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 People Usually Ask After The Result
Keep this block for the interpretation and trust questions that usually appear once the tool has narrowed the answer.
Is planning route planner a final answer?
No. Planning Route Planner is built to narrow the planning question quickly, not to replace the project guide, local authority layer or formal verification where certainty matters.
What details most often change the result?
Listed-building issues, Article 4, highway approvals, planning history and mixed-consent situations are the things most likely to change the route map.
When should I verify formally?
Verify formally once the route depends on a parallel consent, a sensitive site or a scheme that only works if one approval path falls your way.
What page should I open next?
Open the route page or consent type the result has narrowed it to, not a generic project guide.
Why does local context still matter after the tool?
Because conservation areas, listed buildings, Article 4, planning history and council-specific judgement can still make a familiar-looking result less reliable on a real site.
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 fast planning triage step 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 tool should help you spend money in the right order, not tempt you to stop checking too early.
Need A More Tailored Steer Than The Tool Result?
If planning route planner has narrowed the question but the answer still depends on your exact site, local authority area or project details, use the structured guidance form instead of relying on another broad rule of thumb.
Best for
Borderline, awkward or site-specific cases where broad guidance has helped, but the answer still turns on facts that are unique to your property or proposal.
What the reply aims to do
The reply aims to narrow the likely route, flag the tripwires that matter most, and tell you which verification step is safest before more money is spent.
What to include
Property type, council area, location, the change you want to make, approximate dimensions, relevant heritage or flat-related details, previous additions and the main concern.
Important: Replies are informational personalised guidance based on the details you provide and publicly available information. They are not formal legal, architectural, surveying or council advice. Site-specific or borderline cases may still need checking with the local authority or a qualified specialist before drawings, applications or contractor spend move ahead.
Your enquiry details are used to respond to your request. Anonymised themes may be used to improve guides, tools, FAQs and site content. Identifiable case details are not published without permission, and sending an enquiry does not sign you up to marketing emails. Privacy notice.
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
Rules vary by location
Planning routes can change by council area, property history, designations and the exact proposal. Use this page as a structured guide to the next check, not as a blanket approval.
What this page is for
To reduce uncertainty quickly, point you to the next page that matters, and show when a broad tool result is still too weak to rely on for a live project decision.
What it does not replace
These tools do not replace formal confirmation for borderline schemes, local authority checking where special controls apply, or paid specialist input for genuinely complex cases.
How the guidance is built
Tool results are based on common planning and permitted development baselines, then framed to push you toward the project, local authority and rule pages most likely to settle the remaining doubt.
When to stop relying on broad guidance
Escalate when the route only works inside a tight threshold, when local controls may be doing most of the work, or when you need written certainty before drawings, applications or contractor spend.
Safest formal next step
Use the tool result as triage, then move into the matching guide. If certainty still matters, step up to a lawful development certificate, pre-application advice or professional help rather than rerunning broad checks.
Official-source check
Where this page shows official sources, use those links near the relevant answer to confirm the latest council or national wording before relying on a borderline route.