It can be quite an anxious moment when you submit your first planning application. It can take weeks or even months to hear the verdict, and you’ll no doubt be expecting the worst news.

To make sure you have the best possible chance of gaining permission, it’s important to know that submitting a planning application varies depending on the nature of the development, but we’ll talk about this in a more general sense. So as a rule of thumb, an application should include:

Five copies of application forms, the signed ownership certificate, a site plan, block plan and elevations of the existing and proposed sites, a Design and Access Statement and the correct fee, which is usually £385 in England.

Before you even submit anything, make sure you have at least all of this. There can be situations where you’ll be asked for more, but these are the basic essentials of a planning application, and each one requires a little bit of care and diligence. Any mistakes will mean you’re application is void, so you have to make sure everything is accurate.