People urged to scrap paper and submit digital-only planning and building regulation applications

People who intend to submit planning applications or building regulation applications to Wiltshire Council during the coming months are urged to submit them digitally through the Wiltshire Council website to avoid unnecessary delays, rather than posting any documents or cheques.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and further government restrictions are in place, Wiltshire Council staff are working from home to help prevent the spread of the virus and will not be attending the council's main hubs on a daily basis to collect post.

Therefore, any posted hard copies of applications, cheques or letters relating to planning applications may not be collected for some time and there is a risk of significant delays to processing applications and payments made by cheque.

Cllr Toby Sturgis, Cabinet Member for Planning said: "Our teams are working hard to process planning and building control applications as we receive them, but are working from home to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, and as such they will be prioritising electronic applications and payments.

"Therefore, I'd urge anyone submitting a planning or building regulations application to submit them via our website, as anything posted to any of our hubs in the next few months may be subject to significant delays.

"Submitting a planning application or payment through our website is easy, and it also speeds up the process for the applicant.

"I'd like to thank any applicants for their understanding with this, and also thank our staff, who have been working so hard during these difficult times."

To submit a planning application online, or for more information, go to https://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/planning-building-control/planning.