Part 11 demolition: when prior notification is needed

Demolition prior notification is the step people miss. Pulling down a building is usually permitted development under Part 11 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015, but the right is conditional: before work starts you have to apply to the local planning authority for a determination as to whether its prior approval is required for the method of demolition and the restoration of the site. Start without that, and the demolition is unauthorised even though the principle of demolishing was never in doubt.

The regime sits oddly because three questions run together. Is demolition development at all? If it is, does Part 11 cover it? And what does the notification actually have to say?

When demolition is development at all

Demolition is a building operation, so it is development under section 55(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Section 55(2)(g) then lets the Secretary of State direct that demolition of specified descriptions of building is not development, and a direction is in force. Its effect is that small structures and most means of enclosure fall outside planning control altogether.

Check the current direction rather than relying on a rule of thumb, because the descriptions are precise and the consequences of getting it wrong are not symmetrical. Demolishing something you were free to demolish costs nothing. Demolishing something that needed consent can be a criminal offence in a conservation area.

Where the direction does not apply, demolition is development, and the question becomes whether it is permitted.

What Part 11 permits and what it excludes

Part 11 of Schedule 2 to the Order deals with heritage and demolition. Class B grants planning permission for any building operation consisting of the demolition of a building, subject to conditions.

The grant does not reach three situations. Demolition that amounts to relevant demolition in a conservation area, which needs planning permission in its own right. Demolition of a listed building or of part of one, which needs listed building consent. And works to a scheduled monument, which need scheduled monument consent under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

Nor does Part 11 give you anything about what replaces the building. Clearing a site is one decision and rebuilding on it is another. Where the intention is demolition followed by new homes, Part 20 Class ZA of the same Order offers a prior approval route for certain detached buildings, with its own conditions and limits, and that is a different application from the Part 11 notification.

Prior notification of the method of demolition

Where Class B applies and the demolition is not excluded demolition, the condition attached to the class requires an application to the authority for a determination as to whether prior approval is required as to the method of demolition and any proposed restoration of the site.

What goes in:

1. A written description of the proposed demolition, with the address and a site plan showing the building to be removed and what stays.
2. A statement of the method: sequence of works, plant to be used, how the structure will be brought down, dust and noise control, hours of working, hoarding and site security.
3. The restoration proposals, which means what the cleared site will look like: levels, capping, boundary treatment, drainage left safe, and how the site will be maintained if redevelopment is not immediate.
4. Evidence that a notice has been displayed on or near the site, in a position where it can be read by the public, for at least the period the Order requires.
5. The fee, where one is payable.

Then wait. Work cannot begin until the authority tells you prior approval is not required, or gives approval, or 28 days pass from receipt of the application without a determination. Diary that date and keep the proof of posting and the site notice photograph, because the burden of showing compliance falls on you.

Authorities use the method statement to attach practical controls rather than to refuse. Expect interest in wheel washing, in dust suppression where a school or hospital is nearby, in the timing of any road closure, and in whether a party wall will be left exposed.

Excluded demolition and where it applies

The Order defines excluded demolition, which takes certain cases out of the notification requirement entirely. The categories turn on demolition being required or authorised under other enactments and on demolition that forms part of a redevelopment already permitted on an application. Read the current wording on legislation.gov.uk rather than a summary, because the definition has been amended and a summary written for an earlier version is a trap.

The practical reading is this. If you hold a planning permission for redevelopment that expressly includes demolition, the notification is usually unnecessary. If you are demolishing because a notice requires you to, it is unnecessary. If you are simply clearing a site you own because the building is empty and you want it gone, it is required.

Conservation areas and unlisted buildings

Since 2013 the demolition of an unlisted building in a conservation area has been dealt with as relevant demolition requiring planning permission, with a criminal offence for carrying it out without consent. This catches more than people expect. It applies to buildings, and the boundary between substantial demolition and alteration is a matter of fact and degree that officers take seriously.

Practical consequence: in a conservation area, never treat demolition as a preliminary that can be done while the redevelopment application is being drafted. Apply for the demolition and the replacement together, so that the authority weighs the loss against the gain. Applications to demolish in a conservation area with no agreed replacement scheme are usually resisted, because the policy test looks at the effect on the character and appearance of the area, and a gap site rarely helps that.

Where the building sits in the curtilage of a listed building, the rights are narrower again, as set out in the note on permitted development rights in a listed building curtilage.

Listed buildings and the consent route

Demolition of a listed building, in whole or in part, requires listed building consent under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990. There is no permitted development route and no notification shortcut. The statutory duty on the authority is to have special regard to the desirability of preserving the building, its setting and any features of special interest, and total demolition of a listed building is granted only rarely and on strong justification.

Partial demolition is the everyday case: removing a lean-to, taking out a chimney breast, opening a structural wall. Each of those is works requiring consent, and the recording of what is lost is usually conditioned.

The regimes that run in parallel

Planning is one of four or five separate approvals, and the others have their own clocks.

Section 80 of the Building Act 1984 requires notice to the local authority before demolishing most buildings, and section 81 lets the authority serve a counter-notice requiring shoring of adjoining property, weatherproofing exposed surfaces, sealing drains and making good. Six weeks is the usual lead time, and the counter-notice can add cost that was not in the demolition quote.

Asbestos work is governed by the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, and licensed work must be notified to the Health and Safety Executive in advance. A refurbishment and demolition survey has to be done before the work is planned, not after the contractor is on site.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 apply, with notification of longer or larger projects and a construction phase plan for all of them.

Bats and nesting birds are the programme risk. Roosts are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 regardless of whether the demolition is permitted development, and the survey season for emergence work runs roughly May to September. The point is covered further in protected species and permitted development.

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 bites where a shared wall is involved, with its own notice periods and the possibility of an award.

Illustrative example: a developer buys a vacant 1960s workshop outside any designation, intending to clear the site while a residential application is prepared. Part 11 applies, so a method and restoration notification goes in with a site notice, and the 28 day period is diaried. A refurbishment and demolition asbestos survey finds licensed material in the roof sheets, adding four weeks. A bat emergence survey is booked for June. The section 80 notice goes to building control at the same time. Details are illustrative.

Where the cleared site is heading for a planning application, PlanScope drafts the Planning Statement and the other supporting documents from your site details, flagging missing facts rather than inventing them. Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports the redevelopment is likely to need.

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.