The National Standard Planning Application Form has become the only official method of submitting a planning application for most types of planning consent (except for Minerals consent and Building Control applications) for all Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) in England. The standard form is intended to make the process of submitting a planning application less confusing for all applicants, as it will to a great extent replace the variety of planning application forms currently produced by LPAs which differ in the questions asked, the style, the layout and the number of copies required.

Legislation is in place to make it mandatory for applications to be made only on the 1APP forms and to include all of the information and documents specified on the form (the national requirements) together with the additional information and documents specified by the Local Planning Authority to whom the application is made (the local requirements).

Biodiversity Net Gain

From 12 February 2024 for Major Applications and 2 April 2024 for Non Major Applications your will be required to submit additional information relating to Biodiversity net gain. – Please see government guidance on exempt application types Biodiversity net gain - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Where an applicant believes the development would be subject to the biodiversity gain condition, the application must be accompanied by minimum information set out in Article 7 of The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015:

• confirmation that the applicant believes that planning permission, if granted, the development would be subject to the biodiversity gain condition;
• the pre-development biodiversity value(s), either on the date of application or earlier proposed date (as appropriate);
• where the applicant proposes to use an earlier date, this proposed earlier date and the reasons for proposing that date;
• the completed metric calculation tool showing the calculations of the pre-development biodiversity value of the onsite habitat on the date of application (or proposed earlier date) including the publication date of the biodiversity metric used to calculate that value;
• a statement whether activities have been carried out prior to  the date of application (or earlier proposed date), that result in loss of onsite biodiversity value (‘degradation’), and where they have:
  • a statement to the effect that these activities have been carried out;
  • the date immediately before these activities were carried out;
  • the pre-development biodiversity value of the onsite habitat on this date;
  • the completed metric calculation tool showing the calculations, and
  • any available supporting evidence of this;
• a description of any irreplaceable habitat (as set out in column 1 of the Schedule to the Biodiversity Gain Requirements (Irreplaceable Habitat) Regulations 2024) on the land to which the application relates, that exists on the date of application, (or an earlier date); and
• plan(s), drawn to an identified scale and showing the direction of North, showing onsite habitat existing on the date of application (or earlier proposed date), including any irreplaceable habitat (if applicable).

If this information has not been provided, the local planning authority will likely refuse to validate the application. Within the planning application form applicants will be asked to confirm whether this information accompanies the application. Where these details have been provided elsewhere in accompanying documents, applicants are encouraged to cross-reference to these rather than duplicate this information within the application form.

The council has a new local validation requirements list approved on 6 March 2023.

This local validation checklist has been produced to inform applicants/agents of the type of documents and level of information required to validate a planning application or other similar consents. There are National Requirements and Winchester City Council (WCC) has local requirements. WCC’s local validation checklist reflects both the National Guidance on the validation of applications and the local requirements. To avoid confusion, this document will merge Local and National requirements to enable use a single use document, with the aim that your application can be registered as valid for determination by the Council first time round.

This checklist is intended to provide applicants/agents with clear advice as to the planning information that is considered necessary to allow Case Officers and Statutory/Non-Statutory consultees to properly consider proposals being put forward and to ensure a streamlined submission process. Where a document or plan is listed for a particular type of application or consent, such an application may not be validated without this information. Everything that is required from applicants will be justified by policy or legislation so you know why we are asking for certain information.

Links to other bodies and documents that will help you get your submission right and are imbedded into the document for ease of reference.

The local validation checklist will be reviewed and republished bi-annually as required under The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (as amended) Part 3, Article 11 (3) (d).

In accordance with the councils encouragement of early engagement with our customers in advance of a planning application, all applicants/agents are strongly advised to use our pre application enquiry service. The service is designed so that it can be responsive to the needs of our customers and ensure that we can offer professional, flexible, tailored and timely advice. It promises to help applicants save time and improve outcomes later during the planning application process and we can also discuss the type of permission needed, it’s validation requirements and how to submit. 

If you have any question about the LocalValidation List requirement or submitting your application electronically, please use our Pre Application service.  

 Available Here

Pre-Applications advice and enquiries - Winchester City Council - Winchester City Council

Submitting your Planning Application - Winchester City Council

•  A checklist of information that may be required to meet the Biodiversity local requirements. NOTE: For those application types where there is a Biodiversity requirement it will become a MANDATORY REQUIREMENT for this checklist to be completed and submitted with the application from December 1st 2008.
  • Householder ^{(pdf, 155kb)}
  • Other applications ^{(pdf, 191kb)}