The 56 day deemed approval trap in prior approval

The prior approval deemed consent period is a right, and it is also a trap. Under paragraph W of Part 3 of Schedule 2 to the GPDO 2015, development may begin once 56 days have passed from the date the local planning authority received the application, without the authority notifying the applicant whether prior approval is given or refused. No approval document exists. Nothing arrives in the post. The developer simply becomes entitled to build.

That is excellent when it works. The difficulty is proving it later, to a lender, a buyer or an enforcement officer, and the fact that deemed approval does nothing at all to cure a scheme that never qualified for the class in the first place.

Which routes carry a deemed consent, and for how long

Deemed approval is not uniform across the Order. The period and the mechanism are set by the part you are using.

Read the class itself before relying on any of these. Some prior approval regimes in later parts of Schedule 2 require an express decision, so failure to determine gives an appeal right rather than a deemed consent, and treating those as deemed approvals is how unauthorised development happens.

For the Part 3 classes used most by investors, including Class MA from commercial to residential and Class Q for agricultural buildings, paragraph W governs and the period is 56 days.

When the clock starts

The period runs from the date the application was received by the authority, and "received" is doing more work than it appears.

Paragraph W requires the application to be accompanied by specified material: a written description of the proposed development, a plan indicating the site and showing the proposed development, the developer's contact address and email, and the fee. Where any of that is missing, the authority may say the application was never validly made, and the clock never started.

Three practical steps protect the position.

1. Submit through the planning portal and keep the submission receipt, which records the date and time and lists the documents.
2. Pay the fee at submission, and keep the payment confirmation, because a fee paid later can move the start date.
3. Check the class to see exactly what must accompany the application, since Part 3 classes each add their own requirements on top of paragraph W.

Where the authority writes to say the application is invalid, do not ignore it and sit out the 56 days. Resolve it, resubmit if necessary, and restart the count from a date you can evidence.

Validation and its effect on the period

Authorities sometimes register a prior approval application, then write a fortnight later asking for further information. That request does not stop the clock where the application already contained everything the Order requires.

This is the most common dispute. The authority treats its own validation checklist as the standard, when the only standard is what the GPDO specifies for that class. A local list cannot add to the statutory requirements for a prior approval application.

So the question to answer is narrow: did the submission contain what the Order requires for this class? If it did, the 56 days ran from receipt, whatever the authority's internal position. If it did not, the safe assumption is that it did not run at all.

For Class MA in particular, the vacancy and prior use requirements are substantive conditions rather than information requests, and the detail of vacancy and continuous use decides whether the class was ever available. The same applies to Class Q, where proving the building was in agricultural use is the first hurdle rather than a formality.

Evidence that you have the benefit of deemed approval

Because nothing is issued, the evidence pack is whatever you assembled at the time. Build it deliberately.

• The application as submitted, with every document, in the form submitted.
• The portal submission receipt or recorded delivery proof of the date of receipt.
• The fee payment confirmation.
• Any acknowledgement from the authority, including one that states a target date.
• A note of the date the period expired, calculated from receipt.
• A letter to the authority after expiry, inviting it to confirm that no decision was issued within the period.

The last item is worth the stamp. A council that replies confirming no decision was made has given you better evidence than any calculation of your own.

For complete certainty, apply for a certificate of lawfulness of proposed use or development under section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 before building. It costs a fee and a determination period, and it produces a formal document that a lender will accept. On a scheme where the whole exit depends on the conversion being lawful, that is modest insurance against a later argument.

Where conditions still apply

Deemed approval is not a blank permission. Two sets of constraints survive it.

The first is the class's own limitations and conditions. A Class MA conversion still has to satisfy the floorspace limit, the vacancy requirement and the preceding use requirement, and it still cannot be used on land excluded by the Order. If those were not met, there was never a permitted development right to approve, and the authority can take enforcement action notwithstanding the expiry of 56 days.

The second is the requirement to build what you applied for. Paragraph W provides that the development must be carried out in accordance with the details provided in the application, where prior approval has been given or where the period has expired without a decision. Departing from the submitted plans takes the development outside the right.

Class MA also carries a completion requirement: the development must be completed within three years of the prior approval date. Where approval is deemed, the relevant date is the expiry of the period, so diarise it.

An Article 4 direction removes the right entirely, and a direction made after submission but before development begins is a real risk on classes that attract local opposition. Check the authority's list of directions before and after.

The risks of relying on it

Illustrative example: an investor submits a Class Q application for a steel-framed barn, hears nothing, and starts converting on day 58. Three months later the authority serves an enforcement notice on the basis that the building was not in agricultural use on the relevant date, which was never in dispute during the 56 days because nobody at the council looked at the application. The deemed approval is irrelevant, because the class never applied.

That is the central risk and it is structural. A deemed approval arises from inaction, so it carries no finding that the class was satisfied. All of the qualifying questions remain open.

Commercial consequences follow. Lenders and buyers' solicitors are often unwilling to accept a deemed approval without a certificate, particularly where the qualifying tests are factual. And a developer who builds on a deemed approval and is later found not to have qualified has no retrospective protection from the Order.

One honest uncertainty: authorities take different views on whether a decision posted on day 56 but received on day 58 is a valid notification. The statutory language refers to notifying the applicant, which suggests receipt, but practice varies and the point has not been resolved in a way you would want to rely on. Where a decision arrives just after expiry, take advice before starting work.

Confirming the position in writing

Four steps, in order, before anyone goes on site.

1. Recalculate the 56 or 42 days from the evidenced date of receipt, counting the day after receipt as day one.
2. Satisfy yourself that the submission contained everything the class and paragraph W require.
3. Write to the authority recording your position and asking it to confirm no decision was issued.
4. Where value turns on it, apply under section 192 for a certificate before building.

A Planning Statement setting out how the proposal satisfies each limb of the class, submitted with the prior approval application, is not required by the Order. It is still the single best way to avoid the argument, because it puts the qualifying evidence on the file from day one.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which supporting documents a prior approval application on your building is likely to need.

This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. A certificate of lawfulness is the only formal way to confirm that works are lawful. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.