What is Building Control Consent?

We provide a Building Regulations service to people carrying out building work in the Ribble Valley. This includes:

• Giving advice and support
• Checking plans 
• Inspecting sites

This service helps you comply with the requirements of the Building Regulations.

Planning Permission or Building Control?

Planning Permission and Building Regulations approval are different.

Building Regulations

These set standards for the design and construction of buildings to ensure the safety and health for people in or about those buildings. They also include requirements to ensure that fuel and power is conserved and facilities are provided for people, including those with disabilities, to access and move around inside buildings.

Planning

Planning guides the way our towns, cities and countryside develop. This includes the use of land and buildings, the appearance of buildings, landscaping considerations, highway access and the impact that the development will have on the general environment.

For many types of building work, separate permission under both regimes will be required. For other building work, such as internal alterations, Buildings Regulations approval will probably be needed, but Planning permission may not be. If you are in any doubt you should contact us.

Building Control is generally a two-stage process, known as a Full Plans application.

The first stage (plan stage):

• The applicant submits detailed plans for approval
• The plans are carefully checked by a Building Control Officer to make sure that all necessary information is shown, and that it complies fully with the Building Regulations 
• Applicants are given the opportunity to make amendments before either an approval, conditional approval or rejection is given

Our aims:

• To ensure that any requests for additional information are clear and unambiguous
• To work closely with applicants and their agents

The second stage (inspection stage):

• This stage starts when work commences on site
• A series of site visits are made to check that the work proceeds in accordance with the plan, and complies with the regulations 
• For more simple works an alternative, called a Building Notice application, is also available together with more specialised application types to meet specific needs

Our aims:

• To maintain accurate records of site visits
• To provide a certificate upon satisfactory completion of the work