The application process

After your application has gone through the validation process it’s passed to a planning officer and enters the planning application process.

Once in this stage and all the information you have supplied is considered correct your application should be dealt with within eight weeks.

There are some exceptions:

• Applications involving legal agreements may take longer than eight weeks and major applications take up to 13 weeks or 16 weeks if they have an environmental statement.
• If an application has to be taken to Planning Committee rather than decided under delegated powers, then this may also take the planning process beyond eight weeks.

The process takes several weeks as we are required to hold a public consultation period. This allows time for consultees, parish and town councils and members of the public to look at applications and submit their comments.

If amended plans or descriptions are submitted, these may require reconsultation.

Once the consultation period has finished, comments considered and a decision made, the applicant will be notified of the outcome.

See our Development Control Charter for a more detailed explanation of our planning procedures. [This seems very out of date; suggest liaison with Jo Murphy as to whether it can be simply updated or whether there is a formal process for this]. [Yes, it is very out of date. It’s been on my to do list since I started but never got back to it, still to do and maybe turn into a web page rather than a document?]!

How to apply

The most frequent way a planning application is made is online using the government’s Planning Portal website. You can ask for pre-application advice from us, checking what fees are due and looking through our online guidance. Alternatively, you can submit a paper application using the forms within this section.

Payment can be made by credit card. We are able to take card payments between 9am – 12.30pm and 1.30pm – 4pm each day by phone (quoting the relevant case number) to 01590 646600, option 1. If submitted through the Planning Portal then it has an online payment system. Alternatively, if sending a cheque it should be made payable to: New Forest National Park Authority. Please note this must be written in full as abbreviations will be returned.

Getting advice before you apply can help the process run more smoothly and quickly, while reducing the chances of you submitting an invalid application. Find out more in our dedicated page

Please go to our fees page for more guidance

Guidance on applying

Many of the planning applications we receive are invalid when submitted.

Here are some common pitfalls to be aware of when applying:

• A valid, up-to-date Ordnance Survey supplier’s licence number and copyright must appear on all copies of the site location plan and any other plans that use Ordnance Survey mapping, otherwise the plans will breach copyright.
• All drawings submitted with your application must show all, complete facings of the existing and proposed building regardless of whether the proposal can be seen from all sides. Hidden inset elevations are required.
• Plans should be dated and numbered, show their metric scale, a scale bar and include key dimensions.
• Electronic drawings should include the page print size for example 1:100 at A3.
• Missing supporting documentation.

There are a number of supporting documents that must be submitted with every application, so please follow our guidance carefully to ensure nothing is missed.

All applications must be in metric and A3 size plans are preferable. We are unable to accept plans larger than A1 size.

Cheques must be made out to ‘New Forest National Park Authority’ in full. Any abbreviations may not be accepted by our bank and/or may delay processing of the payment.

Planning permissions often include conditions that require further details to be approved, such as samples of materials or construction details. These details must be formally agreed by us, sometimes before any work can begin on site.

Discharge a condition – New Forest National Park

Application forms 

If you are unable or do not wish to submit your application using the Planning Portal’s online option then you can use their online form selector at Find and download paper forms – Paper Forms – Planning Portal to identify the correct form and then either complete the application online or print the form off and submit your application on paper. Please read the Guidance Notes if submitting your application via the Planning Portal.

Each planning application requires the necessary ownership certificates to be completed. These are located at the end of each application form. Depending on which certificates you may need to sign, you may also need to complete one of the following notices:

For householder planning applications, the Householder Notice can be used in all situations.

For all other relevant applications:

• Where the owners of the land are known, Notice 1 must be submitted to all known owners or agricultural tenants. This may apply when ownership certificate B or C is relevant.
• Where some or all of the owners are not known, Notice 2 must be published in a local newspaper. This may apply when ownership certificate C or D is relevant.
• You may require a mix of the above if some, but not all, of the owners are known.

Detailed government guidance on ownership certificates is available to help with your application.