Please see the list below for answers to frequently asked questions regarding our website and its functions:
The Homepage
Accounts and Subscriptions
Other common queries about our website
Return to FAQ homepage and topic list
The Planning Portal’s home page is now made up of portlets – small windows containing information and data.
When you are logged in you can change the portlets that appear on the home page to suit you, adding, removing or rearranging content as you see fit.
When you register with the Planning Portal we ask you to describe your role (e.g. ‘General Public’, ‘Architect’, ‘Local Planning Authority’ etc). Depending on the answer you choose you will get a different set of portlets.
You are free to add or remove as many portlets you choose to your home page.
The portlets were developed based on feedback with users – both members of the public and professional users.
Guidance
This portlet contains links to the common guidance areas on the website and the popular interactive house tool.
Appeals
A selection of the links to some of the most popular pages in the Appeals section.
Apply
Quick links to get started on an online planning application with a link to the fee calculator.
News feeds
This portlet lets you read news feeds (following the RSS format). The portlet comes loaded with a number of pre-loaded news feeds. You can choose to customise this list by removing existing news feeds or adding new ones. To add a new RSS feed you will need to copy and paste its RSS URL (such as feed://www.communities.gov.uk/static/rss/WhatsNewRSS_planning.xml).
Approved Documents
The portlet lets users access Approved Documents from a single list. Users can enter search terms in the portlet. In addition, the five most recently accessed Approved Documents are linked to at the top for quick access.
Useful Tools
A simple portlet that lets you quickly access some of the Portal’s most popular and useful services including the fee calculator and carbon calculator.
Your Applications
The Your Applications portlet only appears if you have previously created an application on the Portal. The portlet lets you access your applications with a single click. You can also filter your applications by title, date or local authority. Alternatively you can view submitted applications, access your My Applications home stage or start a new planning application.
Identify LPA
This portlet lets you enter a place name or postcode to find the local planning authority for the area. You can add more than one local authority to your portlet.
Common Projects
The portlet lets users access common building projects from a single list. Users can enter search terms in the portlet to find a specific project. In addition, the five most recently accessed common projects are linked to at the top for quick access.
Current Policy
The portlet lets users browse and search the most current policy documents from a single list.
Because the list of policy documents is long, we suggest you use the search box to find a particular term (e.g. ‘housing’ or ‘PPS 3’).
You can also choose to filter results by the kind of policy document (e.g. PPS or ‘circulars’), this can be done by selecting a term from the dropdown.
In addition, the five most recently accessed common projects are linked to at the top for quick access.
Useful Links
The useful links portlet contains hundreds of links to websites relevant to planning and building. The links are arranged in categories.
Buy Site Location Plan
Use this portlet to buy a map and create a site location plan. Choose one of our four accredited suppliers.
Change web browser
Some web browsers can load the home page more quickly than others. In our tests these are the best performing browsers in order:
We have worked hard to try and make the Portal work with older browsers such as Internet Explorer 6 as we know that many users in local and central government still use it.
However, it is an 11 year-old browser with significant lack of support for web standards. As a result we have not been able to make the site load as efficiently in Internet Explore 6 as we would like.
Turn off some portlets
The more portlets you add to your home page, the longer it will take to load the home page.
Some portlets take longer to load than others. If you are experiencing slow loading times for the home page try removing one or more of the following portlets:
Edit some portlets
Alternatively, if you have selected the News Feeds or Useful Links portlet, you should remove any links or link categories that are not essential.
If you have forgotten your password you can use our Forgotten Password service to reset it.
Simply click on the 'Login' link at the top right of the screen, select the option 'I am an existing user but have forgotten my password' and enter your user name and the email address you are registered with.
Your password will be automatically reset and sent to you by email. The reset password will be a series of letters and numbers that are case sensitive, therefore we strongly recommended that when you first log in, you cut and paste your password into the password field.
Once you are logged in, click on 'Edit Details' in the top right of the screen and you'll be able to change your password to something more memorable.
