Planning applications, decisions and appeals are available to view online once you have agreed to the terms and conditions below. You can search in a number of ways, including by reference number, location, postcode or parish. You can also comment on current planning applications online and further information and guidance Is available below and on the following page. The weekly lists of valid planning applications that are received are also available to view.

We regret that currently, it is not possible to view planning files or documents at our offices. Sorry for this inconvenience.

How to use the new online planning system

In October 2025, we released a new online planning system. We have included some sections below detailing how you can search for applications, view application details & comment on applications.

 Once you accept the terms and conditions below you will be taken to the search planning applications screen.

You don’t need to log in to view anything, but you will need to register and log in to make a comment.

If you are having difficulties with viewing documents, logging in, or registering, it is sometimes a problem with your internet connection, or an outdated browser. 

The main search page has a very comprehensive set of options to search for an application.  You can use any or a combination of these.  Some are free text, some are drop-down lists, and some are date ranges.

The easiest way to find a specific application is to put in the reference in the top left box, but it has to be the FULL reference.  The other text boxes are automatically ‘wildcard’ searches, and they’re not case sensitive so don’t worry about capital letters.  You can use these boxes to find a particular word in a proposal or address or applicant name, and no wildcard symbol is needed.

Press Enter or click ‘Search’ to search using the options you have selected.

If anything is found, the search results list is displayed at the bottom of the page, so scroll down.   The list is in order of Application Reference, the most recent at the top.
If there are too many results, you can narrow down your search by using more of the options, for instance a decision date from/to, or a Ward, or an application type.  Search again to see the results.

To find a specific address such as a house on your street, search the Street Name (and any other options to narrows down your search), then in the list of results you can use your browser’s built-in text search (usually Ctrl+F).  You might also want to try the map search option.

There is also the Weekly Lists option in the left hand menu, to see a list of applications received, or decided, in a specific week. Click the ‘View’ button to open up the application, in a new browser tab.

You should see the top section of the screen is the applications details, with the application type, address, proposal details, applicant, decision if it has been made, the relevant dates, and the Planning Officer dealing with it.

The next section is Documents.

If you cannot see any documents, or the ones you expected to see are not there, they might not yet have been made available by the case administrator. 

On a large application where there are many documents, it may be more difficult to find what you’re looking for.  You can use the text search on your browser to find the name or description of the document on the page and go to it.  This is normally Ctrl+F.

The next section is Representations.  This is all the comments that have been made on this application by other members of the public, and consultees.

Public comments (including postal addresses) will normally be online and visible to anyone else viewing the application, but your signature and email address are not displayed.  More information about this is here.
The bottom section of the screen is ‘Make a Representation’.

You will need to log in to the system in order to make a comment.  Please Register your details if you haven’t already.   The option to login is at the bottom of an application page, or the top left of the screen.  You can register yourself from there. You will only need to register once and just use your login details

Select whether you Support or Object to the application, or if it is a General Comment.

You can type your comments into the text box below that. 

  • To make the box bigger, drag the bottom right corner.
  • You can copy/paste text into here from another source such as a word document, if you wish to type up your text somewhere else first.
  • Your browser might have a built in spellchecker, if you want to make use of that.
  • You can attach a file to your comment, or alternatively instead of a comment in the text box submit your comment within a file such as a pdf or word document, if you prefer.  Photographs and formatted statements are permitted; as with text comments, they are not made available online.
  • If you want to attach a file only, you do have to add some text into the text box so that the system accepts your submission; you can just put in something like “See attached file”.
  • There is no need to put your name, address, email or phone number or any other personal information in the text of the comment – our officers will read through and redact any text which should not be published but there is the risk something could be missed and erroneously appear online
  • Click the Submit button.
  • Note that you will not normally be informed of the outcome of the decision; please refer to this webpage for updates on the progress on the case.  The Decision will be available as a document as soon as it is published.
  • If you have any problems with things not displaying as expected, you could try with a different internet browser or updating the one you are using.

Terms and Conditions of use

To view online planning applications, please read the Terms and Conditions below

The plans, drawings and material have been submitted to Rother District Council in order to apply for planning permission. They are protected by the Copyright Acts (Section 47, Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988). They are being made available to be viewed for consultation purposes only. Copies must not be made without the prior permission of the copyright owner (for example, the applicants or their agent).

Rother District Council makes every effort to maintain the accuracy of the information on this website but cannot accept responsibility for and disclaims all responsibility for any loss or damage which may arise from the use of the information provided.

All electronic documents are in Adobe Acrobat Format. You will require Adobe Reader version 7 or above to view the applications and plans. This can be downloaded from the Adobe website.

Making comments on applications:

Data Protection and Freedom of Information

Rother District Council will publish any response to this notification on its website. It does not accept ‘confidential’ comments. By sending your comments you confirm that you agree to this and accept legal responsibility for your comments.

Submitted comments must contain the name and address of sender but personal details such as signature, telephone number and so on, are not essential and therefore will be redacted. The Council reserves the right to reject any comments which in its opinion contains comments that are deemed to be potentially libellous, defamatory, threatening, abusive or contravenes the provisions of the Equality Act 2010.

No acknowledgement will be sent but all comments may be viewed online. Please note that once an application is determined, any comments made on that application will be removed from the website only.

To view the full privacy notice for planning applications please see our Privacy Policy page.

I have read the Terms and Conditions described above and agree to abide by them whilst using the online planning service: 

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