Prior approval: what the 56 day rule really means
If the council does not decide a Class MA or Class Q prior approval within 56 days, you may build. The period, the start date and the records you need to keep.
The prior approval 56 day rule means that for several permitted development classes, if the local planning authority has not given you its decision within 56 days of a valid application, you may build anyway. It is deemed approval by silence. That is a different mechanism from a planning application, where a failure to decide gives you an appeal rather than a permission.
The detail matters because the period is not 56 days for every class, the start date is not the date you posted the form, and the protection evaporates if your application was never valid.
Which classes work this way
Prior approval under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 is a filtered consent. The right to develop already exists in the Order. The authority gets to consider a closed list of matters, nothing else.
The periods differ by class, so read the class you are using:
| Route | Period | What happens at expiry |
|---|---|---|
| Part 3 Class MA, commercial to dwellinghouses | 56 days | Development may proceed if no decision is given |
| Part 3 Class Q, agricultural building to dwellinghouse | 56 days | Development may proceed if no decision is given |
| Part 1 Class A, larger rear extension neighbour consultation | 42 days | Development may proceed if the authority has not refused |
| Part 6, agricultural buildings and operations | 28 days for the determination as to whether approval is required | Development may proceed in accordance with the submitted details |
| Part 16 Class A, electronic communications apparatus | 56 days | Development may proceed |
Part 20, which covers upward extensions and new dwellings above existing buildings, uses its own period and its own list of matters. Check the text of the class rather than assuming it mirrors Part 3.
What happens if the authority does not decide
For the Class MA and Class Q routes, the Order allows the development to begin where the authority has neither given nor refused prior approval within the period. You do not get a document. You get a right, and the burden of proving it later sits with you.
So keep the evidence. The dated submission, the authority's acknowledgement, the validation date it gave you, the plans as submitted and a note of the day the period expired. Five years on, when a buyer's solicitor asks, that bundle is the only thing standing between you and a problem.
Deemed approval binds you to the details you submitted. Build something different and the right does not cover it.
When the period starts running
The period runs from the day after the authority receives a valid application, not from the day you sent it. Validity is the trap.
Each prior approval class lists what the application must include. Class MA requires a plan indicating the site, the developer's contact details, the fee and, where relevant, the information on flooding, contamination and natural light that the class specifies. Class Q requires floor plans showing the existing building and the proposed dwelling, structural information where works are proposed, and the relevant site plan. Miss an item and the authority can treat the application as invalid, which means the clock never started.
Two practical habits avoid most of the argument:
- Ask the authority to confirm the date it treats as the date of receipt, in writing, within the first week.
- Submit the specified information in full even where you think it is not relevant, with a short note explaining why an item is nil.
Authorities sometimes write asking for further information after the clock has started. Supplying it does not restart the period. Nor does an authority's offer to extend by agreement bind you, although in practice agreeing a short extension is often better than building on a right you may later have to defend. But if the authority says the application was invalid from the outset and you quietly supply the missing item, you are effectively agreeing to a new start date.
Conditions on a prior approval
A grant of prior approval can carry conditions, and the classes themselves impose conditions that bite whether or not anything is written on the decision notice. Class MA carries conditions requiring the development to begin within three years of the approval and requiring the resulting use to be as a dwellinghouse. Class Q restricts the extent of building works to what is reasonably necessary to convert the building.
Where deemed approval arises by the expiry of the period, the class conditions still apply. Nothing about silence suspends them. People read deemed approval as a free pass and then fall foul of a condition nobody ever wrote down for them.
The conditions an authority can add to a positive decision are limited to the matters it was entitled to consider. A Class Q approval conditioned on a landscaping scheme for the wider farmyard, for example, reaches beyond the closed list and is vulnerable on appeal. Read the decision notice against the class text line by line before accepting it, because a condition you comply with for ten years is harder to argue about afterwards.
Appealing a refusal
A refusal of prior approval is appealable to the Planning Inspectorate in the ordinary way, with the usual six month deadline running from the date of the decision. The appeal is confined to the matters the class allowed the authority to consider, which makes these appeals narrower and often quicker than a full planning appeal.
Where the authority refused on a matter outside the closed list, say so in the grounds of appeal and quote the class. Inspectors deal with that point crisply.
The alternative route, where the scheme has merit but the class does not fit, is a full application supported by a Planning Statement that argues the development plan case. That takes longer and costs more in fee terms, and it opens the whole scheme to assessment rather than the closed list.
Records where approval is deemed
Keep a single folder. In it: the application as submitted with every plan, the fee receipt, the acknowledgement and validation date, all correspondence, a dated note of expiry, and a site photograph before works start.
Consider applying for a lawful development certificate under section 191 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 once the works are complete, confirming that the development is lawful. It is not free and it is not required. For a conversion that will be sold or refinanced, it is the cleanest answer to the question a lender will ask.
Our note on proving an agricultural building was in agricultural use covers the evidence that most often decides a Class Q submission, and the vacancy and continuous use conditions that catch Class MA applicants are set out in our piece on Class MA vacancy requirements.
Prior approval fees are set in the national fee regulations and indexed, so check the current schedule on the Planning Portal before you submit rather than relying on a figure in an old quote.
This is general guidance, not legal advice; check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
Browse all 66 report types on PlanScope to see which documents a prior approval submission needs.
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Frequently asked questions
Does the 56 day period apply to all prior approvals?
No. Classes MA and Q in Part 3 and Class A in Part 16 use 56 days, the larger home extension neighbour consultation scheme in Part 1 uses 42 days, and Part 6 agricultural prior approvals use 28 days for the determination as to whether approval is required. Read the class you are relying on.
When does the 56 days start?
The day after the local planning authority receives a valid application containing everything the class specifies, together with the fee. If an item is missing the authority can treat the application as invalid and the period never begins. Ask the authority in writing to confirm the date of receipt it is working to.
Do I get a document if approval is deemed?
No. You get a right to proceed, with no decision notice. Keep the submitted plans, the acknowledgement, the validation date, all correspondence and a dated note of expiry, because the burden of proving the right sits with you if a buyer, lender or enforcement officer asks later.
Does supplying extra information restart the period?
Not where the application was already valid. Answering a request for further information during the period does not extend it. The position differs if the authority maintains the application was invalid from the start, because providing the missing item then creates a new date of receipt and a new period.
Can I appeal a refusal of prior approval?
Yes, to the Planning Inspectorate, within six months of the decision. The appeal is limited to the matters the class allowed the authority to consider, so it is narrower than a full planning appeal. If the authority refused on a ground outside that closed list, make that point in your grounds of appeal.
Do the class conditions still apply if approval is deemed?
Yes. Conditions written into the class itself apply whether or not a decision notice exists. Class MA requires the development to begin within three years and requires the resulting use to be as a dwellinghouse, and Class Q limits building works to what is reasonably necessary for the conversion. Silence from the authority suspends none of them.
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.