Planning Route Planner
Use this tool when you need to decide which approval path to prepare for before you sink time into the wrong route. It is designed to map whether the live answer still looks like permitted development, a formal application, a parallel consent or a mixed path that needs checking.
Plan The Approval Route
Answer the structured questions, then let the tool map the approval route and supporting checks most likely to matter.
What This Tool Is Good For
What it answers well
It helps you stop treating every project as a one-route question when the real answer may involve planning plus listed building consent, highways approval or a mixed fallback path.
Why it is useful early
It gives you a stronger steer on which route to prepare for before you invest in the wrong evidence or application assumptions.
Best next move
Use the route output to choose the right guide or council check, then confirm the detail with measured drawings and planning history where needed.
Questions This Tool Is Best At Narrowing
- What approval route do I need?
- Is this planning permission, prior approval or another consent?
- Could this project need mixed approvals?
How This Tool Fits Into The Wider Planning Process
Planning Route Planner is intended as a quick planning aid based on common UK planning considerations and permitted development limits.
Use it to narrow the question, then move into project guides, local authority pages or formal confirmation if the scheme is close to a limit. The route can differ by country, especially once Scotland or Wales are involved.
FAQ Pages Worth Opening After The Tool
Prior Approval Vs Planning Permission
Useful when the route is not cleanly one thing or the other and the distinction matters before you prepare evidence.
Read answerArticle 4 Directions Explained
Helpful when local policy might be the reason the route is stricter than expected.
Read answerDetailed Guidance Worth Opening Next
Permitted Development
Helpful when the simpler route still looks plausible.
Open guidePlanning Permission
Open this when the route is leaning more formal.
Open guideArticle 4 Restrictions
Useful when local policy could override the shortcut.
Open guideListed Buildings
Helpful when listed building consent may run alongside planning.
Open guideDropped Kerbs
Open this when highway approval may be part of the route.
Open guideProject Requirements Generator
Use this next to turn the route into a practical prep pack.
Open guideUse These Tools Properly
What they are for
- Reducing uncertainty at the start of the process.
- Helping you pick the right next page quickly.
- Spotting when the answer probably needs escalation.
What they do not replace
- Formal confirmation for borderline schemes.
- Local authority checks where special controls apply.
- Country-specific checking where England, Wales or Scotland follow different planning routes.
- Detailed professional advice for complex cases.