Article 31 directions restricting the grant of permission
A direction under article 31 stops an authority granting permission but not refusing it, and the statutory period keeps running. Here is what triggers one and how applicants get it lifted.
An article 31 direction planning officers receive from a consultee does one thing: it stops the authority granting permission. It does not refuse the application, it does not stop the authority refusing, and it does not pause the statutory period in any legally meaningful sense. The application sits in a holding pattern until the direction is lifted or the authority refuses, which is why practitioners call it a holding direction.
If one lands on your application, the useful question is not how long it lasts. It is what the issuing body wants.
What the direction actually does
Article 31 of the Development Management Procedure Order 2015 provides for directions restricting the grant of planning permission. Where a direction is in force, the authority may not grant permission for the development it covers, either for a specified period or until the direction is withdrawn.
Three consequences follow, and they are often misunderstood.
The authority retains the power to refuse. A direction restrains one outcome only, so an applicant who assumes the scheme is safe while a direction is in force is mistaken.
The eight or 13 week period keeps running. A direction is not an agreed extension of time, and the right to appeal against non-determination arises on the expiry of the statutory period whether or not a direction is in place.
And the direction binds the local planning authority rather than the appeal system. That distinction matters when the applicant is weighing a non-determination appeal.
Who can issue one
The Secretary of State may give directions restricting the grant of permission, in relation to a particular application or to a class of development. In practice those directions arrive through the department and often sit alongside consideration of whether to call the application in under section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
Certain bodies can also secure a restriction in defined circumstances, most familiarly where development affects the strategic road network. A direction of that kind gives the body time to assess an application it considers may harm the safety or operation of infrastructure it is responsible for.
There is a related family of mechanisms that people confuse with article 31 and should not. Standing directions require an authority to notify the Secretary of State before granting permission in defined situations, such as where it proposes to approve development against sustained flood risk advice from the Environment Agency, or certain departures from the development plan. Those are referral duties rather than restrictions, and the practical effect, a stalled decision, looks similar from the applicant's side.
What triggers one
Patterns recur.
- An objection from a body responsible for infrastructure that the authority appears minded to approve over.
- A scheme raising an issue of more than local importance, where the department is considering call-in.
- A proposal affecting a designation or an asset of national significance.
- A departure from the development plan of a scale that engages a standing direction.
The common thread is that someone with standing believes the authority is about to make a decision that should not be made locally, or not yet. The direction buys that body time, and the time is spent on the applicant.
What rarely triggers a direction is ordinary objection volume. Neighbour opposition, however organised, does not produce one. Nor does a disagreement between the applicant and the case officer about design, which is resolved by refusal and appeal like any other.
Effect on the programme
Plan on the basis that a direction adds months rather than weeks, because the underlying issue takes that long to resolve.
The honest assessment usually goes like this. The authority will not refuse while it is negotiating with the issuing body. The issuing body will not withdraw until the technical objection is answered. And the technical answer frequently requires new evidence, which takes its own time to produce.
Meanwhile the fee is spent, the determination period has expired, and the applicant's only real pressure point is a non-determination appeal that may not improve matters.
How a direction is lifted
The mechanism is simple and the work behind it is not. The issuing body withdraws the direction, or the specified period expires, or the Secretary of State decides not to call the application in and the restriction falls away.
What moves it is addressing the substance. Where the direction follows an objection on highway capacity, the answer is modelling and mitigation that the objecting body accepts. Where it follows a flood risk objection, the answer is a revised Flood Risk Assessment with the sequential and exception test positions properly argued, or a design change that removes the objection.
Ask the issuing body directly what it would need to withdraw. That conversation is usually available and is more productive than correspondence routed through the case officer, who is relaying a position rather than holding it.
Put the answer in writing and copy the authority, so that when the direction is withdrawn the officer can point to the evidence in the report.
What an applicant can do while one is in force
Four options, in rough order of how often they work.
- Negotiate with the issuing body and amend the scheme or the evidence. Slow, and the most likely route to a grant.
- Ask the authority to agree a formal extension of time, which costs nothing and removes the awkwardness of an expired period.
- Appeal against non-determination. Available, and it transfers the decision to the Planning Inspectorate, but it hands away the ability to amend and the issuing body will simply object at appeal instead.
- Withdraw and resubmit with the issue addressed. Sometimes the cleanest answer where the original scheme was always going to attract the objection.
The option that does not work is waiting quietly. Directions are not lifted by the passage of time where the underlying objection stands.
Anticipating one
Most holding directions are foreseeable from the consultation responses, and the warning sign is a statutory consultee objecting in terms that go beyond a request for more information.
Two habits reduce the risk. Consult the relevant body before submission, particularly where the site adjoins infrastructure or a designation, and record the pre-application engagement in the Planning Statement so the officer can see the issue was addressed rather than avoided. And resolve technical objections during the consultation period rather than after the officer's report is drafted, because once a recommendation is written the positions harden.
Where the scheme is one that a department might consider calling in, say so in the submission and explain why local determination is appropriate. Officers appreciate being told what is coming.
One honest uncertainty: there is no public register of directions, so the first most applicants hear of one is a call from the case officer explaining that the decision cannot be issued. Build that possibility into the programme for any scheme touching national infrastructure or a designation.
Related points on how old plan policies still carry weight in these arguments are covered in our note on saved policies, and the wider question of what a lawful condition can achieve in our piece on the six tests.
This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
Does a holding direction stop the determination clock?
No. The statutory period continues to run, and the right to appeal against non-determination arises on its expiry whether or not a direction is in force. A direction is not an agreed extension of time, so authorities often ask for one separately to tidy up the position while the underlying issue is resolved.
Can the council still refuse while a direction is in force?
Yes. Article 31 restrains the grant of permission only. The authority retains its power to refuse, and sometimes does so to close the file and let the applicant appeal. An applicant who treats a direction as protection for the scheme has misread what it does.
Who issues these directions?
The Secretary of State may give directions restricting the grant of permission, and certain bodies can secure a restriction in defined circumstances, most commonly where development affects infrastructure they are responsible for. Separate standing directions require authorities to notify the Secretary of State before granting permission in particular situations.
How long does a direction last?
Either for a period specified in the direction or until it is withdrawn. Plan on months rather than weeks, because what lifts a direction is resolving the objection behind it, and that usually needs new technical evidence. Directions are not lifted by the passage of time where the underlying objection remains.
Is a non-determination appeal a good answer?
Sometimes, but weigh it carefully. It transfers the decision to the Planning Inspectorate, which is not bound by a direction addressed to the authority. It also removes the ability to amend the scheme during determination, and the objecting body will simply repeat its objection at appeal rather than withdrawing it.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.