Prior approval applications and EIA screening

Permitted development does not apply to development that requires environmental impact assessment. Article 3 of the GPDO 2015 says so directly, and the consequence is blunt: a prior approval granted for Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 development that was never screened may be worth nothing.

The fix is procedural and costs almost nothing. Request a screening opinion from the local planning authority before submitting the prior approval application, and keep the response on file with the decision notice.

Why the two regimes meet

The General Permitted Development Order grants planning permission by statutory instrument rather than by decision. The EIA Regulations require certain development to be assessed before consent is given. Those two things cannot both happen, so the Order excludes the overlap.

The exclusion applies to the development, not to the application. A prior approval under Part 3 or Part 6 is still a grant of permission for the purposes of the EIA Regulations, and a proposal can be Schedule 2 development even where the prior approval process examines only a short list of matters such as transport, contamination, flooding and noise.

That mismatch is the whole problem. The prior approval officer is looking at five headings. The EIA question is about the effects of the project as a whole.

The restriction the Order places on Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 development

Article 3 of the Order provides that Schedule 2 does not grant permission for development that is Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 development within the meaning of the EIA Regulations, unless one of three things has happened.

1. The local planning authority has adopted a screening opinion that the development is not EIA development.
2. The Secretary of State has made a screening direction to the same effect.
3. The Secretary of State has directed that the development is exempt from the Regulations.

Note what is absent from that list. There is no de minimis, no exception for small sites and no saving for a developer who reasonably believed the proposal fell outside Schedule 2.

Schedule 1 development always requires assessment. Schedule 2 development requires screening where it meets a description in column 1 and exceeds the applicable threshold in column 2, or falls in a sensitive area. The categories that come up most often alongside permitted development are urban development projects, intensive livestock installations, and projects for the use of uncultivated land or semi-natural areas for intensive agriculture.

Part 6 agricultural notifications reach those thresholds more often than people expect, and the practical position is set out in agricultural prior notification on holdings of five hectares.

Obtaining a screening opinion first

The request goes to the local planning authority under the EIA Regulations, with a plan identifying the land, a description of the development, and a description of its likely effects on the environment.

The authority is required to respond within three weeks, extendable by agreement in writing. A screening opinion that the development is not EIA development restores the Order as a route. One that concludes the opposite ends the permitted development route entirely, and the proposal becomes a full application supported by an Environmental Statement.

Write the request properly. A description that understates the project invites a challenge to the opinion later, and an opinion obtained on an incomplete description gives less protection than no opinion at all. Include the whole project, including anything on adjoining land in the same ownership, because cumulation with existing and approved development is one of the selection criteria the authority must consider.

Where the answer is that assessment is required, the Environmental Impact Assessment must be prepared by competent experts under the 2017 Regulations, so an AI-assisted draft is a starting point for that team rather than a substitute for it.

What happens if development starts without screening

The development is unauthorised from the outset. There is no permission to breach, because the Order never granted one.

Practical consequences, in the order they usually bite:

• An enforcement notice, or a stop notice where the works are under way.
• A refusal to issue a certificate of lawfulness, closing the route to regularising the position quickly.
• A funder or purchaser's solicitor finding the gap on due diligence, which on a completed scheme can be worse than enforcement.
• A judicial review by a third party where the prior approval was granted recently.

Retrospective screening is possible in some circumstances and is not a comfortable position to be in. It also does not repair the period during which the works were unlawful.

Sensitive areas and the removal of thresholds

The definition of a sensitive area in the EIA Regulations covers sites of special scientific interest, National Parks, National Landscapes, the Broads, World Heritage Sites, scheduled monuments and European sites.

Inside a sensitive area, the column 2 thresholds fall away for the purposes of deciding whether a proposal is Schedule 2 development. A scheme far below the ordinary size trigger can require screening simply because of where it sits.

That matters most for Part 6 agricultural development and for barn conversions in upland and coastal authorities, where a large share of holdings sit within or adjoining a designation. Check the designation before checking the threshold, not afterwards. Conversions in those areas raise their own structural questions, covered in the structural works test in a Class Q barn conversion.

Recording the screening outcome

The screening opinion belongs on the planning register, and the authority will normally place it there. Do not rely on that.

Keep, in the project file and in the sale pack: the screening request as submitted with its plans and description, the authority's opinion with its date and reference, the prior approval application referencing the opinion, and the prior approval decision notice.

Where the description of development changes between the screening request and the prior approval application, request a fresh opinion. A material change to the scheme means the opinion no longer covers what is being built, and that gap is exactly what a purchaser's solicitor will find.

A short Planning Statement accompanying the prior approval, setting out the screening history and confirming that the development matches what was screened, costs little and closes the point on the face of the application.

Programming the two applications together

The sequence that works on a straightforward scheme:

1. Establish whether the proposal falls within any Schedule 1 or Schedule 2 description, and whether it sits in a sensitive area.
2. Where either applies, submit the screening request with a full description of the project.
3. Wait for the opinion, allowing three weeks plus any agreed extension.
4. Submit the prior approval application, referencing the screening opinion by date and reference.
5. Keep the whole chain together in the file.

Resist the temptation to run the two in parallel to save a fortnight. A prior approval determined before the screening opinion is adopted sits on an uncertain footing, and the determination period for prior approval is short enough that the authority may decide it before the screening question is resolved.

Where the proposal is clearly outside both schedules, record the reasoning in a file note rather than leaving nothing. A note written now is easier than reconstructing the analysis in three years for a buyer's solicitor.

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.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which documents a prior approval or full application is likely to need.