Phasing a permission and drafting conditions that survive it

Phasing a permission is a drafting exercise before it is a delivery one. The phasing plan itself takes an afternoon. The conditions that reference it decide whether phase three can start in four years time without a fresh application, and those conditions are usually written by someone who has not seen the build programme. A developer who leaves condition drafting to the officer report stage inherits triggers that tie the whole site to the first spade.

Two things make phasing worth the effort. Implementing one phase generally implements the permission as a whole, so the later parcels survive the time limit. And each phase becomes its own chargeable development for the community infrastructure levy, which moves a large cash outflow from year one to the year the parcel actually starts.

Defining a phase so it can be discharged

A phase needs a boundary that somebody can trace on a plan five years later. That means a numbered phasing plan, at a scale that shows plot boundaries, with each phase given a reference and a short written description: the parcels included, the roads and infrastructure within it, and the site wide works it is expected to deliver.

Two mistakes recur. The first is a plan with coloured blobs and no schedule, so nobody can say whether the attenuation basin sits in phase two or phase five. The second is a phase boundary drawn through the middle of an estate road, which makes the highway adoption impossible to close out.

Include the shared infrastructure in the phase that builds it, and say so in the description. Spine road, drainage, public open space, the substation. A phasing plan that only shows housing parcels leaves those items unallocated, and the argument surfaces when the authority refuses to release the next phase.

Write the variation mechanism into the phasing condition itself. Wording that permits an alternative phasing plan to be submitted to and approved in writing by the authority gives you a route to reorder parcels without a section 73 application. Authorities accept it because the substance is unchanged.

Triggers, and the words that cause the damage

Most conditions on a major permission carry a trigger. The difference between "prior to the commencement of development" and "prior to the start of development within the relevant phase" is the difference between a manageable discharge programme and a bottleneck.

Work through the condition list and sort every one into three groups. Site wide and needed up front: archaeological written scheme of investigation, site wide drainage strategy, construction environmental management plan, biodiversity gain plan for the whole site. Phase specific and needed before that phase starts: materials, levels, landscaping, plot drainage details. Occupation triggers: highway works, play space, affordable housing transfer.

Then check that each condition's wording matches its group. A materials condition worded to bite before any development on site forces you to choose brick for phase six in year one, which nobody wants and no officer intends.

Some conditions resist phasing altogether. Where a scheme requires a habitats regulations assessment, the mitigation is usually assessed for the whole development, and an authority is right to want it secured before anything begins. The same is often true of a site wide surface water strategy, because the outfall serves every parcel.

Put your proposed condition set in the planning statement as an appendix. Officers under pressure use what they are given, and a draft schedule with sensible triggers is more likely to survive than a set of comments emailed after the report is drafted.

The levy arithmetic

Under the levy regulations, each phase of a phased permission is a separate chargeable development. It gets its own liability notice, its own assumption of liability, its own notice of the start on site and its own demand notice, with payment following the authority's instalment policy from the date that phase starts.

An outline permission granted in phases is phased for these purposes. A full permission is only phased where a condition provides for it, and that condition must be in place before development begins. Adding a phasing condition by section 73 after work has started does not retrofit the benefit.

The procedural traps are the expensive part. Miss the notice telling the authority a phase has started and the instalment policy falls away, with the whole amount for that phase payable immediately and a surcharge on top. Every phase repeats the same sequence, so the discipline has to be a process rather than a memory. Read up on liability notices and the surcharges once, then turn it into a checklist for the site team.

Self-build and social housing relief is claimed per phase as well, and the claim has to be made and acknowledged before that phase starts.

Section 106 obligations across phases

Obligations need the same treatment. Affordable housing expressed as a site wide percentage has to be allocated across phases, or the last phase carries a disproportionate burden and becomes unviable.

The usual approach sets a per phase requirement with a reconciliation mechanism at the end, so that rounding across small parcels does not produce a shortfall. Contribution triggers are tied to occupation numbers within the phase rather than across the site.

Review mechanisms cut both ways on a long build out. An early stage review protects the authority if costs assumed at consent turn out to be conservative. A late stage review protects both sides on a scheme that takes a decade. Neither works without a defined phase, which is the point where drafting and delivery meet again.

An illustrative structure

Illustrative example. A 320 home outline permission in five phases. Phase 1 includes the spine road to the first junction, the main attenuation basin and 70 homes. Conditions for archaeology, the site wide drainage strategy and the overall biodiversity gain plan are triggered before any development. Materials, levels, plot drainage and hard and soft landscaping are triggered per phase. Affordable housing is delivered at the policy percentage within each phase, with reconciliation before the final 20 occupations. The play area is triggered at 50 per cent occupation of phase 2. Figures are illustrative.

What a phased permission does not fix

Phasing buys time and cash flow. It does not cure a policy problem in a later parcel, and it does not stop an authority from taking a different view when a reserved matters application for phase four lands six years after the outline. Officers change, the development plan is reviewed, and a parcel drawn on a plan in 2026 is assessed against whatever policy is in force when it is submitted.

Nor does it slow the drift in survey data. Ecology baselines age, transport counts age, and a phase submitted late enough will be asked to refresh both. Programme a refresh rather than arguing about it.

Keeping the record straight

Phased schemes generate a large volume of discharge applications, and the risk is not any single one. It is losing track of which condition was discharged for which phase, and under which reference. Three years in, with a new project manager and a different contractor, that record is the only thing standing between you and a breach.

Keep a compliance file organised by phase rather than by condition number, with the decision notice, the approved plans, every discharge approval and every notice of a start on site filed under the phase it relates to. Purchasers' solicitors ask for it in that shape anyway.

Enter your site postcode on PlanScope to draft the supporting statement and the report pack for the next phase of a consented scheme.

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.