Planning Process – Page 3
The application procedure end to end: types, validation, consultation, conditions and decisions.
Planning Process articles – page 3
156 articlesConditions added at committee and how they get drafted
A condition proposed from the floor carries the same force as one drafted in the officer report, with none of the scrutiny. What officers may change under delegation, and the four routes to fixing a bad condition.
Applications affecting a public right of way
The permission and the order are separate consents. On a site crossed by a footpath the order is usually on the critical path and the planning application is not.
Declining to determine a repeat application
There is no appeal against a decision to decline to determine. Knowing what counts as a similar application, and what counts as a change, decides whether a resubmission is worth making.
Drawing the red line: what to include in the site boundary
The red line defines the land your permission relates to and the site area that triggers thresholds. It is a two-minute drawing decision with consequences for the whole scheme.
Screening requests under the EIA Regulations
A screening opinion settles whether your scheme is EIA development before you apply. Three weeks, a complete request, and the largest programme risk on a major application disappears.
Lawful commencement: material operations in practice
Section 56 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 lists the operations that implement a permission. Starting in breach of a condition can mean the permission lapses anyway.
The six tests for planning conditions
Every planning condition has to be necessary, relevant to planning, relevant to the development, enforceable, precise and reasonable. Here is how each test bites and how to challenge a condition that fails.
The consultation period and whether late comments count
The statutory publicity period is a minimum, not a cut-off for material considerations. How the period is set, when a late objection still counts, and what happens once committee papers are published.
The national validation list, item by item
The national validation requirements are fixed by the Development Management Procedure Order 2015 and apply identically across England. Everything else a case officer asks for comes from the authority's own local list, which is subject to tests the national list is not.
Prior approval applications and how the clock works
Prior approval runs on a fixed period with deemed consent at the end of it. Here is when the clock starts, what the submission must contain, and where authorities push back.
What must be submitted before work starts on site
The costly mistakes before a start on site are administrative. Here is the order to discharge conditions, claim levy exemptions and get building control in place.
Planning fees: how the schedule is applied and indexed
Planning fees in England come from one national schedule, not from your council. Here is how the bands work, which exemptions exist, and why the figure moves each April.
Clearing a statutory consultee holding objection
Most holding objections contain their own solution in the second half of the letter. Here is how to extract the real asks, avoid triggering repeated re-consultation, and offer conditions a consultee will accept.
How to request an EIA screening opinion
A screening opinion decides whether your scheme is EIA development before you apply. Here is what the request must contain, how long the council has, and what to do with the answer.
Amending the description of development after submission
The description of development is the permission. Minor changes can be agreed during determination; after the decision the options narrow sharply.
Reading the planning register and tracking a decision
Every council keeps a public register of planning applications. Here is how to search it, what the tabs contain, and how to be told when something changes.
Discharging conditions and the deemed discharge route
Conditions do not discharge themselves. Here is how the application works, how to group conditions sensibly, and when section 74A lets you serve a deemed discharge notice.
When a committee goes against the officer recommendation
Members can reject their officer's advice, but the reasons have to hold. How refusal reasons are drafted after a vote, why deferral protocols exist, and where costs and judicial review risk begin.
How a planning officer report is structured
Read the recommendation, then the conditions, then the planning balance. A guide to how officer reports are built, the statutory duties they must discharge and the errors worth correcting before a decision.
Delegated decision or committee: how schemes are triaged
The scheme of delegation in a council's constitution decides whether an application is settled by an officer or by members. Here are the triggers, the call-in deadlines and what referral costs in time.
When an application is made invalid after submission
Validation happens after you submit, and an invalid application has no statutory clock running. Here is what the authority must tell you, what happens to the fee, and how to challenge a validation decision.
What pre-application advice commits the council to
Pre-application advice is one officer's view, given without consultation or members. Here is what a written response can usefully cover, what it cannot do, and how to ask questions that produce answers you can use.
The statutory planning register and what must be on it
The council's online search is one way of meeting the statutory duty to keep a register, not the duty itself. The record is wider than the portal, and you can ask to see it.
Re-consultation after amended plans during determination
Amending a scheme after submission is a matter of discretion, not right. The test is whether the development is in substance what was applied for and whether anyone is prejudiced by the change.
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