Planning permission may be required for a wide variety of development, whether it be new building works or changes in the use of land or buildings. The Strategic Planning service is responsible for guiding future development in Trafford and prepares, monitors and reviews a number of plans and strategies that provide the planning framework for residential, business, retail, leisure, community, cultural and tourism development.

The Council provides a comprehensive pre-application advice service for businesses. Providing quality advice to developers and applicants about the acceptability of their proposals prior to the submission of a planning application can be critically important for both applicants and the Council, as it provides the opportunity to gain a clear understanding of the objectives of, constraints on and likely acceptability of development proposals. It is of particular importance for major developments in the Borough and for significant investments in and by Trafford businesses which can help fulfil the Council’s ambitions for the Borough.

Planning Performance Agreements

Planning applications submitted to Trafford can raise very complex issues. Determining  planning applications within the statutory 8 week or 13 week timeframes while achieving the best use of the site and best outcome from the surrounding community can be complex and challenging for everyone involved.

Planning Performance Agreements (PPAs) are a project management process and tool to improve the quality of planning applications and to provide greater certainty and transparency in the development of these schemes, in the assessment of the planning applications and in the decision making process.

Planning Performance Agreements allow a more bespoke project management approach to be taken to engagement, negotiation and determination of planning applications and allow this process to sit outside of statutory timeframes. PPAs can cover the pre-application and application stages but may also extend through to the post application stage. They can be particularly useful in setting out an efficient and transparent process for determining large and / or complex planning applications but can also be used in relation to smaller developments or where there is a requirement to meet particular deadlines e.g. for funding or site options. A Planning Performance Agreement can be a useful tool to focus pre-application discussions on the issues that will need to be addressed throughout the course of preparing and determining a planning application, and the timescales and resources that are likely to be required.

We believe the use of Planning Performance Agreements in Trafford enables the best outcomes for everyone and we strongly encourage their use. PPAs can: 

• Provide certainty in the planning application process and improve project management and programming of works;
• Encourage collaborative working;
• Build trust;
• Foster strong and productive partnerships;
• Provide improved customer service;
• Allow for bespoke programming and appropriate resourcing of the proposals;
• Promote better quality developments.

While a Planning Performance Agreement will help to ensure that an application is processed to an agreed timetable with meetings to help overcome issues that arise during the application process, the signing of a PPA between the applicant and the local planning authority does not prejudice the outcome of a planning application.

If you are interested in progressing a scheme through a PPA please contact the Service directly with your requirements. The fee will be calculated on a cost recovery basis and will be dependent on the scale and nature of the development and the timescales proposed. If the PPA is to include pre-application discussions the fee will be incorporated into the overall cost of the PPA and no separate pre-application enquiry fee will be payable.