Holding directions and what happens to your decision
A holding direction suspends a local planning authority's power to grant permission while the Secretary of State decides whether to call the application in. It leaves the power to refuse untouched.
A planning holding direction stops a local planning authority granting permission on a named application until the Secretary of State lifts it. It does not stop the authority refusing, and it decides nothing about the merits. The power sits in article 31 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015, and it is normally used to hold the position while a call-in request is considered under section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.
For an agent whose client has just won a committee resolution, that distinction matters more than it sounds. The resolution stands. The decision notice does not follow.
What the direction actually does
Article 31 lets the Secretary of State direct that an authority shall not grant permission on an application, or on a description of applications, without specific authorisation. The enabling power is section 74 of the 1990 Act, which allows a development order to provide for such directions.
The wording is narrow and deliberate. The restriction bites on the grant of permission, so an authority that wants to refuse is free to do so, and an authority that has resolved to grant is simply held. Nothing in the direction changes the application, the plans, the consultation responses or the officer recommendation.
A holding direction is also not a decision on call-in. It buys the department time to read the file and decide whether the application raises issues of more than local importance. Most applications held in this way are released without any call-in at all.
Who issues one and when
Directions come from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on behalf of the Secretary of State, usually after a call-in request from an objector, a parish council, a statutory consultee or a member of Parliament. The trigger is almost always the authority signalling that it is about to grant.
The published call-in policy limits call-in to applications that conflict with national policies on important matters, that could have significant effects beyond their immediate area, that give rise to substantial regional or national controversy, that raise architectural or urban design issues of more than local weight, or that involve the interests of national security. A holding direction is the mechanism that keeps those applications alive long enough for the test to be applied.
The request itself carries no weight. Anyone can write to the department asking for an application to be called in, and the vast majority of those letters produce no direction at all. What produces a direction is a combination of the subject matter and the timing, which is why objectors who want one tend to write as soon as the committee agenda is published rather than after the vote.
London works differently. Under the Town and Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008 the Mayor has separate stage two powers over referable applications and can direct refusal or take over the application as local planning authority. That is a distinct regime and should not be described in the same terms.
The effect on the authority's power to grant
An authority under direction cannot issue a decision notice granting permission. If it does, the permission is vulnerable to challenge, and a purchaser's solicitor will spot the sequence of dates on the planning register within minutes.
What the authority can still do is considerable:
- resolve to grant subject to conditions and the completion of a section 106 agreement
- negotiate and complete that agreement
- agree the final wording of conditions with the applicant
- refuse the application outright
- write to the applicant confirming the direction and its date
Requests for call-in often turn on whether the scheme is premature in relation to an emerging plan, so the same file will usually contain material on prematurity as well. Where the objection concerns effects on an internationally designated site, the authority's Habitats Regulations Assessment record is the first thing the department will ask to see.
How long a direction can last
Article 31 permits a direction to be expressed indefinitely or for a specified period. In practice the department issues short directions and replaces them if it needs longer, which is why a scheme can sit under three or four consecutive directions.
There is no statutory maximum and no automatic expiry that an applicant can rely on. The direction ends when the Secretary of State withdraws it, authorises the grant, or calls the application in.
Ask the authority for three things in writing: the date the direction was received, the period it covers, and the name of the case officer in the department handling it. Those three facts are what every subsequent conversation depends on.
Holding direction compared with call-in
The two are often confused because they arrive in the same envelope. They are not the same instrument and they have different consequences.
| Holding direction | Call-in | |
|---|---|---|
| Source | Article 31, DMPO 2015 | Section 77, TCPA 1990 |
| Effect | Authority cannot grant | Application transferred to the Secretary of State |
| Who decides | Authority, once released | Secretary of State |
| Usual process | None | Inquiry, hearing or written representations |
| Typical duration | Weeks | Many months |
Once an application is called in, the local authority stops being the decision maker entirely. The Planning Inspectorate appoints an inspector who reports to the Secretary of State, and the eventual decision letter is a national decision with no local appeal against it. That is a materially different programme and a materially different budget.
What an applicant can do while it is in force
Keep working on everything that does not need a permission in existence. The section 106 can be engrossed and held in escrow. Pre-commencement conditions cannot be discharged because there are no conditions yet, but the evidence for them can be assembled, and on most residential schemes the biodiversity gain plan can be drafted against the metric already submitted.
An illustrative example shows the shape of it. A 180 unit scheme on a Green Belt edge site is resolved for approval at committee in March. A holding direction arrives 11 days later following a call-in request from the parish council and the county member. The developer completes the section 106 in April, keeps the drainage and highways evidence current, and instructs counsel to prepare a short note on the very special circumstances case in case an inquiry follows. The direction is withdrawn in June and the decision notice issues that week. Nothing about that sequence was wasted, because every piece of work would have been needed either way. This example is illustrative.
Watch the determination period. If the statutory period has expired and no extension of time is in place, the applicant's position on non-determination is worth taking advice on early rather than late, because the choices narrow once a decision or a call-in arrives.
And say something to the objectors' side of the table. A direction is public, it appears on the register, and silence tends to be read as difficulty.
Recording the position for a funder or purchaser
Funders ask a simple question: is there a permission. While a holding direction is in force the honest answer is that there is a resolution and no permission, with a third party controlling when that changes.
Put the sequence in the report in plain dates. Committee resolution date, direction date, direction expiry, section 106 status, and whether a call-in request is known to be outstanding. Attach the authority's letter rather than summarising it. If the scheme is being sold, the conditional contract should deal expressly with the possibility of call-in, because an inquiry timetable is not a risk that sits comfortably inside a standard long stop date.
Assemble the supporting documents for the scheme on the assumption that they may be tested at an inquiry rather than read once by a case officer. Policy compliance, heritage balance and viability evidence that was adequate for a delegated report will be examined line by line if the application is called in.
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.
Frequently asked questions
Does a holding direction stop the council refusing my application?
No. Article 31 of the Development Management Procedure Order 2015 restricts the grant of permission only. A local planning authority under a holding direction can still refuse, and some do, because refusing removes the application from the Secretary of State's in-tray and leaves the applicant with an ordinary appeal route.
How do I find out that a holding direction has been issued?
The authority is the recipient, not the applicant, so ask the case officer directly and ask for a copy of the letter. Directions are normally added to the application file on the public register. Request the date received, the period covered and the departmental reference so that you can track any replacement direction.
Is a holding direction the same as a call-in?
No. A holding direction preserves the position while a call-in request is considered. A call-in under section 77 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 transfers the application itself to the Secretary of State, who then determines it after an inquiry, hearing or written representations. Most held applications are released without being called in.
Can a holding direction be challenged?
A direction is an administrative act of the Secretary of State and is in principle amenable to judicial review, but the grounds are narrow and the remedy is slow. In most cases the practical response is to engage with the department on the substance of the call-in request rather than to attack the direction itself. Take legal advice before doing either.
What happens to my section 106 agreement while the direction is in force?
Nothing stops the agreement being negotiated, engrossed and executed. It cannot take effect as a planning obligation until permission is granted, so it is usually held by the solicitors and dated on the day the decision notice is issued. Completing it early removes one delay from the moment the direction is lifted.
Does the eight or thirteen week determination period keep running?
The statutory period is set by the Development Management Procedure Order and is not extended by the direction itself. Where the period has expired without an agreed extension of time, an applicant's options on non-determination become a matter for legal advice, and they narrow as soon as a call-in decision is made.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.