Skip to content
Complete Planning logo Complete PlanningPlanning & Architectural Design
Planning applications

Full planning permission

For new houses, conversions, changes of use and anything beyond a householder extension, a full planning application sets out the complete design for approval.

Benjamin Plunkett, Managing Director
✓Free home visit ✓No obligation ✓Honest advice ✓Fixed price Ben, our Managing Director and Planning & Heritage Consultant, will visit your property anywhere in our six council areas.
📞 Call 01206 656027 or book online →
Planning drawings for a coach house conversion

When you need full planning permission

A full application is needed for most development that isn't covered by householder or permitted development rules, including:

  • New houses and small housing schemes
  • Converting buildings to homes, or homes into flats or HMOs
  • Changes of use, such as shops or offices to residential
  • Agricultural, equestrian and commercial buildings

Supporting documents

Full applications usually need more supporting information than householder ones. Depending on the site and the council, this can include:

  • A planning statement and a design and access statement
  • A heritage statement, for listed buildings and conservation areas
  • Biodiversity net gain information, where it applies
  • Ecology, tree, flood risk, highways or contamination reports from specialist consultants
  • Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) forms, where the council charges CIL

We coordinate these for you, tell you early which reports are likely to be needed, and arrange quotes from consultants we trust.

Benjamin PlunkettCharlie Plunkett

Who'll handle your project: Benjamin Plunkett, our Managing Director and Planning & Heritage Consultant, is your point of contact from the first site visit to the decision. Charlie Plunkett MCIAT produces the drawings.

About us
Recent projects

Planning Applications projects

See more
3D view of the mid-century style rear extension
Extension Babergh

Mid-century style extension and recladding of a home in Elmsett

A single-storey extension, new windows and cedar and off-white cladding that give a mid-century chalet bungalow in Elmsett a fresh retro-modern look.
The weatherboarded building from the garden
Change of use Tendring

Office to three-bedroom home by prior approval in Tendring

A prior approval for converting a weatherboarded office building into a three-bedroom detached home with parking and a large garden in Tendring.
Proposed front elevation with cream render gable and brick ground floor
Extension Tendring

Raised roof and two-storey rear extension

A dated bungalow redesigned as a family home, reworked point by point after an earlier refusal.
Street elevation with a bay window, balcony and gabled dormer
Change of use Lowestoft

Change of use from offices to an eight-bedroom HMO

Planning permission to convert a three-storey office and training building in Lowestoft into an eight-bedroom house of multiple occupation.
The front of the townhouse before work, with its carport and garage
Extension Ipswich

Rear extension and garage conversion for a three-storey townhouse

A single-storey rear extension with a roof lantern and a garage conversion, creating a large open living space for a townhouse in Ipswich.
Front of the new bungalow, with black weatherboarding, a red tiled roof and an oak porch
New build Tendring

A single-storey three-bedroom home in a rural setting

A new three-bedroom bungalow in Ardleigh, with black weatherboarding, a red tiled roof and an oak porch, approved by Tendring District Council.
Questions

Frequently asked questions

Should I apply for outline or full permission?

Outline permission establishes the principle with fewer details, while full permission approves the complete design. See outline planning permission for how to choose.

Do I need biodiversity net gain?

Most new development in England now has to deliver a biodiversity net gain, with some exemptions such as householder applications. We'll tell you if it applies and bring in an ecologist where needed.

Benjamin Plunkett, Managing Director
Free home visit

Thinking about a project?

Ben, our Managing Director and Planning & Heritage Consultant, will come to you, look at the property and tell you honestly what's likely to get approved. Free, with no obligation, anywhere in Tendring, Babergh, Colchester, Braintree, Maldon and Ipswich districts.

Planning consultants and chartered designers in one team: drawings designed to get approved, with the same people from site visit to decision.

Book a free home visit → Call 01206 656027
📞 CallBook a free visit