19 Jan Do You Need a Pre-Application Meeting With Council?
Before you automatically book that pre-application meeting, ask yourself: Should You Have A Pre-Application Meeting With Council?
Clients often come to us wanting to get pre-application advice from the Council before they lodge their application. My advice surprises many clients, as I will often recommend that we skip the pre-application meeting and go straight to lodgement! I know that some councils are promoting the idea of getting pre-application advice before lodgement for all applications, so why do I encourage the opposite? Here are the three main reasons to skip the pre-ap:
- Save Time
- Negotiate with the decision maker
- Avoid Project Creep
Saves Time
If you want to go through the formal pre-application process (which is then processed and recorded for future reference), there will be a time cost. Depending on the Council and their processes and lead times, it isn’t uncommon to wait 3-4 weeks before having a meeting. You then might need to wait another week or more for any discussions with other departments and final comments or notes from the council. So, all up, the process of seeking pre-application advice could easily take 4-6 weeks. Now, you might not be ready to submit your application yet and can factor in that time, but as you need to have information ready for the pre-application process often you are close to being ready to lodge the application. You will need to weigh up the potential benefit of pre-application advice against this time cost.
Generally, for smaller projects especially, I think that you are better off going straight to lodgement to save that time. The first step of the planning application is for the Council to do a preliminary review of the project. At this stage they will request any additional information and raise any concerns that are noted, leaving you and your planning team in a position to progress the application forward in a more efficient manner than with a pre-application process.
Speaking of efficiencies, this leads me to the second reason to skip a pre-application process.
Negotiate With The Decision Maker
Sometimes with a pre-application process, you will be talking with a decision maker, but often not. Furthermore, while the Council might try to assign the same planner to your application once you lodge, there are no guarantees. Involving multiple people in the process can lead to different opinions. It isn’t uncommon for different issues to be raised between the pre-application stage and lodgement, or even for a different planner wanting to reverse the changes that have been done to the project due to pre-application advice because they disagree!
When you lodge the application you are allocated a town planner, now while this can change due to staffing issues, it is less likely to be the case than between the pre-application and lodgement stages. This means that if you go straight to lodgement you can start speaking with and negotiating with a key decision maker from the start. This can make the process more efficient and lead to less back-flips during the process.
Avoid Project Creep
In my experience, a pre-application discussion with the council is likely to result in changes to the project before it is lodged. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as those changes may have been necessary anyway. It is more that the more people and time you engage with them, the more likely that you will move from your original vision.
If you carry out a pre-application meeting with the council, it is very unlikely that you will be given a simple yes answer. They will focus on the aspects of the project that they have concerns with predominantly. The more discussions and feedback that you seek from the council prior to lodging the application, the further you are likely to move from your original vision as you seek to respond to these comments. Not to mention, the potential that you may receive different feedback when you formally lodge the application as I mentioned earlier which could lead to other project changes.
Having covered the reasons that I generally avoid pre-application meeting, I do still think they are useful sometimes.
So, how do I go about determining if a pre-application meeting is worthwhile? Before starting the process I consider what value or information I’m trying to get from a pre-application meeting. I consider whether these things apply to the project:
- Is something unique proposed
- Is clarity on a planning control needed
This helps me to determine if a pre-application meeting is necessary.
Unique Proposal
If the proposed use or development is unusual, or there is some aspect or feature of the site that is different, gaining information from the council early in the process can be very beneficial. Examples of some recent projects that have been assisted with pre-application advice include tourist activities, dwellings in Green Wedge areas and activities that aren’t well defined by the Planning Scheme. Having an early discussion with Council can assist with identifying what information will be a necessary part of the application, which can help to streamline and progress the application faster once it is lodged. It may also help with identifying aspects of a proposal that may be best suited to the land, helping to refine the proposal to maximise council support.
Planning Controls Clarity
Sometimes more information is required on interpreting a planning control (or the interaction of several controls). It may be that this planning control is fairly new, or that there is a new control proposed and more information is needed to understand how that may impact an application in the future. There may have also been a recent project on an adjacent site and gaining early information on that site can help to steer the best outcome for your site.
Often the questions can be answered with a phone call to the planning department and don’t require formal pre-application advice, however we can assess the best way to get advice for each project.
If neither of these things apply to your site I would generally suggest that formal pre-application advice is not necessary and will just add extra time to the overall process for you.
How to Request Pre-Application Advice
Still keen to get Council’s input or think that your project could benefit from pre-application advice? Organising a pre-application meeting with most councils is pretty straight forward.
Many councils have moved to online lodgements, and this includes for pre-application requests. Often you can apply via an online portal or via email. Some councils offer pre-application meetings, and some offer written pre-application advice. There will be information on their website as to what they offer.
When you submit the request for pre-application advice or a meeting you will need to provide some details of what you are proposing. For some projects this may be details about a proposed use, but if a development is involved you will generally need some preliminary or sketch plans. You will also need to send in a copy of the title.
Some councils charge a small fee for the pre-application service as well, which should be detailed on their website.
What to Consider Before Booking
Before starting with a pre-application enquiry you should consider what you want to achieve and how you will respond to council feedback. If concerns are raised then I recommend that when the application is lodged you demonstrate how that advice was responded to. There is no point asking for advice and then ignoring it all! If you think that an application may be controversial, but you want to try to push the envelope as far as possible, it may be better to just lodge the application and work through the process (including any refinements) once you have an allocated Planner. In this way you also avoid a situation where you get advice from one Planner only to be allocated a different Planner for the application who may have different ideas.
You should also consider that Council is unlikely to give you a straight green light and the more discussions and feedback sought prior to lodging the application, the further you might move from your original vision. For this reason I would say that for most applications you should only get pre-application advice once from the council at most. After that, or for standard applications, you can engage with your private town planner to provide advice.
Not sure where to go next or which path to take? We offer preliminary planning advice and for more complex projects we can also run a pre-application advice request through Council and attend a meeting on your behalf.
If you are looking for initial advice and don’t want to wait for the longer council process, or you want some assistance in engaging with the Council for pre-application advice then we would be more than happy to assist.