Consultation on revisions to the Council’s Planning Application Requirements

The Council is proposing to make two changes to it's local planning application requirements in relation to:

1. information required to inform whether an application is liable to the Community Infrastructure Levy; and
2. an update to the information requirements in relation to Energy Assessments.

Any comments on the proposed changes should be sent to the Council by 5 March 2012 as indicated below.

1. Community Infrastructure Levy

From 1 April 2012 it is expected that the Council will have to collect the Mayor of London's Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) payable on relevant planning permissions. In order to determine whether an application is CIL liable and to be able to estimate the level of charge payable to be used, where relevant, in economic viability assessments, the Council is proposing to require applicants on full and detailed applications to complete a Community Infrastructure Levy Additional Information form.

A draft of the form is now available. The Council is currently negotiating with the Planning Portal and the Department of Communities and Local Government to get the form adopted nationally. If a national form which meets the Council's needs is agreed, this form will be used in place of the draft from.

It is proposed that applicants submitting the following application types should be required to provide this information:

• Householder application for works or extensions to a house
• Householder application for works or extensions to a house and conservation area consent for demolition
• Householder application for works or extensions to a house and listed building consent
• Application for full planning permission
• Application for full planning permission and conservation area consent for demolition
• Application for full planning permission
• Application for full planning permission and listed building consent
• Application for full planning permission and advertisement consent
  Application for reserved matters following outline permission (last reserved matter)
• Application for approval of details reserved by a condition in a full planning permission (where permission is required prior to commencement of development)
  Lawful development certificate for an existing use, operation or activity (which took place after 1 April 2012)
• Lawful development certificate for a proposed use of development

2. Energy Assessments

It is proposed that the reference to Energy Assessments should be reworded as indicated below. The changes include removing the table showing the detail of the Energy Assessment methodology. This allows scope to make minor amendments to the Sustainability Checklist and Appendix 1 Energy Assessment: Guidelines for Developers to reflect changes in national, regional or local polices as well as future changes to building regulations, SAP and other minor benchmark/methodological updates. Any more substantial changes would necessitate further consultation.

The Energy Assessment guidance set out in the appendix to the Sustainability Checklist has also been amended to reflect a change in emphasis in the London Plan 2011 towards overall CO2 emission reductions (rather than a focus on CO2 reductions through on site renewable energy technologies). The checklist has also been amended to update web links providing further guidance and information.

It is proposed that the requirement for Energy Assessments should be reworded to read:

"Sustainability & Energy Assessment

Applications for major developments (10 or more residential units, and commercial or other developments of 1000m2 or more) should complete the Sustainability Checklist (available at: web address to be inserted). However, the Council encourages the application of the Sustainability Checklist to all development proposals.

An Energy Assessment is required for all major development (meeting the threshold indicated above) and should demonstrate how the energy hierarchy described in Item 2 of the Checklist has been utilised to reduce the site's predicted energy demand and associated CO2 emissions. The Energy Assessment should be prepared in accordance with Appendix 1 of the Sustainability Checklist 'Energy Assessment; Guidelines for Developers'.

The Energy Assessment should be easy to read and understand. It should include clear data tables; examples of which can be found on the Council's website at the link given above."

Download the revised version of the Sustainability Checklist.

View our existing Local Planning Application Requirements.

How to respond

Any responses to this consultation should be sent by 5 March 2012 via:

Email: planningpolicy@wandsworth.gov.uk  with "LPAR Consultation" in the subject line.

or by post:

What happens next

Any comments received will be reported to the Council's Planning Applications Committee. It is expected that any changes to the requirements will be effective from 1 April 2012.