Making an online planning application

You can create a new application by registering or logging in to the Planning Portal https://www.planningportal.co.uk/app¹, and choosing ‘Start new application’ under ‘Planning applications’ on the left of the screen.

Every application requires three basic details, begin creating your application by completing these sections:

1. Name - A name for your application, we suggest using the site address.
2. Location - The location of your development. This determines the local planning authority (LPA) that you will submit the application to. It will also be used to help you draw your site boundary.  
   The system will only identify a single LPA, if your site is within more than one LPA’s boundary, then please contact us² when you have submitted.
3. Type - The type of application you require. You may wish to contact your LPA to discuss this or view details of the types of application we offer³.
   Application types not on the system: There are some types of application that are not currently available through our online system. View a list of these and download PDF forms⁴. If you need help choosing the type of application you need, our guidance may help⁵.

Create your application

Once you have confirmed these basic details, you can include a description and draw a site boundary (more details about those features are shown below). Then choose ‘Create application’ from the bottom of the 'Check your answers' screen that summarises the application details. Your newly created application will be saved as a ‘draft’ and ready for you to start completing. Or to return to work on it later, you can also access from the ‘My planning applications’ section using the menu.

See a list of your planning applications

The ‘My planning applications’ section shows all your drafted, submitted, and archived applications on Planning Portal. For easier searching if you have created multiple applications, the list can be filtered by status, local planning authority (LPA), version, date, or application type. This dashboard can be accessed by logging in and choosing ‘Manage my applications’.

Application overview 

Using the sections of the application overview screen, you can complete the following tasks:

1. Questions – Complete the application questions (also lists all question sections and shows a progress bar)
2. Upload plans and documents – Attach supporting documentation
3. Calculate fee – determine the fees for the application
4. Submit application –
   • Confirm that the application is complete and ready to submit
   • Sign off and submit the application
   • Pay the application fee and any applicable service charge
   • Once payment is received and has cleared, the application and application fee will be submitted to the relevant LPA.

These stages are detailed in the next section.

Additional tools

Include a description

After selecting the application type, you have the opportunity to describe your application. Providing a description of your application will help the local authority to read a summary of the proposal and clearly understand the details. You can write and continue with your own description or use the built-in AI tool to refine your description to make it as clear as possible using terms understood by local authority planning officers. The description can be used to auto-complete some areas of your application. 

Draw a site boundary

You can draw your site boundary as part of the create application step. When you enter the postcode (step 2 above), this ensures your application is handled by the correct local authority. The drawing tool, available to those application types that require a location plan, will present the location on the map where you can define the boundaries and add labels, such as road names. Additionally, once your site boundary has been created you can also use this as the basis for your location plan to support the application. Find out more about drawing your site boundary⁶.

View planning constraints for the site

It is important to know what constraints apply to a site early in the planning process to understand whether any additional requirements will have to be considered. The system will check some planning constraints and identify if they apply to your site, helping you to understand if constraints such as conservation area, flood risk, and Green Belt apply, to allow you to gather the correct information. Read more about planning constraints⁷.

1. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/app
2. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/services/help
3. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/planning/planning-applications/consent-types/introduction
4. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/planning/planning-applications/consent-types/introduction
5. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/planning/planning-applications/application-guide
6. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/services/help/location-plan-feature
7. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/planning/planning-applications/planning-constraints