The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is launching the enhanced pre-application service to reduce the amount of red tape involved in the planning process, which will help business take advantage of commercial opportunities and will aid the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of local authorities.

The service has been designed to support early and positive engagement using an enhanced pre-application service. Developers and others can now gain increased access to HSE’s assessment tools and techniques, simplifying and speeding up the process.

Peter Brown, head of HSE’s hazardous installations policy division, said: “This advisory service has been designed around what users need.

“Discussions with developers and other parties involved in the planning process have indicated that being able to find out more detail about a piece of land in advance of purchase helps to quicken the development process and can also save significant costs.

“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.”

The fee-based service will help business effectiveness and efficiency, will enable better informed planning decisions at a local level and will create greater transparency in HSE’s decisions and operations.

People can access the new service at www.hsl.gov.uk/planningadvice or by calling 01298 218159.