Demolition prior notification or a full planning application

Before a demolition contractor mobilises, three questions decide the route: is the demolition development at all, does Part 11 Class B of the GPDO cover it, and does something about the building or its location take it outside that right. Get the answer wrong and the first sign of trouble is a stop notice with plant already on site.

Prior notification under Part 11 Class B is not a light-touch planning application. It is a permitted development right with a condition attached, and the authority's power under it is narrow: the method of demolition and the restoration of the site afterwards. The principle of losing the building is not up for discussion, which is precisely why the right does not apply where the principle matters.

What prior notification covers

Where demolition amounts to development and falls within Part 11 Class B of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, planning permission is granted by the Order itself. The condition is that, before starting, the developer applies to the local planning authority for a determination as to whether its prior approval is required for the method of demolition and any proposed restoration of the site.

The application is short: a description of the proposed demolition, a site plan, and the fee set by the fee regulations. A site notice must be displayed on or near the land, and work cannot begin until the authority has given or refused prior approval, or until 28 days have passed without a determination.

Some demolition is not development in the first place. Section 55(2)(g) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, together with the ministerial direction describing buildings for that purpose, puts smaller structures and most means of enclosure outside the definition altogether. A garden wall, a run of fencing or a very small outbuilding will usually fall there. Check the current direction rather than assuming, because the categories have been revised more than once.

Buildings and locations outside the right

The exclusions are where the money is lost. Part 11 Class B does not help with:

• A listed building, where demolition needs listed building consent from the authority
• A scheduled monument, where scheduled monument consent is decided nationally
• An unlisted building in a conservation area, where the demolition is "relevant demolition" and needs planning permission, with a criminal offence under section 196D of the 1990 Act for carrying it out without
• A building rendered unsafe by the action or inaction of the person entitled to possession
• Land where an Article 4 direction has removed the Part 11 right

Conservation areas catch the most people. The removal of an unremarkable 1960s infill building inside a conservation area boundary is a planning application, decided against the statutory duty in section 72 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 to pay special attention to preserving or enhancing character and appearance. That application will need a Heritage Statement explaining the building's contribution, or absence of contribution, to the area.

Demolition can also be development requiring environmental impact assessment screening in its own right, particularly on large sites or where the demolition is the first phase of a wider scheme. Treating it as a purely technical matter is a mistake on anything substantial.

What the authority can actually control

Under the prior approval, two subjects only. Method of demolition covers sequencing, plant, protection of adjoining structures, dust suppression, noise and vibration control, hours of working, wheel washing and hoardings. Restoration of the site covers what the land looks like afterwards: capping of services, backfilling, levelling, seeding, boundary treatment and security.

That is a narrower list than a construction management condition on a full permission, and it does not extend to what replaces the building. An authority that refuses prior approval because it dislikes the loss of the building has stepped outside the power, though the practical answer to that is usually a conversation rather than an appeal.

Where demolition forms part of a redevelopment, most developers fold the method and restoration detail into a Construction Management Plan submitted with the main application, which avoids running two processes in parallel.

The parallel regimes that catch people out

Planning is one of at least four sets of obligations, and the others have their own clocks.

The section 80 notice is the one that derails programmes. It runs to the building control authority, not the planning department, and the authority can serve a counter-notice under section 81 imposing requirements on shoring, sealing services, weatherproofing exposed surfaces and making good. Six weeks is the minimum, and it does not run concurrently with a prior approval application unless both are submitted at the same time.

A pre-demolition audit of materials is worth doing regardless. It supports the waste position, identifies what can be reclaimed, and on schemes where circular economy policy applies it becomes evidence. The Pre-redevelopment Audit is the document that carries it.

Timescales for each route

Prior approval: 28 days from a valid application. If the authority does not determine it in that period, demolition can proceed in accordance with the details submitted. That is a genuine deemed consent, unlike the position on a non-material amendment.

Planning permission for relevant demolition in a conservation area: eight weeks for a minor application, longer if it goes to committee, plus a 21-day publicity period and, in most cases, consultation with a conservation officer and sometimes an amenity society.

Listed building consent: eight weeks, with Historic England consultation where the building is Grade I or II* or where the works involve demolition of a principal element. Applications for total demolition of a listed building face a very high bar and should not be programmed as a routine item.

Scheduled monument consent: decided by the Secretary of State on advice from Historic England, with no planning appeal route, so timescales are less predictable.

Deciding before the contractor mobilises

Run the checks in this order, and do them at the point of site acquisition rather than at the point of programming.

1. Confirm the designation position: listed, curtilage listed, scheduled, in a conservation area, in a National Park, covered by an Article 4 direction.
2. Confirm whether the demolition is development at all, by reference to the current ministerial direction.
3. If Part 11 Class B applies, prepare the method and restoration information before applying, because a thin submission invites a refusal of prior approval that costs another 28 days.
4. Serve the section 80 notice at the same time as the prior approval application.
5. Where demolition is part of a redevelopment, consider including it in the main application instead, so the authority controls it by condition and you run one process rather than three.

The rule of thumb that holds on most sites: if the building is designated, in a conservation area, or attached to something that is, assume an application. If it is a standalone structure on an unconstrained site, assume prior notification, then verify.

This is general guidance rather than legal advice, and demolition offences in conservation areas carry criminal liability, so check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

PlanScope can draft the supporting documents that sit around either route, from the method narrative to the heritage case, across all 66 report types. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.