Request for Discretionary services that is not part of the Formal Pre-Application process with a Council. In this instance, the applicant or requester chooses to consult MEAS before any formal request has been made to the Local Planning Authority for pre-application advice and/or an EIA scoping opinion under the EIA Regulations. It is also assumed that the applicant / requester will have access to the MEAS website. There could be many reasons why such a request could be made but it is potentially a very important tool for risk reduction e.g. planning, procurement, timescale, costs and investment risk management.
Table 1 – MEAS Discretionary Advisory Services
| Discretionary Advisory Services | Description | Standard of Service | Charges |
| Discretionary advice before Pre-Application process begins with the Local Planning Authority | Normally at a very early stage of option appraisal / site or scheme planning. Scope of pre-application advice are those planning matters within the technical remit of MEAS – archaeology, contaminated land, ecology and biodiversity, EIA scoping, historic environment, low carbon energy, minerals, nature conservation, sustainable waste management and waste matters. MEAS does not charge for EIA screening and/or an EIA scoping opinion where this forms part of the statutory duty of the Local Planning Authority (LPA) under the EIA Regulations. MEAS will charge for informal EIA scoping where a request has been made for discretionary advice that does not form part of an application to the LPA for a scoping opinion under the EIA Regulations. MEAS has 4 fixed charge rates that apply as set out in the right-hand column for a single piece of written, integrated advice. For more complex cases where discretionary advice is sought and / or where additional advice is required beyond the single piece of written, integrated advice, MEAS may enter into a bespoke agreement with the requester on the basis of hourly fee rates (see Table 7). For the avoidance of doubt the scope of discretionary advice excludes the fees for Merseyside BioBank Local Environmental Record Centre Data Product Service, Historic Environment Record Standard Data Product and Waste Local Plan Standard Data Product as these are all separate services and charged accordingly. Advice will be provided without the benefit of a site visit. Advice is confidential between requester and MEAS. | 15 working days from written acceptance of quotation by requester. | Single household / dwelling extension – fixed fee £60.00 exclusive of VAT. Householder application demolition, rebuild of 1 dwelling within existing curtilage or 1 new dwelling – fixed fee £125 exclusive of VAT. Minor applications – fixed fee £250 exclusive of VAT. Major applications – fixed fee £450 exclusive of VAT. More complex cases agreed on a case by case basis, chargeable time as per fee rates 3 and 4, in Table 7, exclusive of VAT. |