PLANNING SURGERIES Does the following apply to you? Thinking of extending your house? Considering building works? Need some advice before submitting a planning application? Am I likely to receive planning permission? Need to talk to someone about your neighbour's application?
Ask the experts
From Wednesday 13 September 2006 you will be able to make an appointment to meet a planning officer to advise you on any planning topic. You may be thinking of extending your property and would like to know whether your proposal would be likely to be granted planning permission. Or you may have received a neighbour notification letter from this council and you want to understand the likely impact of your neighbour's proposal.
When and where can I meet am officer?
You can meet an officer at either Elizabeth House, Church Street in Stratford-upon-Avon or at The Grange, Coventry Road, Southam.
The surgeries will be held at Elizabeth House on Tuesday afternoons and Friday mornings for enquiries about properties in the western part of the District (more or less everywhere north-west of the Avon including Stratford, Bidford on Avon, Studley and Alcester).
Surgeries for the eastern part of the District (south-east of the River Avon, including Stratford-upon-Avon Bridgetown, Southam, Shipston-on-Stour and Welford-on-Avon) will be held at Elizabeth House on Wednesday afternoons and at The Grange in Southam on Thursday afternoons.
Making an appointment
You can make an appointment by contacting us as follows:
Council main switchboard 01789 267575 Planning Services 01789 260303 The Grange, Southam 01926 812881
In person At Elizabeth House or any of our area offices
You will be given a 20 minute meeting with a planning officer.
What you should provide
To make best use of your time with the planning officer you should provide as much information as possible before the meeting. This may be an explanatory letter, a short description of the proposal or question to be asked, sketches or plans, or any relevant planning reference number.
You will be asked for this information when you contact us.
What questions can I ask?
The surgeries are open to everyone, including professional agents and will cover any planning topic.
Proposals for which advice will not be provided at the surgeries
If you want to know whether planning permission or other consents are required for your proposal you should write to using our standard form (available on request or from our web-site).
For major proposals, e.g. proposals for 10 or more houses, individual meetings will be booked. The Council will use a 'Development Team' approach to help give guidance on major proposals.
For cases where an initial application has been withdrawn or refused you should arrange to meet the specific case officer.
In cases where sites are for sale, individual meetings cannot normally be provided to prospective purchasers. In such cases a standard written advice note will be prepared by Planning Services.
Specialist Conservation and Trees advice is available by separate arrangement with our Policy and Conservation Section (01789 260337).
Site visits and site meetings will not normally be undertaken.
Fees and charges
No charge is made for meeting a planning officer. There is charge for copying some documents.
Other Information
There is a wide variety of information about planning available on our web-site (www.stratford.gov.uk/planning) and you can contact us on 01789 260303.
Is this a useful service?
If you think that we could provide a better service or are unhappy with these arrangements please let us know using one of the contacts above.