If you have forgotten your user name you can easily retrieve it.
Simply click on the 'Login' link at the top right of the screen, select the option 'I am an existing user but have forgotten my user name' and enter the email address you originally registered with.
Your username will be sent to you by email.
Log in to the Planning Portal using the link in the top right of any page.
Once logged in, click on the ‘My Portal’ link (that will be prefixed by your name, for example ‘Joe Bloggs My Portal’) in the top right of the screen.
This will take you to the ‘My Portal registration’ screen.
In the first section, you can enter and confirm your new password.
Once you have done this, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the ‘Update my account’ button to save your new password.
Not yet registered?
To receive the newsletter you have to be registered on the Planning Portal.
To register, using the 'Sign Up' link in the top right of any page.
During the registration process you can select to receive the newsletter in text or html format.
Already registered?
If you are already registered, you can subscribe to or unsubscribe from the newsletter by logging in (using the link in the top right of any page) and amending your user details.
Once logged in, click on the ‘My Portal’ link (that will be prefixed by your name, for example ‘Joe Bloggs My Portal’) in the top right of the screen.
This will take you to the ‘My Portal registration’ screen. Scroll down to ‘Email preferences’ and select the option you wish from:
You can also select if you wish to receive other communications from the Planning Portal. Please note that this is separate to the weekly newsletter and selecting ‘No’ for communications will not stop the newsletter being sent to you.
Once you have selected the option you require, click on the ‘Update my account’ button to save your preferences.
If you find that pages (such as your My Applications' page) are not updating when you click refresh or you are returned to the 'Enter Username And Password' page (without any warning) when you try to log-on then this could indicate the cache on your web browser may need to be cleared.
What is a cache?
A cache is a mechanism for speeding up access to frequently used pages on the internet. When a page is requested, it is first saved to the cache before being opened.
When the page is requested again, the browser will use the cached copy rather than sending a fresh request to the website.
If your computer is part of a network, then it is likely to be linked to a ‘proxy cache’.
Occasionally, a faulty or outdated page can end up being cached or ‘stuck’, which then means any future requests for that page will produce the same unwanted result.
To see the correct page you need to clear the cache.
How to clear the cache
Different web browsers have different ways to clear the cache
Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 7
Internet Explorer 8/9
Safari 3 – 5
Firefox 2 for PCs
Firefox 3 for PCs
Firefox 2 for Macs
Firefox 3 for Macs
Note: If you do not have access to amend the settings as above, you may need to contact your IT department to request that your cache is cleared.
If you are part of a Network and even after clearing your browser cache, the same incorrect/outdated page is being displayed then you will need to contact your IT Support department and request that they clear the Proxy Cache.
The Planning Portal holds information for England and Wales. You can see which version you are viewing by looking at the flag in the top right corner of each page.
The England version will always be displayed as default.
To switch between the England and Wales versions, use the drop down menu in the top right corner.
Additionally, when viewing the Wales version of the site, Welsh language translations are available for some pages. You can view the Welsh language version by clicking on the ‘View the Welsh version of this page’ link, in the top right corner of the site.
To switch back to the English language version, click the ‘Gweld fersiwn Saesneg y dudalen’ link in the same location.
The site will remember what version and language you were last using when you return to it.
Please note that these options are not available when using the online application system as the region and language used is set when initially creating the application.
You can also link to specific versions of the site by adding the following text to the URL:
| Text to add to end of URL | Version displayed |
| ?language=en | England |
| ?language=wa | Wales |
| ?langauge=cy | Wales (in Welsh) |
For example:
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/commonprojects/advertssigns/?language=cy
If the desired version of the site is not being displayed when using the switcher or the specific links, you should clear your browser’s cache (View an FAQ on how to do this).
The Planning Portal complies with the regulations and does not collect personal details within the cookies it uses.
View a full list and details of the cookies used by the Planning Portal site.
