Once an application has been made

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea receive more than 3000 planning applications a year. The majority of these applications will be available to view on the Council's website. We are also working towards providing applicants with the ability to keep up to date with the progress of their application through the Council's website. The following provides information on the process of considering and determining a planning application.

Acknowledging an application

Every application submitted to the Royal Borough will be registered and acknowledged by our Planning Registration Team. If you have submitted your application through the Planning Portal you are likely to receive your acknowledgement electronically. In addition, you will be contacted throughout the process of your application by electronic means; this includes the receipt of your decision notice. If you do not wish to receive correspondence from the Council by electronic means, please make this request in writing.

Currently we are in the process of developing an opt-in system for applicants who submit by traditional hard copy to request to be contacted by electronic means. We believe there are considerable time saving benefits in providing information to applicants electronically both for the Council and for the applicant. Initial reactions to receiving acknowledgement letters and decision notices electronically have been very positive as there is no delay for receipt of these by the applicant created by using the postal service. Once the opt-in system has been developed further, we will be contacting applicants and agents. In the meantime, we would recommend you submit your application via the Planning Portal if you wish to be dealt with electronically as a matter of course.

Consultation on planning applications

Most planning applications are subject to some form of public consultation. The extent of public consultation depends on the type and scale of the application. The government require each local Council to carry out a certain level of consultation; this is known as a statutory requirement. In addition to this the Royal Borough have local guidelines. The Royal Borough have produced a document that illustrates our statutory and local requirements for public consultation.

Please note that you do not need to be formally consulted on an application to submit comments on a proposal. If you wish to be kept informed of applications in your area, or in an area that is of interest to you, you can subscribe to the Council's MyRBKC email alert facility.

This facility allows you to register with the Council and be informed by email of applications that are submitted that meet your chosen criteria. Please click on the link below to be directed to the MyRBKC facility.

If you have not been consulted on a proposal that is currently taking place, it could be that planning permission is not required. There are certain works that do not need planning permission and as such, they are not subject to public consultation. However, on occasion people do begin building works, or change the use of a property without the correct planning consents in place. In these circumstances our Enforcement Team would investigate. Please consult our Enforcement page for further information and advice.

Viewing and commenting on an application

Plans for applications where a decision has not yet been made are available to view during normal opening hours at the Planning Desk at the Town Hall; no appointment is necessary. Most plans are also available to view on our website on the link below

If you have received notification of a planning application near to you and wish to register your comments, you should firstly consider the proposal and ensure that you fully understand what is being proposed. You can view the documents submitted to the Council on our website and in person at the Town Hall. If you require assistance in understanding the plans, an Officer will be available to help you.

Once you have viewed the plans and associated documents, we would encourage you to speak to the applicant or their representative. If you approach them and explain any concerns, either in person or in writing, they may be willing to address these issues and amend their proposal to overcome your concerns. If having spoken to the applicant, you still wish to comment on a planning application you must provide your comments in writing; this can be by letter, email or by using our online comments form. Please include the reference number or address of the application and your full postal address as we will acknowledge your correspondence. If you provide an email address, we can acknowledge your correspondence electronically.

For most applications, we allow three weeks for comments to be made. Please ensure you submit your comments to the Council within the set timescales to ensure that your comments are taken into consideration. We aim to make decisions on applications soon after the close of the consultation period so comments received after the designated consultation period may not be taken into consideration when determining the application. The dates for the consultation period will be clearly advertised on any relevant documentation. You can also check this for each current application on the Council’s website.

It is important that third parties express their views on an application but unfortunately, some of your concerns may not be issues we can consider when determining an application as they are not “material planning considerations”. We would always advise you to comment on any aspect that you feel may be of concern to you irrespective of whether it is something we can take into consideration or not. Issues we can and cannot take into consideration are listed below. This list is not exhaustive and should be used as a guide only.

Material Planning Considerations (issues we can consider)

  • loss of light
  • loss of privacy/increase in overlooking
  • design/appearance of a development
  • increase in smells (from a proposed restaurant for example)
  • noise from equipment that forms part of the development (air conditioning units or extractor flues for example)

Non Material Planning Considerations (issues we cannot consider)

  • loss of property value
  • disruption and disturbance from building work
  • land ownership or issues affecting the party wall (these are dealt with under separate legislation). For further advice please see other possible approvals

Contacting the Planning Officer

Each application is allocated a Planning Officer. They are also known as the case officer. This officer will oversee the application; coordinating all the relevant consultations, site visits, negotiations, reviewing planning policies and they will ultimately make a recommendation on the proposal to the Executive Director for Planning and Borough Development.

