How does it work

Guidance on the Council’s planning application system is available from the planning team's webpages.

As a tip, we’d encourage self-builders to appoint an agent who’s familiar with the planning process as it can be quite complicated and involve various technical requirements even for small-scale projects.

Self-build projects are exempt from paying the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL). A self-build exemption form must be completed and submitted with supporting evidence before your project starts, along with notifying the Council’s Planning Services section, and a further form submitted within six months of completing the project. If the evidence is not submitted to the Council within six months, the full CIL charge becomes payable.