Extension of time agreements: when to sign and when to refuse

An extension of time request arriving in week six is a routine part of development management, and signing it without asking two questions is a habit worth breaking. The two questions are: what work remains, and what date covers it. Article 34 of the Development Management Procedure Order 2015 allows the applicant and the authority to agree a longer period in writing, and that agreement replaces the statutory period entirely. What you hand over is the right to appeal against non-determination while it runs.

Most of the time you sign. The judgement is about the date, not the principle.

Why officers ask for an extension

Three reasons, and they are not equally good.

The consultee has not responded. A lead local flood authority, a county ecologist or a highway officer with a backlog can hold an application for weeks, and the case officer cannot write a report without the response. This is the reason to agree to.

The application is going to committee and the agenda date falls outside the period. Committee cycles are fixed, agenda deadlines fall two to three weeks before the meeting, and the arithmetic sometimes does not work. Agree, and tie the date to the meeting after the one you expect.

The authority's performance figures need it. An agreed extension counts as determined in time. This is the reason people resent, and it is not by itself a reason to refuse, because refusing does not make the officer's workload smaller.

Ask which of the three applies. Officers generally tell you.

What you give up by agreeing

The right of appeal against non-determination, for the duration of the agreed period. That is the whole of it.

For most applications that right is worth less than it sounds. An appeal removes the file from the officer you have been negotiating with, adds months, and stops the amendments that were about to resolve the objection. It also puts the decision in front of an inspector who did not see the negotiation.

Where the right matters is on a scheme with a funding deadline, an option agreement with a longstop date, or an authority that has gone silent. In those situations the appeal is a bargaining position as well as a remedy, and signing an open-ended extension throws it away.

The planning guarantee and the fee refund position

The fee regulations provide for the application fee to be refunded where an application has not been determined within 26 weeks. Agreeing an extension of time normally removes that entitlement.

Two practical points. The sums involved are meaningful on a major application, where the fee runs into tens of thousands of pounds. And fees are indexed, so the figure in your appraisal from two years ago is not the figure today. Check the current fee schedule before treating the refund as immaterial.

Where an extension is being requested purely to protect the authority's statistics on an application that is already close to 26 weeks, the refund position is a legitimate thing to raise. Politely.

Negotiating a realistic date rather than an open one

The difference between a good extension and a bad one is a date on a calendar.

• Ask what is outstanding, item by item.
• Ask when the outstanding consultee response is expected, and whether the officer has chased it.
• If committee is involved, ask which meeting the report is targeted at and when the agenda closes.
• Add two weeks of contingency to whatever comes back.
• Agree that date in writing and diary it.

Refuse the open-ended form. "Until such time as the application is determined" gives the authority everything and gives you a position that is very hard to reverse, because withdrawing agreement to an open extension is not clearly available under article 34.

Where a section 106 agreement is being drafted, the extension usually needs to run to completion of the deed rather than to the committee resolution. A resolution to grant subject to a section 106 is not a permission, and the engrossment of an agreement including an Affordable Housing Statement schedule can take longer than the planning assessment did.

Refusing an extension and appealing non-determination

If you refuse, nothing happens automatically. The period expires, the application remains live, and you acquire the option to appeal.

You do not have to use it immediately. Many consultants let the period lapse, tell the officer they are not appealing yet, and keep the option in reserve. That preserves the relationship and the option at the same time.

If you do appeal, three consequences follow. The authority loses the ability to determine the application. The authority sets out the decision it would have made, which is often a refusal drafted after the event and therefore fuller than the officer's actual position. And costs are in play in both directions: an authority behaving unreasonably may face a costs award, and an applicant who appealed prematurely against an authority making reasonable progress may face one too.

Multiple extensions and when to stop

A second extension is normal. A third is a signal.

By the third request, ask for a written explanation of what has changed since the second, and copy the development management team leader. Not as a threat, as a record. If the answer is that the officer has been moved to another case load, that is worth knowing, and it usually produces a reallocation rather than a fourth extension.

Set a rule for your practice: two extensions, then escalate. Clients tolerate delay much better when they can see it being managed.

Recording the agreement so it is enforceable

Article 34 requires the extension to be agreed in writing. An email exchange satisfies that, provided it is clear on two things: the new date, and that both parties agree to it.

What does not satisfy it is an officer's email stating that the period has been extended. An extension is an agreement, and a unilateral notification is not one. If you receive a message in that form, reply confirming the date you agree to.

Keep the exchange with the application file. Where the matter later reaches appeal, the correspondence is evidence of who did what and when, and a well-kept record has won costs applications.

Illustrative example: a 14-unit application where the officer requested an open extension in week eleven pending a highways response. The applicant agreed instead to a fixed date six weeks out, the highways response arrived in week fourteen, the report went to the next committee, and the permission issued two days before the agreed date. This example is illustrative.

One honest uncertainty: authorities take different views on whether an applicant can withdraw agreement to an extension once given. Avoid the question by agreeing a date rather than a state of affairs.

PlanScope drafts the Planning Statement and supporting documents that let a complete application go in at validation, which is the most reliable way to avoid an extension request in the first place. Browse the 66 report types or start from the PlanScope home page.

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.