Planning Law Updates – Page 4
Dated, sourced explainers of NPPF revisions, new legislation, permitted development changes and case law.
Planning Law Updates articles – page 4
180 articlesBiodiversity net gain for small sites: what differs
The small sites rules took effect on 2 April 2024. Which schemes qualify, when the simplified metric can be used, and which exemptions actually apply.
Building Safety Regulator gateways for planning teams
A planning permission does not bind the Building Safety Regulator, and a gateway decision can leave permitted drawings out of date. How to keep the two tracks aligned.
Local plan reform under the 2023 Act
The 2023 Act rewrites plan making, but most of it depends on regulations that follow. What the Act provides, what still waits on commencement, and how to advise during transition.
Planning enforcement orders and deliberate concealment
Sections 171BA to 171BC let a council reopen enforcement on a concealed breach that would otherwise be immune. The court test, the enforcement year and the defences that work.
Grey belt: what the term means in national policy
Grey belt turns on whether a parcel strongly contributes to certain Green Belt purposes. How the test works and what a promoter has to prove.
Street votes: the power in the 2023 Act and its status
The Act created street vote development orders and left the detail to regulations. What they would allow, the safeguards expected, and the current status.
Class E five years on: what the 2020 amendment changed
Class E made most high street uses interchangeable, and left a set of traps around takeaways, pubs, old conditions and article 4 directions. Where the position stands now.
Planning Gateway One and Article 9A of the DMPO
Article 9A requires a fire statement with applications for relevant buildings at 18 metres or seven storeys. What it must cover and how the HSE response shapes the decision.
Planning conditions: the national restrictions on drafting
What the six tests mean in practice, why pre-commencement conditions now need your written agreement, and the three routes to changing a condition after permission.
Neighbourhood plans: weight, review and referendum
Once made, a neighbourhood plan sits in the statutory development plan. How the stages work, what the basic conditions test, and what happens when a later local plan conflicts.
Permitted development for upward extension of a house
Class AA of Part 1 allows up to two additional storeys on a house built between 1948 and 2018, subject to height limits and prior approval. Here is what the conditions actually require.
Grey belt: what the term covers and how it applies
Establishing that a site is grey belt is the start of the argument. Unmet need, the effect on the remaining Green Belt and the accompanying requirements decide it.
The Housing Delivery Test and its consequences
The delivery test looks backward at completions while the land supply test looks forward. An authority can pass one and fail the other, and the difference shapes the argument.
Class ZA: demolition and rebuild as new dwellings
Class ZA allows demolition and rebuild as dwellings through prior approval, but the qualifying tests are narrow and Class MA usually beats it.
Class MA and the amendments that widened it
The floorspace cap and the vacancy requirement went in March 2024. What is left of Class MA, what the prior approval matters cover, and where Article 4 bites.
Class E and what the 2020 use classes reform replaced
Since 1 September 2020 movement between shops, offices, restaurants, gyms, clinics and nurseries has not been development. The exclusions and the pre-2020 conditions that still restrict units.
Biodiversity net gain start dates and transitional rules
Whether the ten per cent gain requirement applies turns on the date the application was made, not the date of the decision. The two start dates, the transitional rules and the exemptions that matter most.
Biodiversity gain plans: submission and approval
No development can start until the authority approves the biodiversity gain plan. What the plan must contain, how it is assessed and how to sequence it.
Permission in principle: when it is worth using
Permission in principle answers one question quickly: does the council accept housing here, in this quantity. It cannot carry conditions and it cannot resolve access or design.
Fire statements: which planning applications need one
A fire statement is required where a scheme involves a relevant building: two or more dwellings or educational accommodation, at 18 metres or seven storeys. Miss it and the application is invalid.
Grey belt: what the term means in practice
Grey belt entered national policy in December 2024. Here is how the definition works, which purposes it tests and what a qualifying site still has to deliver.
Demolition and rebuild under Part 20 Class ZA
Class ZA allows a detached commercial building or block of flats to be demolished and rebuilt as homes. Here are the gates most sites fail and the evidence needed.
Permitted development for larger rear extensions
The larger rear extension right doubles the standard Class A depth limits, subject to the neighbour consultation scheme. Here is how the procedure runs and what an objection can actually be about.
Class MA prior approval: the limits and conditions
Class MA allows class E premises to become dwellings through prior approval, but the qualifying conditions decide most applications. Here is what to check before you commission anything.
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