Get advice before you apply for planning permission

We offer three levels of pre-application advice, depending on the size and type of your proposal:

• local small-scale
• local medium-scale
• major pre-application advice

Local small-scale

This includes:

• developments of up to three houses
• other small-scale local developments

Local medium-scale

This includes:

• housing developments with 4 to 49 units
• commercial developments
• other medium-scale developments

Major pre-application advice

This covers:

• developments of 50 or more houses
• sites of two hectares or more
• see our definition of a major development for full details

Other pre-application services

Wind farm design workshop

This workshop focuses on landscape and visual impact. It is best held at or just before the design stage. We will spend up to two hours reviewing:

• how your design meets the criteria in our Onshore Wind Energy Supplementary Guidance
• key viewpoints using wireframes and photomontages from your landscape consultants
• whether the design fits the local context
• any further design adjustments needed

This service complements our major pre-application advice.

Listed buildings

Pre-application advice is also available for listed buildings.

Fees

Pre-application advice is a value-added service and incurs a fee. Fees are reviewed annually and updated each April.

Visit our pre-application fees page for current charges. You can also use the ePlanning.scot fee calculator to estimate your planning application costs.

A full definition of categories is available on each pre-application page.