Last edited 09 Apr 2015

HSE land use planning pre-application advice service

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is Britain’s regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to reduce work-related death, injury and ill health.

HSE is a statutory consultee to local planning authorities on planning applications for Hazardous Substances Consent (HSC) and developments near major hazard installations and pipelines. Its role as statutory consultee is to ensure planning decisions are informed by the public safety risks arising from applications.

On 28 July 2014, HSE’s Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) launched an enhanced pre-application service to make it easier and faster for developers and planning authorities to access land use planning information and advice. The Land Use Planning Pre-application Advice service was fully rolled-out in March 2015.

It is a paid for business-facing service that will give better access to HSE’s assessment tools and techniques, intended to:

Support early and positive engagement.
Enable better informed planning decisions.
Generate increased effectiveness and efficiency.
Create greater transparency in HSE’s decisions and operations.

Three options on offer.

A free service giving confirmation of whether a proposed development is within an HSE consultation zone.
Advice for proposed developments within an HSE consultation zone.
A bespoke service depending on the complexity of the proposed development.

Charges are dependent on the level of advice required.

Peter Brown, head of HSE’s Hazardous Installations Policy Division, said: “By enabling easier and more transparent access to HSE’s Land Use Planning advice, developers and planners will be able to get quick or even immediate answers to queries related to a plot of land they may be interested in purchasing or developing”.