Win outline planning permission planning applications first

An outline application asks the council to agree the principle of development before the full design is fixed. It covers what is going on the site and how much of it. Here is what lands in your inbox and what each one means for you.

Housing schemes give you the biggest pipeline

Residential outlines run from a single plot in a garden to hundreds of homes on the edge of a town. Single plots and small infill sites point you to self-builders and small developers who need a builder, an architect and a full package of materials. Larger estates mean groundworks, drainage, roads, utilities and years of follow-on work as each phase comes forward.

Commercial and mixed-use outlines bring big-ticket contracts

Industrial units, warehouses, offices, retail parks and mixed-use regeneration schemes all start life as outline applications. These sites need structural engineers, frame and cladding contractors, mechanical and electrical specialists, and suppliers who deliver at volume.

Reserved matters show you exactly what is still open

Each outline application states which matters are reserved: access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale. Every reserved matter is a piece of work nobody has been hired for yet. If appearance and landscaping are reserved, the architect and the landscape designer are still to be chosen. Read the list and you know which door to knock on.

Renewals and variations point you to owners ready to build

Applications to extend the time limit on an outline permission, or to vary its conditions, show a site the owner still means to develop. Those owners want a team in place and ready to move.

Outline sites need a full team, and every member of that team wins by reaching the applicant before the brief is written.

Builders and developers secure the build contract early

Main contractors and housebuilders use outline applications to spot landowners who have the principle agreed and nobody to build. You call the agent, offer to price the scheme and become the contractor of choice before the detailed design goes in. Smaller builders win single plots and infill sites straight from the landowner.

Specialist contractors get their package specified

Groundworkers, civil engineers, drainage firms, roofers, frame erectors and building services contractors know that big sites mean big packages. Approach the developer at outline stage and your method and your price shape the detailed design.

Manufacturers and suppliers get written into the specification

Timber frame, precast concrete, bricks, windows, heat pumps and modular systems all get chosen while the detailed drawings are being prepared. You put your product on those drawings before a competitor's name appears there.

Architects and consultants win the detailed design

Many outline applications come from landowners who want to prove the value of their land. Once permission is granted, they need an architect for the detailed scheme, plus planning consultants, ecologists, transport engineers, arboriculturalists and surveyors to discharge the conditions. You offer that service the day the application appears, and you take the commission while others are still finding out the site exists.

Whatever you deliver, the pattern is the same: read the application, identify the decision-maker, make a specific offer for that site, and win the work before it is advertised.

Leads sends you the outline applications that match your keywords, nationwide or in the areas you choose, the day councils publish them. Everything arrives in one email a day, so you start each morning with a list of sites to call.

Every lead gives you what you need to make contact

Each lead carries the details you need to act straight away:

• The planning reference, site address and council
• The description of the work and the application type
• Key dates and decision status
• A link to the council's own record
• The applicant, agent firm and business contact wherever the council publishes them

You choose exactly where you work

Cover the whole of the UK or pick up to 5 areas. Each area is a radius of up to 75 miles from a postcode or town, or a whole council. Planning Signal covers 400+ councils across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and holds 2.3 million planning applications, with more than 36,000 outline applications on record. Leads covers every kind of planning application, so the same subscription brings in the rest of your work too.

You track every lead through to the win

The lead pipeline records who you contacted, who you quoted and which jobs you won. Leads also includes everything in Research: search, advanced filters and CSV export, so you dig into past outline sites and build a target list of the landowners and agents worth knowing.

Leads costs £49 + VAT a month.

You watch your own area for free

Keeping an eye on development near your home, office or yard? Anyone can get free email alerts for planning applications near an address, postcode, town or council.