Online planning register

The online planning register helps you find, view and make comments on any planning applications. Alerts can be set up to notify you of any planning applications in your area.Search for a planning application

From the 1 April 2022 public comments submitted via email will no longer be accepted.  Please visit the How to respond to planning applications webpage for advice on submitting comments.

The page contains information on:

• What is included in the planning register
• Find out when an application has been submitted
• Never miss a planning application
• Report an issue with the online planning register
• Further reading about the application process - Day in the life of a planning application

What is included in the planning register

Most archived planning application data and some archived documents are available to view. Depending on the information transferred from the previous County/District authorities, But we cannot guarantee a full planning history using this search engine.

Any Planning applications withdrawn before a decision was made. Are only viewable for 2 years from the date of withdrawal. After this period only limited information will be available.  Withdrawn Applications will still appear as part of the history searches. But the documents will not be available.

If any applications are made invalid after registration. They will be removed from the web-site until the extra information required has been received. 

Pre-application planning enquiry details contain minimal information because of their early, preliminary status. Pre-applications will have PREAPP at the end of the reference number eg PA20/06573/PREAPP.

Email notifications can be requested for applications and enquiries in your area or any other areas of interest. You will receive alerts as the applications progress through the planning system.

You can view plans and documents relating to a planning application via the online planning register using the documents tab. Please view our planning documents help card for instructions.

Find out when an application has been submitted

Once a planning application has been registered, letters will be sent to immediate neighbours.  An immediate neighbour is someone whose property adjoins the proposed site.  Not someone who lives up the road or opposite.  These letters will notify the neighbour of the proposed planning works.  If you are a neighbour, the letter will inform you how to provide comments.  It will let you know that you have 21 days to comment.  This is known as the 'statutory consultation period'.  A decision on the application cannot be made until the 21 day consultation period has passed.

A site notice may also be erected on or near the site and where necessary a notice published in the local newspaper.  Further information regarding consultation arrangements can be found in the Cornwall Council Statement of Community Involvement.

Never miss a planning application

Alerts can be set up to notify you of new applications in a particular area. To set this up, please follow the process below: 

• Log in to your Website Account for planning and click “new search.” Or you can register for a new account and then access the online planning register
• Search for applications in your area of interest. Top Tip: if you do a search on a full post code it will only show results for a few properties, but if you leave off the last letter it will cover a much broader area. To do a search for an entire parish you will need to go into the advanced search options tab. 
• When the search results come back, click on the "save search" button. 
•  You will then be asked whether you would like to be notified via email about new search results. Click “yes”.

There is no limit to the number of alerts you can receive on different sites and locations, all you need to do is set up a new search for each one.

Track a planning application's progress

You can track the progress of a planning application by:

• creating your account
• searching the application you would like to track
• clicking the "track" button.

This application will appear in your Tracked Applications page in 'My Profile'.  You will receive an email notification when this application is updated.  You can stop tracking an application by clicking "Stop tracking".

You need to be a registered user to use this 'track' function.

Report an issue with the online planning register

If you are experiencing issues with the online planning register not working and no downtime of the system indicated, please:

• Check your internet connection and speed;
• Wait 20 minutes, occasionally there are short outages of the system which are usually resolved quickly;
• If neither of the above works please let us know by completing the Planning General Enquiries Online Form and a member of the team will look into it.

Further reading about the application process - Day in the life of a Planning Application 

Our interactive guide; a Day in the life of a Planning Application takes you through the entire planning process from start to finish.

The Head of Planning gives permission for you to download (paper or electronically) plans and documents relating to planning applications under Section 47 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You cannot copy the documents for your own use as this will infringe copyright unless you have the permission of the copyright owner (the person that drew the plans or the author of the document).