Building control for residential developments enquiry
Case reference FOI2026/01721
Received 14 August 2026
Published 15 September 2026
Request
Please treat this as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and/or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, as applicable.
I am requesting information concerning Guildford Borough Council building-control records for residential developments recorded as completed within the last ten years.
Please provide the following in CSV or Excel format where possible:
1. For every building-control record from 1 January 2016 to the date of this request involving the creation of 10 or more residential dwellings, please provide:
* building-control reference;
* site address;
* description of works;
* number of dwellings recorded or apparent from the description;
* application received date;
* validation/acceptance date, if held;
* commencement date, if held;
* completion date recorded on the Council’s system;
* final certificate date, if different;
* completion certificate issue date, if different;
* record status;
* type of record, including whether it was Full Plans, Building Notice, Initial Notice, Regularisation, Certificated Works, or another category;
* whether the completion date applies to the whole development, a phase, a block, individual plots, or another defined part of the development;
* any plot numbers, phase references, block references or certificate scope information held against the completion entry.
2. Please provide the Council’s current written definition, guidance, procedure note, system manual, or internal explanation for what the “completion date” field means in building-control records.
3. Please confirm whether building-control completion dates are used, exported, supplied, relied upon, or cross-checked for any of the following purposes:
* housing delivery monitoring;
* planning monitoring;
* government returns;
* New Homes Bonus calculations;
* council tax/new dwellings reporting;
* internal performance reporting;
* any other statutory or financial reporting.
4. For each relevant external or government return identified in response to point 3, please provide:
* the name of the return or dataset;
* the reporting body or recipient;
* the frequency of submission;
* the data fields supplied;
* whether building-control completion dates are used directly, indirectly, or only as a cross-check.
5. Please provide any data-quality checks, reconciliation procedures, audit procedures, written guidance, or review processes used by the Council to ensure that recorded building-control completion dates correspond with actual physical completion, occupation, final certification, or the relevant statutory definition used by the Council.
6. Please confirm whether the Council keeps an audit history showing changes to building-control completion dates after they have first been entered. If so, please provide for the records in scope:
* the original completion date entered;
* any later amended completion date;
* the date of amendment;
* the reason recorded for amendment;
* the officer/team role making the amendment, with names redacted if necessary.
Response
Thank you for your request for information. We have considered your request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), as the information requested relates to the built environment and development of land.
Please find the answers to your queries below:
Please treat this as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and/or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, as applicable.
I am requesting information concerning Guildford Borough Council building-control records for residential developments recorded as completed within the last ten years.
Please provide the following in CSV or Excel format where possible:
1. For every building-control record from 1 January 2016 to the date of this request involving the creation of 10 or more residential dwellings, please provide:
* building-control reference;
* site address;
* description of works;
* number of dwellings recorded or apparent from the description;
* application received date;
* validation/acceptance date, if held;
* commencement date, if held;
* completion date recorded on the Council’s system;
* final certificate date, if different;
* completion certificate issue date, if different;
* record status;
* type of record, including whether it was Full Plans, Building Notice, Initial Notice, Regularisation, Certificated Works, or another category;
* whether the completion date applies to the whole development, a phase, a block, individual plots, or another defined part of the development;
* any plot numbers, phase references, block references or certificate scope information held against the completion entry.
The Council does not hold an existing report containing all of the specific fields requested in Question 1.
To identify all building control records within scope of the request would require the Council to manually review individual building control records dating from January 2016 onwards in order to determine whether each record relates to a development comprising 10 or more dwellings and, where relevant, extract the requested information from each record.
The Council has considered whether it would be reasonable to undertake this work but has concluded that compliance with this part of the request would impose a disproportionate and unreasonable burden, given the request covers Building Control activity from January 2016 to the date of this request, which would require the review of an extremely large number of individual records. Whilst Building Control completion information may be used as a cross-check for housing monitoring and government returns, the Council does not hold an existing report containing all of the information fields requested in Question 1 and extracting this information would require extensive manual review of a very large number of individual records.
