Why are there such a variety of application references?
Planning application information held on the South Gloucestershire Council website is made up of details held by the previous incumbent local planning authorities. These include Gloucestershire Council, Kingswood Borough Council, Northavon District Council, Avon County Council and more recently, applications submitted to South Gloucestershire Council.
Because of the changes in the governing body of the South Gloucestershire region, you will come across an assortment of reference numbers with varying degrees of detail held against each planning record.
Why are there documents and images against some applications and not others?
Before Development Services implemented an electronic document management system, planning applications were held in paper format or contained on microfiche. Whilst applications since 2000 are stored electronically, many of the older applications still remain on microfiche. Over time, when we have received requests to view older records, we have arranged for them to be transferred onto the document management system.
What does “not available” mean against fields in certain application records?
You may have noticed that against some entries on the public access system, the phrase “not available” appears. This occurs when there is no data available from the back office system. This is most commonly found against older application records.
Why does the date of 1 January 1900 appear against some planning records, the planning system did not exist until 1947?
In some cases date information relating to planning applications is missing from the back office system. This most commonly occurs with older application records. To publish information the public access system requires date information against certain fields. Where these fields are empty the application details fail to publish to the website. To enable these missing applications to appear, we uploaded a date of “1 January 1990” to force publication. This date was chosen as it was in the format required for the system to work, but would provoke an enquiry from a customer to check that the information was in fact wrong.
What does the phrase constraint mean?
In planning terms the phrase constraint relates to a constraint placed on site or area. Examples of constraints would include; greenbelt, listed buildings, conservation areas, area susceptible to flooding etc. It can also relate to planning history on an application site. The information held under the constraint tab of the public access system will only show those constraints that applied at the time the application was made.
Why does some constraint detail held under the public access constraint tab include planning application records that relates to neighboring sites?
To improve our processes and provide a better service to our customers, all recent planning applications made will show details of planning applications that adjoin the site of the application. This means that whilst we determine the new planning application, planning officers have consideration for decided applications adjoining the site that may have not yet been built.
I have added a variety of information for my search, but the returned information is not what I am expecting?
In some cases adding too many parameters initially can prevent the correct records being found. It may be useful to start with a couple of criteria and run the search. Alternatively if you are familiar with the site map, use the map search function.
Remember not to use punctuation in your queries.
If you continue to experience problems, please let us know.
An application status indicates “refusal”, but the Appeal Decision states “Appeal Allowed”. Has the development been permitted?
Applicants have the right to appeal against the local planning authority decision and in the majority of cases this will be against refusal of permission. In circumstances where there has been an appeal against the LPA decision, it’s important to check the appeal status for the application.
Where can I find details of planning committee dates and venues?
Dates and venues for the Development Control Committees can be found on the Democratic Services section of the website. There is also a link in the “Do it now” section of this page.