Checklist for a demolition prior notification submission

Demolishing a building outside a conservation area usually needs a prior notification to the local planning authority rather than planning permission. The route sits in Class B of Part 11 of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, and the authority's power is narrow: it can only consider the method of demolition and any proposed restoration of the site. Not the principle. Not what replaces the building.

That narrowness is the point of the procedure, and it is also why submissions get bounced. Developers either send a full design-and-access style package the authority cannot consider, or send three lines and no method statement.

When the prior notification route applies

Class B permits the demolition of a building, subject to conditions and exclusions. The main things that take you outside it are worth checking in the Order itself before you submit, because the exclusions have been amended more than once.

The practical filters are these. Very small buildings fall below a cubic content threshold and need no notification at all. Demolition in a conservation area is relevant demolition under section 196D of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and needs planning permission, which is a different application with heritage evidence behind it. Demolition of a listed building needs listed building consent. A building rendered unsafe, or demolition required under an enforcement notice or other statutory power, is handled differently again.

There is also a separate statutory track that runs in parallel and is frequently forgotten. Section 80 of the Building Act 1984 requires notice to the building control authority before demolition, and under section 81 the authority can serve a counter-notice imposing requirements about shoring adjoining buildings, weatherproofing exposed surfaces, disconnecting services and removing rubbish. The planning prior notification does not cover any of that.

What the authority may and may not consider

Two matters only: the method of demolition, and any proposed restoration of the site.

So a submission that explains the sequence of works, the plant, the protection of adjoining property and highways, and what the cleared site will look like, is complete. A submission that argues the merits of the replacement scheme is answering a question nobody asked, and it invites the authority to raise issues it has no power to determine.

The determination is whether prior approval is required at all. The authority has 28 days from the date of the application to notify you, and the development must not begin before you have either written confirmation that prior approval is not required, or the approval itself, or the expiry of that period without a response. Display the required site notice for the period the Order specifies, and keep dated photographs of it. Missing the notice is the most common reason a notification is treated as invalid.

Fees for prior notification are set by the national fees regulations and are indexed, so check the current schedule rather than reusing a figure from a previous job.

The method of demolition statement

This is the document the authority actually reads. Keep it short and specific.

It should cover the demolition sequence building by building and floor by floor, the plant to be used and where it will stand, how the structure will be taken down in relation to party walls and adjoining occupiers, and the hours of working proposed. Add temporary works in outline, scaffold and hoarding positions, and the route for muck-away vehicles.

Asbestos belongs here too. A refurbishment and demolition survey under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 is required before demolition, and the Health and Safety Executive publishes what that survey has to establish. Say in the statement that the survey has been or will be completed and that licensed removal will precede the main works. The same goes for the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 and the role of the principal contractor.

A Pre-redevelopment Audit is a useful companion where materials recovery matters, and a Construction Management Plan carries the site-wide controls if one is required by a later permission.

Site restoration proposals

Restoration is the second thing the authority can consider, and it is often dealt with in two sentences when it deserves half a page.

Say what the cleared site will be: slab left in place or broken out, voids and basements backfilled with what material and to what compaction, levels relative to the highway and adjoining land, surface treatment, boundary treatment and security. Say how long the site will stand cleared, if you know, and what happens to it in the interim. A hoarded site with a gravel surface and managed weeds is a different proposition from an open plot with a 2 metre drop at the back of the pavement.

If demolition is immediately followed by construction under a separate permission, say so and reference that permission. If it is speculative, the restoration detail carries more weight.

Dust, noise, hours and adjoining occupiers

None of these can be refused on principle through a prior notification, but they shape the method statement and they determine how much trouble you get from neighbours and environmental health.

Set out the dust suppression measures, damping down and wheel washing. Reference BS 5228 for construction noise and vibration control and state the working hours you propose. Commit to a named site contact and a complaints procedure. Where the building adjoins occupied property, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 runs separately and needs its own notices, which are a civil matter rather than a planning one.

Trees are a trap. Protected trees on or adjoining the site stay protected through demolition, so if plant will track within root protection areas you need a tree protection plan and method statement and, where works to a protected tree are unavoidable, a separate consent.

Bats and nesting birds are a bigger trap. Demolition of an older building, a roof void or a structure with gaps and crevices can need a Protected Species Survey, and any mitigation licence requires a suitably licensed ecologist under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017. Permitted development status gives no defence to a species offence.

One useful point on net gain: the biodiversity gain condition attaches to planning permissions granted on application, so demolition carried out under the General Permitted Development Order does not itself trigger a gain plan. The redevelopment that follows almost always will, and clearing habitat first can worsen your baseline rather than improve it.

An illustrative submission checklist

Treat this as illustrative and check it against your authority's own requirements.

• Completed prior notification application form for demolition, with the correct fee from the current schedule.
• Site location plan at a recognised scale with the application site edged red.
• Existing block plan showing the building to be demolished, adjoining buildings and boundaries.
• Photographs of the building and its relationship to adjoining property and the highway.
• Method of demolition statement, covering sequence, plant, temporary works, hours and haul routes.
• Site restoration proposals, covering slab, voids, levels, surfacing, boundaries and security.
• Confirmation of the asbestos survey position and the removal strategy.
• Confirmation that the building is not listed and the site is not in a conservation area.
• Ecology position, with a survey report where the building has bat roost potential.
• Tree protection measures where protected or retained trees are within influencing distance.
• Draft site notice with the proposed display dates.
• Separate confirmation that a section 80 Building Act notice has been or will be served.

Keep the ecology and asbestos items at the front of your programme. Both can stop a demolition after the hoarding is up, and both cost less to resolve before the plant arrives.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the current text of the Order and your authority's requirements, or take advice from a qualified professional, before relying on it.

Browse the report types a redevelopment scheme needs on PlanScope and draft the supporting documents in minutes.

PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.