The national validation list, item by item

The national validation requirements are short, fixed and set by the Development Management Procedure Order 2015 rather than by your council. Five things: the completed standard application form, the correct fee, the ownership and agricultural holdings certificates, a location plan and any other plans needed to describe the development, and a design and access statement where the Order requires one. Since February 2024 a biodiversity gain statement has joined the list for most applications in England. Everything else your case officer asks for comes from the authority's own local list, and that distinction is the one worth holding onto when a validation query lands.

An architect who knows which half of the request is statutory can push back on the other half with a straight face.

What sits in the national list

The Order sets out what an application for planning permission must include for it to be a valid application. National requirements apply everywhere in England identically. They are not negotiable, they do not vary between neighbouring authorities, and a council cannot waive them.

Local requirements are different in kind. They are published lists of supporting documents the authority considers necessary for particular types of development, they differ across boundaries, and they are subject to tests of reasonableness that the national list is not.

The practical reason this matters: an application refused validation for want of a local list item can sometimes be argued onto the register, while one missing a national item cannot.

Form, fee and the ownership certificates

The standard application form is the same across England, generated through the national portal or the authority's own system. Take the description of development seriously. It defines what you are applying for, it appears on the decision notice, and amending it after validation is a slower process than drafting it properly.

The fee is set by regulations and has been indexed annually since April 2025, so check the current schedule rather than a figure from a previous job. An underpaid fee stops validation as surely as a missing plan.

Ownership certificates cause more invalid applications than anything else on this part of the list. Certificate A is for sole ownership of the whole application site on the relevant date. B is where you know the other owners and have served notice on them. C is where some owners are unknown despite reasonable enquiry. D is where none are known. Certificate A signed for a site that includes a strip of verge in highway authority ownership, or a shared driveway, is a false certificate under section 65 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

The agricultural holdings certificate sits alongside and is often left blank. It still has to be completed, including where no part of the land is an agricultural holding.

Plans and the scales expected

The Order requires a plan identifying the land to which the application relates, plus any other plans, drawings and information necessary to describe the development. The scales below are conventional rather than statutory, but submitting outside them invites a query.

Two recurring failures. The red line that excludes the access, which makes the application undeliverable and can invalidate it. And drawings marked "do not scale" with no scale bar, which an officer cannot check against the site.

Where a site straddles an authority boundary the plan work doubles, because each authority validates its own application against its own local list. Read up on cross-boundary applications before you draw the red line, because the two red lines have to meet exactly.

When a design and access statement is required

Article 9 of the Order requires a Design and Access Statement for major development, and for development in a conservation area or World Heritage Site where the proposal is for one or more dwellinghouses or for a building or buildings with 100m² or more of floorspace. Listed building consent applications need one too.

Outside those triggers a design and access statement is not a national requirement. Plenty of councils ask for one anyway through their local list, which is legitimate for the categories the list covers, and less so as a blanket request on a householder rear extension.

A Planning Statement is never a national requirement. It is a local list item, or a document you choose to submit because the policy case needs making. Do not confuse the two when a validation officer describes both as mandatory.

The biodiversity gain information

Applications in England now have to be accompanied by a statement covering whether the applicant believes the biodiversity gain condition applies, the pre-development biodiversity value of the onsite habitat, the date used to calculate it, the completed statutory metric, and whether any irreplaceable habitat is present. Exemptions exist, including householder development and certain small self-build schemes, but the statement is still required to claim one.

This is the part of the national list most often filled in badly, because it needs the metric calculation done before submission rather than as a condition afterwards. A Biodiversity Net Gain Assessment under the Environment Act 2021 regime expects the statutory metric to be completed by a competent person, and the biodiversity gain plan is approved by the authority after permission. An AI-assisted draft is a starting point for that competent person, not a substitute for them.

Local list items and the two-year rule

A local list requirement can only be relied on if it was published within the previous two years and is reasonable having regard to the nature and scale of the proposal. National guidance is explicit on both points. So when an officer cites a transport statement for a two-unit infill scheme, the questions are: where is that item published, when was the list last adopted, and what in the nature of this proposal makes it necessary.

Record the version of the list you worked from. Download it as a PDF, note the date, and keep it with the submission. Lists get revised mid-project and a dated copy settles the argument about what applied when you submitted.

Fixing an invalid application quickly

Councils issue an invalidity notice listing what is missing. The clock has not started, so speed matters more than elegance.

1. Separate the national items from the local ones in the officer's list.
2. Supply every national item immediately, without argument, because there is no route round them.
3. For each local item, check the published list, its adoption date and whether the item is expressed as applying to development of this type and scale.
4. Where an item is not on the current list, say so in writing, quoting the list and its date, and ask for validation on that basis.
5. Where it is on the list but disproportionate, offer the smaller thing that meets the underlying concern, such as a short technical note instead of a full assessment.
6. Confirm in writing what you have supplied and ask for the validation date.

There is no appeal against a refusal to validate in the way there is against a refusal of permission, so the pressure points are the published list and the reasonableness test rather than the Planning Inspectorate. Escalating politely to the validation team leader resolves most of these within a week.

Once the application is registered, the entry on the statutory planning register is what third parties see, and amendments after registration can trigger re-consultation with the delay that implies.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which of the 66 report types a scheme is likely to need before you submit. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval. This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.