Government pages.

If, after checking the information, you think planning permission is required you should make an application.

If you are not sure if planning permission is required and you would like us to assess whether or not your proposal will need permission will need to do so via a Certificate of Lawfulness.   There is a fee for this service and details of fees can be found below within the Costs and How to Pay section.   Please note your Certificate of Lawfulness could be refused in which case you will need to apply for full planning permission and pay an additional fee.

If you do not think planning permission is required you can either go ahead with the work without advising us or you can apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness.  A Certificate of Lawfulness provides you with evidence that an existing or proposed development is lawful and does not require planning permission.   Quite often documents of this sort are required when you wish to sell your home.

To find out if you need planning permission for any proposed works you can get advice from a number of sources.  You should be aware that charges may apply depending upon the service you choose.  Impartial advice on all planning matters can be obtained from Planning Aid for Scotland, the internet, a professional agent/architect or a lawyer.

In addition to completing your application form you are required to submit drawings.

All drawings must meet the following criteria:

• All documents must be legible, accurate and measurable
• The plans should be to a metric scale and have a scale bar on each drawing
• Imperial drawings and measurements are not acceptable.
• If a drawing says "do not scale" it will be rejected.  The plans need to be fit for the planning purpose and we must be able to scale accurately from the drawings submitted.
• Signatures and dates, where required, are essential
• One copy of coloured paper plans are normally all that is required.  We will contact you if we require additional plans.  This may be the case for an Environmental Impact Assessment and Wind Turbine applications.  All sets must be coloured
• All location and block plans must conform to certain criteria (see publication below)

The following drawings are required for each application:

• Location plan at a scale of 1:1250 or 1:2500 which clearly identify the site in relation to neighbouring land.  The site boundary must be outlined in RED.
• Block plan or site plan at a scale of 1:500 or 1:200 which shows existing and proposed buildings, car parking, access, turning areas where the proposed change involves any groundworks within the curtilage of the building.
• Existing floor plans and elevations (if applicable) at a scale of 1:100 or 1:50
  Proposed floor plans and elevations at a scale of 1:100 or 1:50.

A guidance document is available on the Heads of Planning Scotland website which is designed to assist you through the process of submitting your application which should be read along with Fife Council’s Validation Standards.

Please note that we may request additional information depending upon the characteristics of your application.  If you submit your plans electronically you do not need to send us a paper copy as well.

You should not copy any drawings or plans from our website for your own use.

Publications

• Submitting Electronic Documents (opens in a new window)
• Submitting Plans (opens in a new window)
• Validation Checklist (opens in a new window)
• Wind Turbine Validation Checklist (opens in a new window)

We have provided a number of options to allow you to make your payment to us.  When making your payment please ensure that you provide us with enough details so that we can match the payment with your application.  This will make our validation process more efficient.

You can make your payment using either a debit or credit card.

Scottish Government’s ePlanning portal at ePlanning.scot.

If you submit your application online using the Scottish Government ePlanning.scot portal you may also make your payment online.  This ensures that your application and payment are received together which speeds up the validation process.  You will be given a reference number as confirmation of payment.  This is the easiest and quickest way to submit your application.

Fife Council Online Payments

You can access the payment section by using the PAY button from Fife Direct home screen or using by the links on our web pages and selecting the Make a Payment icon.

If you have an application reference number, enter this in the Reference box. You can also make a payment without a Planning Application reference number.  To ensure that we can match your payment to your application when we receive it please include the following information when completing the payment screens.  Examples are provided below.

• In the Reference box enter Your Name
• Add the amount you intend to pay i.e. £202.00
• In the Optional Description box enter Site Address for the Proposal with Post Code

Please make sure that you are in the correct payment screen if you need to pay for both a Planning Application and a Building Warrant. We require all of the above information to allow us to match your payment with your application.  If we do not have the information this will delay the validation of your application.

Fife Council does not accept cash or cheques for the payment of planning applications unless you are a registered charity.  If this is the case please call us on 03451 551122 to speak to a member of staff about payment.

Publications

• Development Management Changes - from April 2018
• Guide to Making an Online Payment
• Planning Scale of Fees