Clackmannanshire Council Online

Making a planning application: Who needs to be notified?

Making a planning application: Who needs to be notified?

Informing Owners

Planning legislation requires that an applicant applying for planning permission must complete, sign and date a declaration on the application form that they are either:

1. the owner of all the land/buildings which are the subject of the application; or
2. has served a formal notice on all owners of land/buildings the subject of the application 21 days prior to the date of the application.

If an applicant is uncertain if they own all of the application site or are unsure who to notify they should obtain legal advice as it is a criminal offence to knowingly or recklessly provide false information.

Notifying Neighbours

The responsibility for the notification of neighbours is undertaken by Clackmannanshire Counci's planning department

Neighbour notification is required for applications for planning permission, planning permission in principle, and approval of matters specified in conditions. It does not apply to applications for listed building consent, conservation area consent or advertisement consent.

The Council is required to notify those with an interest in "neighbouring land" of a planning application. Neighbouring land is defined as "an area or plot of land which, or part of which, is conterminous with or within 20m of the boundary of the land for which the development is proposed".

A notice is served on the owner(s), occupier and lessee of properties at the neighbouring land. The notice will include the following information:

• The date of the application
• The name of the applicant and name and address of any agent
• The Council reference number for the application
• A description of the development
• The address of the site or location of land
• A plan showing the site of the development in relation to neighbouring land (the Council would find it very useful to receive any information regarding the content or accuracy of that plan in order to ensure that all neighbours are correctly notified).

The Council will notify neighbours within 3 days of validating the application. Neighbours have 21 days to make representations before the application can be decided.

Please note that any comments made to the applicant during the pre-application stage of the process for a major development are not regarded as a representation on the planning application. A new representation will therefore be required when the application is submitted.

Where there is land with no premises within the area of neighbouring land, a notice will be published in a local newspaper. The cost of that advert is charged to the applicant, and the application cannot be decided until it is paid. The current charge for this service is £127.

There are other reasons for the Council placing an advert in the local paper. These include proposals for bad neighbour development and development which is contrary to development plan. For those proposals affecting listed buildings or relating to property within a conservation area, the Council will place an advert in the both local paper and the Edinburgh Gazette, and the applicant will not pay a fee in those cases.