How to submit a Planning Application

Pre-application enquiry service

We welcome early contact with prospective developers, and would recommend that you use our pre-application enquiry service , which will advise you on whether your proposal is likely get planning permission. We'll assess your proposal against council policy and guidance,and we'll let you know if there are any developer contributions which you'll need to pay. We will also let you know what information you need to provide when you submit your application, to ensure it's dealt with as speedily as possible. 

Apply online with ePlanning Scotland

The Scottish Government's ePlanning website provides easy to use forms and guidance for submitting planning applications and appeals online.

At ePlanning (opens new window)​ you can:

• submit a planning or other application
• purchase a location plan
• use the checklist to ensure all the required information is provided
• attach plans, drawings and other documents to support the application
• use the fee calculator to help calculate the correct fee
• create an account to allow further applications to be made
• share the planning information with neighbours, clients, or colleagues.

Application Fees

Please be aware that the Scottish Government has set out the next phase of inflation-linked increase to planning fees which comes into force on Wednesday 1 April 2026. 

Fees for appeals to Scottish Ministers and fees for local reviews (to the Local Review Body) have also increased as have fees for Pre Application Enquiries and newspaper advertisement fees (will be £100) all of which come in on Wednesday 1 April 2026.

A full list of application fees and pre consultation fees until 31 March 2026 is available on our Planning Application Fees page, and you can also pay online.

Neighbour notification

The council carries out neighbour notification for planning applications; the cost is included in the application fee. If there is land without a building on it near the application site, the application must be advertised in a local newspaper (this does not apply to householder applications). The charge for this until 31 March 2026 is £80 from 1 April 2026 the charge will be £100; the council will place it and charge you (the applicant). We will write to you if this is necessary.

Apply by post

If you can't use Scottish Government's ePlanning service, you can download the appropriate application forms and send them to us. If you haven't yet decided what type of application you will need, the Do I Need Planning Permission? pages will help you with this. 

Processing Agreements and extension of the time period for determination of a application.

We support the use of processing agreements, a formal framework for processing a planning application within a timescale agreed between the council and the applicant. This will typically be used for major planning applications, but it can also be useful for local applications.  The council has a  processing agreement template (PDF, 63 KB)(opens new window) which you can use. It is signed by both the applicant and the council and can help to provide certainty for both parties.

If we are unable, for whatever reason, to determine your application within the two month target we will write to you with a request to extend the timescale for determination. This will ensure that your right of appeal against non-determination is retained, as long as you agree to the proposed extension.