How the planning system works

South Derbyshire District Council is currently preparing the new Local Plan Part One for submission by 12th March 2025. This will replace the current Local Plan adopted in 2016. Given this deadline Development Management Planning Officers are assisting colleagues within the Planning Policy team. This diversion of resources for the next 8 weeks will result in delays in the processing of planning applications and other functions of the service. We are aiming to deal with applications and responding to enquiries in the order they are received in the majority of cases. We will respond as soon as possible.

Planning ensures that the right development happens in the right place at the right time, benefitting communities, the environment and the economy.

It plays a critical role in identifying what development is required and where, what areas need to be protected or enhanced and whether proposed development is sustainable. The Government has produced a Plain English guide to the planning system.

There are two main types of planning application:

  1. Full planning permission 
  2. Outline planning permission

Before you carry out any building work, you need to check if you need to apply for planning permission.