Checklist for a non-material amendment submission

A non-material amendment under section 96A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is the quickest route to changing an approved scheme, and the one most often used for changes it cannot lawfully carry. The determination period is 28 days, there is no statutory consultation, and the fee is modest. The price of that speed is a narrow gateway: the change has to be non-material, and nothing in the Act tells you where that line falls.

What the Act does say is that the authority must have regard to the effect of the change, together with any previous changes made to the permission, on the permission as originally granted. That cumulative test is the one applicants forget.

Testing whether the change is non-material

There is no statutory definition and no numerical threshold, so materiality is assessed in context. A 200 mm shift in a ridge line is nothing on an industrial shed in open country and may be material on a terrace in a conservation area.

Work through five questions before deciding the route:

• Would the change alter the appearance of the development as seen from any publicly accessible position or neighbouring property?
• Would it affect the amenity of any neighbour, through overlooking, overshadowing or noise?
• Does it conflict with any condition on the permission, or make a condition impossible to comply with?
• Does it change the quantum of development, meaning units, floorspace or site area?
• Taken with every previous amendment to this permission, does the cumulative change still read as non-material?

Any answer that is not a confident no points towards section 73 or a fresh application instead. The honest position is that this is a judgement, and different authorities draw it differently. A phone call to the case officer before submission costs nothing and often settles the route in five minutes.

Two things section 96A cannot do. It cannot alter the description of development, so a change requiring different words in the description needs another route. And it cannot be used to extend the time limit for implementation.

The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 inserted a further power for minor variations, which is intended to sit between section 96A and section 73. Check its commencement position before relying on it, since the position as at the date of writing is that practitioners should confirm what is in force rather than assume.

The comparison schedule of drawings

The comparison schedule is the heart of the submission, and a good one does most of the persuading. Set it out as a table.

Three rules make the schedule usable. Reference every drawing by its full number and revision, both the approved one and the replacement. Describe the change in dimensions rather than adjectives. And say what the change does not affect, because the officer is looking for reassurance as much as for information.

Where several drawings are affected by one change, list them all. A schedule that mentions the plan but not the elevation leaves the officer to work out whether the elevation is inconsistent or simply unchanged.

What to include in the covering statement

Short is better. A page and a half addressing six points:

1. The permission reference, its date and the development it authorised.
2. Any previous amendments to the permission, with references and dates.
3. The change sought, described precisely and cross-referenced to the schedule.
4. Why the change is non-material, addressing appearance, amenity, conditions and quantum.
5. Why it remains non-material when read with the previous amendments.
6. Confirmation that no condition needs altering, or identification of the condition that does and the altered wording proposed.

Resist the temptation to argue planning merits. The question is not whether the amended scheme is acceptable. It is whether the change is non-material, and a statement that strays into design justification invites the officer to reassess the scheme.

Where a wider explanation of the development is needed, it belongs in the original Planning Statement rather than in an amendment covering letter. A worked version of this kind of submission is set out in our worked non-material amendment request.

Fee and determination period

The determination period for a section 96A application is 28 days, and there is no deemed approval if the authority misses it. If no decision arrives, chase rather than start building.

The fee is a fixed amount, set at one level for changes to a permission for a dwellinghouse and a higher level for other development, and it is indexed annually. Take the current figure from the published schedule rather than from a previous submission. Where an amendment is bundled with other applications, the fee arithmetic can get awkward, and our note on a worked planning fee calculation for a mixed submission works through that.

There is no statutory requirement to consult neighbours or publicise a section 96A application, though some authorities notify as a matter of local practice. That absence of consultation is part of why the gateway is narrow: nobody outside the authority gets to comment.

Conditions that cannot be touched

Section 96A allows the authority to impose new conditions, and to remove or alter existing ones, as part of granting the change. That power is tied to the change, not a free-standing ability to rewrite the permission.

So the following are outside the route:

• removing a condition the applicant finds inconvenient, where no physical change is proposed
• altering a condition securing an obligation that was material to the grant of permission
• changing a pre-commencement condition into a pre-occupation one as an end in itself
• varying the approved drawings condition to approve something materially different

Those belong to section 73, which is a separate application with its own fee, an eight-week period, consultation and a fresh decision notice. Section 73 also creates a new permission, which has consequences for the levy, for any planning obligation and for the time limit, and those consequences are worth checking before choosing it over an amendment.

Where a planning obligation refers to the original permission by reference, check whether an amended scheme still falls within its terms. A deed of variation is sometimes needed alongside the amendment.

Keeping the drawing register straight afterwards

The administrative tail is where projects lose control. A permission with three separate section 96A approvals can end up with an approved drawing set spread across four decision notices, and nobody on site knows which revision is current.

Two habits prevent it. Keep a single consolidated schedule of approved drawings, updated after each amendment, showing the drawing number, revision, approving decision notice and date. Issue it to the contractor, the building control body and the client as the controlling document.

And ask the authority, in the covering statement, to list the full amended drawing set in the decision notice rather than referring only to the superseded drawings. Most authorities will. It takes one sentence to request and saves a great deal of confusion at handover.

Where the change affects the design narrative, the Design and Access Statement should be updated as an addendum rather than quietly reissued.

An illustrative checklist for a window change

The following checklist is illustrative, for widening a rear ground-floor window on an approved house extension.

1. Confirm the permission reference and check for previous amendments.
2. Confirm no condition restricts fenestration or requires window details to be approved.
3. Check the new opening against any daylight or overlooking assessment that supported the permission.
4. Produce revised plan and elevation drawings with new revision letters.
5. Prepare the comparison schedule with dimensions before and after.
6. Draft the covering statement, including the cumulative effect of earlier amendments.
7. Confirm the current fee from the published schedule and pay it.
8. Submit, diarise 28 days, and chase if no decision arrives.
9. On approval, update the consolidated drawing schedule and issue it to the contractor.

Nine steps, most of them administrative. The one that decides the outcome is step three, because a window change that undermines the assessment on which permission was granted is material however small it looks on the elevation.

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.