In this day and age of the Internet, there is now a government initiative that is a so-called one-stop
shop for planning and building services on-line. You can even make an on-line submission.
According to the site:
"The Planning Portal is the UK government's online planning and building regulations resource. Use this site to learn about planning and building regulations, apply for planning permission and building regulations consent, find out about development near you, appeal against a decision and research government policy."
This is a great resource for information, but personally, it would seem to me cannot replace face-to-face discussions with local planning and building control staff. But I guess it is not meant to replace this capability, rather augment it.
UK Building Regulations
There seem to be several companies selling copies of the UK Building Regulations on a CD
or are downloadable.
I have no idea whether these are worth the money or have extra content, but all the Building Regulations are downloadable on the Government's Planning portal free of charge. The two most relevant (I think) are Documents A and C.
All the documents can be downloaded from here and a quick scan shows drawings for foundations, slabs etc.