Permit check and pre-consultation

If you need a permit, you can apply for it directly through the Omgevingsloket. The overall lead time for an official permit application has been shortened since the Omgevingswet Act went into effect, however, some plans still require approval from a province or our municipal council. This means that the informal procedure (preliminary consultation) becomes even more important. 

As an initiator, you would do well to contact the municipality at an early stage, especially if you have a (spatial) plan that has (a lot of) impact on the surrounding area. As a municipality, we are happy to help with questions and initiatives. The possibilities for this are detailed below.

Permit check

As an initiator, you can do a permit check in the Omgevingsloket. You can check whether you can carry out your plans or whether you need a permit or a notification. You do this by answering a number of questions. 

If the permit check does not provide a clear answer or if you have doubts about whether your plan fits within the environmental plan, you can request information via our general email address: gemeentehuis@kerkrade.nl

Explore your idea (application in principle)

Do you have an idea for a project you want to explore? Or do you have a plan but want to discuss the possibilities before taking it further? 

In any case, we strongly advise you to submit an application in principle for plans of which you know or suspect that they do not fit within the environmental plan (formerly zoning plan). Examples include changing a function (e.g. from café to residential or vice versa), dividing houses and/or realizing large extensions or buildings outside the building plan or maximum building height. 

An application in principle is not yet an official permit application. It is a preliminary phase in which you will hear whether your plan can be implemented. The municipality will check your plan or idea, indicate the possibilities or impossibilities, or indicate what adjustments are necessary. You can apply for a request in principle via the option explore your idea in the Environment counter. 

After completing the request in principle, you can (in case of a positive result) further develop your plan and prepare the necessary documents for an environmental permit application.  

Application in Principle

Within the municipality of Kerkrade we call this preliminary consultation an application in principle. You can apply for a request in principle via the Environment Desk. 

An application in principle is a draft permit application. You tell the municipality in general terms what you want to do. We then review your plan or idea and indicate the possibilities or impossibilities. Or we tell you which adjustments are necessary.  

Intake table

For more complex initiatives, you as an initiator can use the Intake Table. These are initiatives for which, for example, the zoning plan must be changed, or for which we as a municipality must follow an extensive procedure to make the initiative possible. Think of the establishment or expansion of a company, or the construction of several houses. 

At the Intake Table, several municipal employees discuss whether the initiative is feasible and desirable. This way you will quickly know whether it makes sense to develop your plan further.

The consultation at the Intake Table is an informal preliminary consultation. After agreement at the Intake Table, you submit the final permit application. Then your application will be formally reviewed.

Environment Table

Finally, for very large and complex initiatives, there is the Environment Table. At the Environmental Table you, as initiator, will enter into discussion with all of the municipality's key interlocutors such as the water board, the province, the state, the environmental service, the aesthetics committee, the safety region and the Public Health Service. Together you will review the feasibility and desirability of your plans. After this you will receive an advice with which you can prepare and submit the permit application.  

Permit-free construction

Under the Omgevingswet , building can involve the technical construction activity and the environmental plan activity related to structures.

The State has exempted a number of activities from the permit requirement for both activities. In addition, the municipality can make other activities not subject to the environmental permit requirement in the environmental plan.

Read more on the website of Information Point Living Environment

We are happy to help with questions and initiatives

The overall processing time of an official permit application is shortened. This means that the informal procedure (preliminary consultation) becomes even more important. As a municipality, we are happy to help with questions and initiatives.

We recommend always consulting with us before submitting a permit application.