Planning Gateway One - Summary

The main purpose of HSE’s Planning Gateway One service is to provide advice to LPAs about fire safety matters relevant to planning in developments that include a relevant building or are within the curtilage of a relevant building. It is for the LPA to consider HSE’s advice and decide what weight to attach to it in the context of making their decision on whether to grant planning permission for the development. HSE also offers a non-statutory pre-application advice service to applicants and LPAs (see section 6).

The policy intent behind Planning Gateway One was introduced into Planning Practice Guidance by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) in June 2021, “The changes are intended to help ensure that applicants and decision-makers consider planning issues relevant to fire safety, bringing forward thinking on fire safety matters as they relate to land use planning to the earliest possible stage in the development process and result in better schemes which fully integrate thinking on fire safety”.

It is in everyone’s interests that residents and occupiers of developments that include high-rise residential buildings have confidence that they can escape safely in the event of a fire. Also, that firefighting operations can be run safely and effectively to reduce threat to life and to minimise damage to property.

To improve fire safety design in new build developments and the refurbishment of existing buildings, it is important that fire safety design is considered at the earliest opportunity. Considering fire safety at the planning stage allows proposals to be assessed when they are still on paper and can be more easily changed. Intervening at the planning stage avoids poor fire safety design from being included and needing to be rectified once the development is under construction or built.

Where to send consultation requests

Local Planning Authorities should send a consultation request by email to planninggatewayone@hse.gov.uk¹

How does HSE respond to consultation requests?

To discharge its statutory consultee function, HSE’s Planning Gateway One Team assesses the information in the planning application and provides a response to the LPA.  We assess the application against national standards.  We do not use local planning policy or local standards in making our assessments.

HSE’s advice to LPAs normally consists of two parts

• Part 1 is our formal advice to the LPA, including whether there are concerns about the fire safety matters relevant to land use planning.
• Part 2 is supplementary information that does not constitute formal advice.  Instead, it sets out fire safety matters that are unlikely to raise land use planning concerns, but which may have relevance to later regulatory stages.

Legal background and further reading

Planning Gateway One (PGO) is a statutory consultee service within the Building Safety Regulator at HSE. It began operating on 1 August 2021 when The Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure and Section 62A Applications) (England) (Amendment) Order 2021 (legislation.gov.uk)² came into force (the 2021 Order). This established HSE as a statutory consultee for development that includes or is within the curtilage of a “relevant building”.

A relevant building is defined in the 2021 Order as a building that:

• contains two or more dwellings or educational accommodation, and
• is 18m or more in height, or 7 or more storeys

Further explanation of how to measure the height of a relevant building and count the number of storeys is provided in Planning Practice Guidance - Fire safety and high-rise residential buildings³  (DLUHC, June 2021).

A relevant building may contain a mix of uses but must include at least two residential units that fall within the definition of “dwelling”, or educational accommodation. LPAs should seek their own legal advice if there is any uncertainty or ambiguity about whether or not a residential use falls within the definition of dwelling. Care home units, hotel accommodation and short term holiday lets would not be considered as dwellings.

The 2021 Order also established a requirement for applicants to submit a prescribed Fire Statement Form⁴ as part of an application for full planning permission, for a development that includes or is within the curtilage of a relevant building. Planning Practice Guidance⁵ on fire safety and high-rise residential buildings explains what development is exempt from the need to submit a fire statement form. Guidance on how to complete a fire statement form is provided by DLUHC - Guidance: fire statement (publishing.service.gov.uk)⁶. Information to supplement that guidance is also provided in section 4 of this guidance.

1. mailto:planninggatewayone@hse.gov.uk
2. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/746/contents/made
3. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fire-safety-and-high-rise-residential-buildings-from-1-august-2021
4. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/996391/Fire_statement_form_-_dynamic.docx
5. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/fire-safety-and-high-rise-residential-buildings-from-1-august-2021
6. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/997770/Fire_statement_form_-_guidance.pdf