Due to increasing workload, case officers are extremely busy and therefore are not available to discuss an application on a drop-in basis. In order to deal with enquiries on applications, we have a dedicated PlanningLine staffed by trained advisors who can inform you of general processes and give you updates on applications. In addition, we have a Planning Information Desk located on the ground floor of the Town Hall. This desk is staffed by Officers who can also advise you on general processes, give you updates on applications and show you submitted plans and documents. If, once you have spoken to either the PlanningLine or the Planning desk, your question has not be answered, you will be advised on who best to contact to have your query answered.

Site Visits

The case officer will make a site visit to each application site prior to making a recommendation on the proposal. In some instances they will have to make an appointment with the applicant or their representative in order to access the site. However, if the application site is visible from a public area, it is not always necessary to meet with the applicant or their representative during the site visit.

If the case officer does need access to the site, they will contact the applicant or their agent to arrange a mutually suitable date and time. Case officers endeavour to arrange site visits early in the determination process. However, due to increasing workload, busy diaries and the possible requirement to involve other Council departments, the site visit may not be for a few weeks into the process. Your case officer will advise you if there is likely to be a delay and the reasons for the delay.

The case officer will look at the site and spend time considering the proposal and how it may affect the surrounding area, in most cases they will take photographs. Due to the often complex issues in planning it is not always possible to give a definitive answer to the acceptability of a proposal during the initial site visit. The Officer may wish to discuss the proposal with other Council departments or senior officers. Your case officer will advise you if they need to speak to other Council officers before forming an opinion on the proposals.

Occasionally an officer may consider it necessary to view an application site from a neighbouring property in order to fully understand the impact a proposal may have on surrounding properties. If this is considered necessary, the case officer will contact the occupiers of the property and make the appropriate arrangements. It is not usually appropriate for the applicant or their representative to accompany the case officer on such a visit.

Case officers do receive requests from occupiers of neighbouring properties to view the application site from the nearby properties. It is not always necessary for the case officer to agree to these requests. Please be aware that case officers will only agree to these requests if they believe they have not fully understood the proposal from visiting the application site. They will not visit neighbouring sites as a matter of routine.

Revisions to planning applications prior to determination

In some circumstances an application as submitted may not be considered acceptable. However, with some minor adjustments to the proposed plans an approval of permission would be acceptable. In this instance the Planning Officer may request amendments, often known as revisions, to the proposed plans. As an applicant you will be given a set time period in which to provide amended drawings. Due to tight timescales set for the determination of applications, we would request that you submit amended drawings within the timescale given by your case officer otherwise we may have to refuse the application. If substantial amendments are required to make a scheme acceptable then we will not request amendments, but will offer you the opportunity to withdraw the application if you do not wish for it to be refused.

As an interested party you may be advised that amended drawings have been received and given a further time period in which to comment on the revised proposals. Please note that we do not reconsult upon amended drawings as a matter of course; the decision to reconsult would be for the case officer to make based upon the particular circumstances of the case.

If you are reconsulted on an application, please ensure you submit any comments to the Council within the timescale given in order for your comments to be taken into account.

Delegated Powers and the Planning Applications Committee

The Planning Applications Committee is a public meeting made up of elected Councillors who meet regularly to decide whether certain planning applications should be approved or refused. Most planning applications can be determined by the Executive Director using his delegated powers. However, a small percentage cannot and must be presented to the Planning Applications Committee for them to consider the Officer's recommendations and decide whether the proposed development is acceptable or not.

Most applications start life as delegated cases. Through the consideration of the issues certain applications must transfer from being delegated cases to being committee cases. The Committee decides those applications where:

  • there have been 3 or more objections and the Executive Director for Planning and Borough Development is recommending that planning permission should be granted
  • in most cases where a section 106 agreement is proposed
  • an elected Member has requested that the application be considered by Committee or
  • the Executive Director for Planning and Borough Development has decided that the application should be considered by the Committee
  • an application is contrary to the Council’s planning policies and the Executive Director’s recommendation is to grant permission

Please see the Planning Committee page for further information and meeting dates.