Duty planning officer appointments

A duty Planning officer service operates from the Gateway One Stop Shop situated in One Guildhall Square in Southampton. More details can be found here

The duty planner will be available to give informal planning advice in person, on the telephone or by email. An appointment will be necessary to speak to the duty planner in person. There may be slots available without a previously arranged appointment, but you may have to be prepared to wait for several hours in busy periods. Any verbal information the duty planning officer gives will be limited and if you wish to receive any further written information or confirmation there will be a fee of £35.00 for householder inquiries.

The duty planner can be contacted by telephone on 023 8083 2603. General planning enquiries can be made using the contact details at the bottom of this page.

From 8 May 2012:

The service is available during the following hours:
Monday – Tuesday: 10am - 1pm
Wednesday: There is no service on Wednesday until further notice.
Thursday - Friday: 10am – 1pm

This service is not a statutory service and may not always be provided subject to the availability of planning officers.

During these hours, a planner may be available to give informal planning advice to personal callers as well as telephone callers on:

• permitted development rights

• extensions and alterations to domestic dwellings

• small-scale commercial developments

• small-scale advertisements

• minor physical alterations to commercial properties

• the council’s planning policies, standards and guidelines

The duty planner will not be available to:

• give written advice

• discuss any larger-scale development proposals (Please ask about this in writing)

• discuss with applicants or agents the technical merits of current applications, recently refused applications or appeals

• decide minor amendments to planning permissions

Advice on the last two items should be sought by arranging a meeting with the case officer who has dealt with the application or appeal previously or by submitting a Minor amendment application.

Any advice given by the duty planner does not indicate any formal decision by the Council as local planning authority. Any views or opinions expressed are given in good faith and to the best of ability, without prejudice to the formal consideration of any planning application following statutory public consultation, the issues raised and evaluation of all available information.

Pre-application advice

This is now a chargeable service and is for inquiries that require a written response. The link to this service page is available below.