Article 9A and how the fire statement is submitted

Article 9A of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 requires an application for planning permission for the development of a relevant building to be accompanied by a fire statement on the form published by the Secretary of State. It came into force on 1 August 2021, it is a national validation requirement, and an application that omits it is invalid rather than merely incomplete. The Health and Safety Executive was added to the list of statutory consultees at the same time, which is the consultation generally called Planning Gateway One.

That is the whole procedural architecture, and it is worth separating from the technical question of what a fire strategy should say. Article 9A is about the form, the trigger and the consultation. It does not tell you how to design the building.

Which buildings are relevant buildings

The trigger has two limbs and both have to be satisfied. The building must contain two or more dwellings or educational accommodation, and it must contain seven or more storeys or be 18 metres or more in height.

Height is measured to the floor surface of the top storey, which is not the same as the height to the parapet or to the top of any plant enclosure. A building with a top floor level at 17.6 metres and a 2 metre plant screen above it is below the threshold on the statutory measure and above it on a casual reading of the elevation. Read the definitions in the Order rather than working from the general description, because the storey counting and height conventions are where disputes start.

Schemes that sit just under the threshold raise a different question, which is whether to volunteer fire evidence anyway. The argument for doing so is set out in the piece on fire evidence for a building just below the threshold.

The prescribed form and what it asks

The fire statement is a form, not a free standing report, and it has to be the current version published on gov.uk. Submitting a fire strategy document in place of the form is one of the two commonest validation failures.

The form works through the fire safety matters that are capable of being affected by the planning decision, which is a narrower set than a full fire strategy: the principles and approach taken to fire safety, the site layout, emergency vehicle access and water supplies for firefighting, access and facilities for the fire and rescue service, and how the building will be maintained and managed in use. It also asks who prepared it and on what basis they are competent to do so.

But the competence question is the one that matters most. A Fire Statement at Planning Gateway One is required to be prepared by someone with the necessary fire engineering competence, under the framework created by the Building Safety Act 2022 and Article 9A, and that professional input is legally expected rather than optional. An AI-assisted draft can structure the submission, gather the site information and set out the headings, and it remains a starting point for the fire engineer rather than a substitute for them.

Validation: the clock does not start without it

Because Article 9A makes the statement a requirement for a valid application, a local planning authority will not register the application at all if it is missing. Nothing runs. There is no eight or thirteen week period, no consultation, no publicity, and the application sits in the validation queue with an email asking for the form.

The practical consequences are worth spelling out:

• A missing form costs the application its place in the queue, and on a busy authority re-validation can take a fortnight on its own.
• Where a fee has been paid, the authority holds it but the determination period only starts from the date the application becomes valid.
• A planning performance agreement timetable built around a submission date will slip by the same amount, and most agreements make the applicant responsible for validity.
• An appeal against non-determination cannot be made from an invalid application, because there is nothing to determine.

Submit the form with the application, and check the authority's local validation list as well, because several require the fire statement to be accompanied by particular drawings and will treat the absence of those as a separate deficiency.

Outline applications, reserved matters and section 73

This is where the Order is read carefully and where practice varies.

An outline application for a relevant building is an application for planning permission, so the requirement applies. The statement has to be written to the level of detail the application fixes, which usually means site layout, emergency vehicle access and water supplies are answerable while internal matters are not. Say so on the form rather than leaving sections blank, and explain what will be settled at the reserved matters stage.

A reserved matters submission is not an application for planning permission, so Article 9A does not apply to it on its own terms. Several authorities nonetheless ask for an updated statement, and the sensible course is to provide one and to have the Health and Safety Executive's earlier comments addressed, because the alternative is an argument that delays a scheme already consented in principle.

Section 73 applications, which seek permission for development without complying with a condition, are applications for planning permission and are generally treated as caught where the building remains a relevant building. Authorities differ on marginal cases, and the honest answer is that this is an area where a quick email to the validation team before submission saves a fortnight. Ask, record the answer, and keep it with the file.

Prior approval and permitted development routes are not applications for planning permission, so Article 9A does not apply to them. That does not remove the Building Regulations duties at Gateway Two and Gateway Three, which operate independently under the Building Safety Act 2022 regime for higher risk buildings.

Amended schemes and resubmissions

A fresh application needs a fresh statement. Copying across a form prepared for an earlier scheme, with the earlier scheme's dimensions in it, is the second of the two commonest validation failures, and it also misleads the Health and Safety Executive, which is a worse problem.

During determination, if the scheme changes in a way that affects any of the matters on the form, update the statement and ask the case officer to re-consult. Changes that matter include any increase in height or storey count, a change to the position of a fire appliance route or hardstanding, a change to the location of hydrants or a dry riser inlet, the loss of a second staircase, and a change of use that alters the occupancy. A consultee response obtained on superseded information carries little weight if the point is tested later.

Where the scheme shrinks below the threshold during determination, the statement is no longer required for validity, but the application was validated with it and there is no mechanism to withdraw it. Leave it in place with a covering note.

Assembling the package

A submission that goes through first time usually contains:

1. The current fire statement form, completed in full, with the author's name, organisation and stated competence.
2. A site layout plan showing fire appliance access routes, turning and standing positions, distances to building entrances, and the location of fire hydrants and any firefighting water supply.
3. Floor plans and sections at a scale that lets a consultee read the escape strategy, including the stair core arrangement and any firefighting shaft.
4. A note on the design codes and standards relied on, naming them rather than referring to good practice generally.
5. Where a full fire engineering document exists, the Fire Safety Strategy as a supporting document, cross referenced from the form. This is a fire engineering document and legally needs an author with that competence.
6. For a basement or a scheme with accommodation below ground, the additional material discussed in sleeping accommodation below ground and planning policy.

Allow 21 days for the statutory consultation and expect the response to be substantive. The Health and Safety Executive's Gateway One comments are a material consideration, and a response asking for further information will sit on the file until it is answered, whether or not the authority is otherwise ready to issue a decision.

Check the current version of the form and the current wording of Article 9A on gov.uk and legislation.gov.uk before you submit, because both have been amended since 2021 and the thresholds and definitions are the parts most likely to change.

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. For specialist technical reports, qualified professional input may be required. To see which documents a relevant building is likely to need, enter your postcode on PlanScope.