To illustrate this, the Council has performed a search of Building Control records solely for the month of April 2026 (from 1st April to 30th April 2026) – this single month contains 531 Building Control application records. Assuming it took an average of four minutes to review each individual record, reviewing the records solely for the month of April 2026 would require approximately 2,124 minutes (or 35.4 hours) of officer time, before taking into account the time required to collate, verify and extract the requested information.
Accordingly, the Council is refusing this part of the request under Regulation 12(4)(b) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, as the request is manifestly unreasonable by reason of the burden that would be imposed in complying with it.
In reaching this decision, the Council has considered the public interest test and recognises the public interest in transparency regarding housing development and building control activity. However, the Council considers that this is outweighed by the public interest in ensuring that limited public resources are used efficiently and that the work required to comply with this request would require extensive manual review of a substantial number of records, significantly interfering with the Council's ability to carry out its statutory functions.
However, please note that the Council's Building Control public register is available at the following website:
https://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/24709/Search-for-a-building-control-application
Information relating to individual Building Control applications can be searched and viewed through this register. The register may assist you in identifying developments of interest by allowing searches using keywords and date ranges (using the ‘advanced’ search tab).
In accordance with the Council's duty under Regulation 9 of the EIR, we have sought to assist by directing you to the Building Control public register, through which information relating to individual applications may be viewed.
2. Please provide the Council’s current written definition, guidance, procedure note, system manual, or internal explanation for what the “completion date” field means in building-control records.
Building Control have advised that the ‘completion date’ field is generally defined as either the date of the final inspection or the date on which works are considered complete following receipt of the necessary evidence.
3. Please confirm whether building-control completion dates are used, exported, supplied, relied upon, or cross-checked for any of the following purposes:
* housing delivery monitoring – yes.
* planning monitoring – no.
* government returns – yes.
* New Homes Bonus calculations – no.
* council tax/new dwellings reporting – yes.
* internal performance reporting – no.
* any other statutory or financial reporting – not held.
Yes, we are required to provide information to the U.K. government using Delta Returns in which we must provide quarterly information about new builds commenced and completed. The Council Tax team also cross check Building Control completion dates, as well as liaising directly with developers to identify when properties are complete and become chargeable for Council Tax.
4. For each relevant external or government return identified in response to point 3, please provide:
* the name of the return or dataset:
P2 Quarterly House Building Return (submitted via DELTA)
* the reporting body or recipient:
Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
* the frequency of submission:
Quarterly.
* the data fields supplied:
Information is supplied in accordance with the P2 Quarterly House Building Return guidance published by the Ministry.
* whether building-control completion dates are used directly, indirectly, or only as a cross-check;
Building Control completion information is used as a cross-check when compiling the return.
5. Please provide any data-quality checks, reconciliation procedures, audit procedures, written guidance, or review processes used by the Council to ensure that recorded building-control completion dates correspond with actual physical completion, occupation, final certification, or the relevant statutory definition used by the Council.
The Council does not hold any separate written data-quality, audit or reconciliation procedures specifically relating to the recording of building-control completion dates. Completion certificates are only issued following a final inspection or receipt of the required evidential documentation. This process provides the validation mechanism for recording completion dates.
6. Please confirm whether the Council keeps an audit history showing changes to building-control completion dates after they have first been entered. If so, please provide for the records in scope:
* the original completion date entered;
* any later amended completion date;
* the date of amendment;
* the reason recorded for amendment;
* the officer/team role making the amendment, with names redacted if necessary.
The Council does not hold an audit history showing changes to building-control completion dates and therefore does not hold the information requested.
If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may request an internal review. Requests for internal review should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of this letter.
If you remain dissatisfied following the internal review, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
Yours sincerely,
FOI Team
Guildford Borough Council
Documents
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