Direct Planning Applications to the Planning Department
Case reference EIR2026/01944
Received 13 September 2026
Published 19 October 2026
Request
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, could you please provide the following information from the last 12 months:
In light of the increased fees by the Planning Portal, which we understand to be a private company now, we are not aware of any legislation that prevents us submitting applications directly via consultants or as individuals.
I am trying to understand the methods allowed by your planning department according to any internal rules or guidance that you might hold. I am not looking for any planning advice in this request, merely your policies as determined by your planning department.
In light of this, please can you advise me as to whether we can submit a planning applications or prior approval requests directly to the local authority in accordance with the relevant legislation as laid down by the government.
Please advise as to whether any forms are acceptable, provided they contain the same information as contained in forms supplied by the Planning Portal or via forms that contain your local authority branding as hosted by the Planning Portal.
Please advise as to which email address the forms should be submitted.
Please also advise as to how payment should be made to the local authority for the correct fee.
Finally please advise on any additional fee to submit directly and the reasons for this fee.
Response
Thank you for your recent request under the Freedom of Information Act.
We would advise that you submit a planning application in Guildford through the national Planning Portal, which Guildford Borough Council recommends for all applications, including uploading required plans (PDF, max 5 MB) and paying the correct fee. Further information about how to apply is publicly available and can be found on our website via the following link:
https://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/24696/Starting-your-application
The Council also has a pre-application-advice service that can be accessed for larger developments and further information is available on our website via the following link:
https://www.guildford.gov.uk/article/24617/What-is-our-pre-application-advice-service
As such, the information you require can be found from publicly available sources and consequentially under Section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible.
Yours sincerely
FOI Team
Guildford Borough Council
Documents
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