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 information and detail held against each planning record.
The information displayed through the search planning applications online service provides textual and mapping details for planning applications as far back as 1947 and up to the current time.
For some older planning applications, there may be some associated documents or images displayed on the website, but in most cases this would not represent the complete planning file. If you wish to view the application details and/or the decision of one of these historic applications, contact the customer call centre on 01454 868004 and a customer service officer will be able to make arrangements for this information to be made available to you to view. These details are normally made available within one working day, but in cases where we need to request archived documentation, it may take a little longer.
Tips when carrying out a search using public access
When carrying out an historical search of planning application information online, we suggest that customers have as much detail as possible to hand at the start of the search, this way customers are more likely to find the information they require. We also suggest that customers try a variety of search criteria as we cannot guarantee that interrogating the system once for each query will bring up all the relevant applications for the site or development, you should therefore try a variety of search criteria to maximise your chances of retrieving the information you require.
The online service enables users to search for planning applications by a variety of methods, including; the Council's unique reference number for the application which is quoted on all application related notices and correspondence, by address or location, description of the proposal or by the date submitted or determined (or a range of dates). It is also possible to identify planning applications by identifying an area of interest using the mapping tool.
The map search is particularly useful when searching on a site that was previously known by a different name. An example of this is when an application was submitted to construct new houses or buildings on a plot of the land. The application site may have been described as “land adjacent to High Street”, but once built, the site location may be known by an altogether different address. Refer to our “User Guide” on how to make best use of this function.
The online service has a 'real time' link to the Council's planning application processing system which gives users access to up to date information regarding the status of planning applications. However, users should be aware that planning applications will only become visible online once they have been registered as valid. Users should also be aware that although textual information is updated immediately there may be a delay in the publication of scanned images associated with the application (application forms, plans and drawings etc.) Many will need to be separately scanned and indexed into the Council's document management system before displaying online.
In addition to information regarding planning applications, users are also able to view details of planning appeals and building control applications.
If you have any reason to suspect that the information contained within this online service to be incorrect, please contact Development Services immediately so that we can investigate and make any corrections as soon as possible.