Prior approval determination periods and the 56 day rule

If a council does not tell you its decision on a prior approval application within 56 days, you can build. That is the rule investors rely on, and it is why the prior approval 56 days deadline matters more than almost any other date in the permitted development system. The catch is that the period only runs from a validly made application, and authorities that have missed the deadline tend to argue about validity rather than about the merits.

Prior approval is not planning permission. The development is already permitted by the General Permitted Development Order 2015. What the council is deciding is a narrower question: whether its approval is required for specified matters such as transport, contamination, flooding, noise or the natural light reaching habitable rooms.

What prior approval is and how it differs from permission

With a planning application, the authority decides whether to grant permission at all, weighing the development plan and any other material considerations. With prior approval, the principle of the development is settled by the Order, and the authority can only consider the matters that the relevant class lists.

That narrowing is the whole point. A council that dislikes a Class MA conversion of a shop to flats cannot refuse it because the parade is losing a retail unit, unless the class gives it that ground. It can refuse on the listed matters, and on nothing else.

The second difference is procedure. Prior approval applications carry their own fee scale, their own information requirements set out in the Order, and their own determination period. They are not householder or full applications and the general procedure rules do not all apply.

The third difference is duration. A prior approval, once given or deemed, carries a time limit for commencement set by the class itself, and the development has to be carried out in accordance with the details submitted.

The 56 day period and when it starts

For most classes in Part 3 of Schedule 2, the procedure in paragraph W applies, and development must not begin before one of three things happens. The applicant receives written notice that prior approval is not required. The applicant receives written notice that prior approval is given. Or 56 days pass from the day the application was received by the authority without the authority notifying the applicant of its decision.

Count from the day of receipt, not from validation, not from registration and not from the day the fee cleared. Days are calendar days, and the period runs through weekends and bank holidays.

The word that does the work is notifying. The decision has to reach the applicant within the period, so an authority that makes a decision on day 55 and posts it on day 57 has missed the deadline. Keep the envelope and the email headers.

Not every class uses 56 days. Larger householder extensions under Part 1 use a different period tied to the neighbour consultation scheme, and other parts of Schedule 2 set their own. Read the procedure paragraph for the class you are using rather than assuming.

What happens when the council does not respond

Where the period expires with no notification, the development may proceed. Practitioners call it deemed prior approval, although the Order does not use that phrase: what it does is remove the bar on beginning development.

Two limits apply, and both catch people. The development must be carried out in accordance with the details submitted with the application, so the drawings and information you sent become the specification. And every condition and limitation in the class itself continues to apply, whether or not the authority ever considered them.

So a Class Q conversion that proceeds on expiry of the period still has to comply with the class's limits on floorspace, on the extent of building operations and on the land it applies to. Expiry of the period does not cure a scheme that never qualified.

Where you intend to rely on the expiry, write to the authority on the day after it runs out, state the date of receipt, the date of expiry and your intention to proceed, and attach the details submitted. That letter is the single most useful document in any later dispute.

Evidence that the application was validly made

This is where these cases are won and lost. If the application was not validly made, the clock never started, and the authority will say so after the event.

Assemble the proof at the point of submission. The Order sets out what has to accompany an application for each class, typically a written description of the proposed development, a plan indicating the site and showing the proposed development, the developer's contact address, an email address if the applicant is content to receive communications electronically, and the fee. Some classes require more, such as a flood risk assessment, a contamination assessment or a noise report.

Then keep: the submission receipt with its date and time, the authority's acknowledgement, the fee payment confirmation, a complete copy of everything submitted, and a short covering schedule listing each required item against where it appears. Where you have used a portal, download the full submission bundle rather than trusting that it remains accessible.

If the council asks for further information during the period, provide it, but do so without agreeing that the application was invalid. Paragraph W allows the authority to request further information, and supplying it does not restart the 56 days.

Silence from the authority is common and is not the same as agreement that the application is valid. A short email at day 14 asking the authority to confirm the date of receipt and that the application is validly made costs nothing and produces a useful answer either way.

Conditions imposed with a prior approval

Where prior approval is granted, the authority may impose conditions reasonably related to the subject matter of the prior approval. It cannot impose conditions about matters outside the listed grounds.

That limit is worth policing. A condition requiring an affordable housing contribution, or restricting occupancy, on a Class MA prior approval is likely to be outside the scope, and the way to deal with it is at the time rather than after commencement.

Conditions do not attach where the period expires without a decision, because there is no decision to carry them. The details submitted take their place, which is a reason to submit details you are content to build to rather than an outline.

Keep the decision notice, the approved details and any subsequent correspondence in a single file. The habit is the same one described in our note on building a compliance file after permission is granted, and it matters more here, because there is often no decision notice at all.

Starting development after the period expires

Begin with a material operation that is clearly part of the permitted development and record it. Photographs with a date, a contractor's record, and a file note naming the class relied on and the application reference.

Do not begin before the period has expired. Starting on day 55 because the council has clearly lost interest is a breach, and it exposes the whole scheme to enforcement.

Where a class requires completion within a stated period, diarise that date as well. Several prior approval classes require the development to be completed within three years of the date of approval, and a scheme that stalls can fall outside the right.

Where the 56 day rule does not help

Three situations come up repeatedly. The class is not in Part 3 and uses a different procedure and period. The site is excluded from the class altogether, for example by an Article 4 direction, by a designation the class excludes, or by a condition on an earlier permission removing permitted development rights. Or the authority notified a refusal in time, in which case the route is an appeal under section 78 rather than an argument about dates.

Appealing a refused prior approval works the same way as any other appeal, with the difference that the grounds are confined to the matters the class lists. Where the complaint is delay rather than refusal, the position differs from a full application, and our note on appealing non determination instead of waiting explains why the two routes are not interchangeable.

Set the class, the limits and the evidence out clearly in the supporting Planning Statement, because a prior approval submission that walks the officer through each listed matter in order is far more likely to be decided on time.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which supporting documents a prior approval application is likely to need. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.