Vale of White Horse District Council
Abbey House, Abbey Close,
Abingdon, OX14 3JE
Email: comments@whitehorsedc.gov.uk
Telephone: 01235 520202

Vale of White Horse District Council

How to apply for building regulations approval

There are two methods of applying for building regulations approval – either a full plans application, or by a building notice application. The inspection notification process and the total charge payable will be the same whatever method is used.

A full plans application is where drawings, details and other supporting information is submitted for checking and a formal decision notice is given.

A building notice application is a less detailed form of application where minimal information is initially required and no formal decision is given.  The process of achieving compliance is much more heavily weighted towards the work in progress.  This form of application is designed for minor domestic work where detailed plans are not felt appropriate.

More information about these two methods can be found in the Building Control customer application guide, which can be downloaded from the right of the page.

An application form for both methods, together with guidance notes on how to apply, can be downloaded from the right of the page. This needs to be filled in and sent together with the relevant fee to Building Control using the contact details on the right. You can check the details of charges using our Fee Calculator, which can be accessed from the right of the page.

Full plan applications can now also be made online via the Submit-a-plan website.  Unfortunately, due to technical issues Submit-a-plan will not be available from Thursday 14 August to Monday 8 September 2008.  Sorry for any inconveniencecaused. 

You will firstly need to register an account with submit-a-plan. Instructions on how to do this are on the submit-a-plan home page. Once you have registered, follow the on screen instructions make a submission.

Building Control charges

The Building (Local Authority Charges) Regulations 1998 require local authorities to set fees payable for carrying out their building regulation functions. These fees cover any necessary consultations, the checking of plans, all site inspections and the associated administration work.

Full plans application

When making an application using this method the fee is divided into two stages:

Stage 1 - a fee is paid when the application form and plans are deposited.

Stage 2 - this is paid after the first site inspection. This is a one off fee that covers all of the inspections during the life of the project. After the first inspection an invoice will be raised and sent to you.

Building notice application

Should you decide to use this route then the full fee is paid when you submit your building notice (this is the combined plan fee and inspection fee).

We would recommend that you should be totally confident that the work will be undertaken as no refund is available should you change your mind.

Details of the charges for both these methods can be found in the application forms which can be downloaded from this page.