Prior approval for the method of demolition

Demolition prior approval under Part 11 of the General Permitted Development Order 2015 is narrow by design. The council is not deciding whether the building should come down. It is deciding two things only: the method of demolition and the proposed restoration of the site afterwards. Applicants who submit a case about why the building has no merit, or officers who try to refuse on heritage or amenity grounds, have both misread the class.

When demolition is development at all

Section 55(1A) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 treats demolition as a building operation, which makes it development. A ministerial direction then pulls most demolition back out again, so that taking down many types of building is not development at all and needs nothing from the planning system.

What stays inside the system, broadly, is the demolition of a dwellinghouse or a building adjoining a dwellinghouse, along with anything caught by the conservation area and listed building regimes. That is why demolishing a detached workshop in the middle of an industrial estate usually needs no planning application, while demolishing the terraced house next to it does.

Check the direction and the current text of Part 11 on legislation.gov.uk for the specific building in front of you. The descriptions are precise and the consequence of getting it wrong is a criminal offence in conservation areas.

Buildings excluded from the right

Class B does not apply where the building has been rendered unsafe or uninhabitable by the action or inaction of anyone with an interest in the land, and where it would be practicable to secure safety or health through repair or temporary support. That provision exists to stop deliberate neglect being used as a route to demolition, and authorities in historic areas do use it.

Listed buildings are outside the class entirely. Demolition of a listed building, in whole or in part, needs listed building consent under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990, and there is no permitted development route to it.

Unlisted buildings in conservation areas are also outside it. Their demolition is relevant demolition under section 196D of the 1990 Act and needs planning permission, with a criminal offence attached to doing it without. Scheduled monuments have their own consent regime.

Where demolition is urgently necessary in the interests of safety or health, the class allows the work to proceed with notification to the authority rather than a prior approval application, but the developer has to justify the urgency. Structural engineers' letters written after the event carry very little weight.

What the council can consider

Two matters. The method of demolition, and any proposed restoration of the site. Nothing else.

In practice that means the authority looks at the sequence of the take-down, the plant to be used, hoardings and site security, dust suppression, noise and vibration control and the hours during which noisy work will happen, traffic routes for muck away and the wheel washing arrangements, protection of adjoining structures and any retained party walls, and what the cleared site will look like when the machines leave.

Restoration is the part most often left blank. If the site is going to sit empty for two years, say what the surface treatment, boundary treatment and maintenance regime will be. A cleared plot behind rotting hoarding generates complaints, and an authority that has been given nothing to work with will impose its own condition.

The application is made on the standard prior approval form with a written description of the works, a site plan, the fee, and evidence that a notice has been displayed on the site. The authority then has 28 days to decide whether prior approval is required and, if it is, whether to give it. Serve the site notice early, because the display period has to be completed before the application goes in.

The restoration of the site afterwards

Think of restoration as a deliverable rather than a formality. Set out the intended ground level, the treatment of the slab and foundations, whether services are capped or removed, the boundary enclosure, and whether the land will be seeded, gravelled or left as hardcore.

Where the demolition is the first phase of a redevelopment with permission already granted, say so, and propose that restoration is limited to making the site safe and secure pending implementation. That is a reasonable position and authorities usually accept it when it is written down.

A Pre-redevelopment Audit is worth preparing at the same time. Recording what materials are in the building before it comes down supports reclamation, feeds the circular economy case on the redevelopment application, and gives you a defensible position if hazardous material is found later.

Asbestos, party walls and other regimes

Planning is the smallest of the consent regimes touching a demolition. Four others usually apply at the same time.

Section 80 of the Building Act 1984 requires notice to the local authority before demolition of most buildings, and the authority may serve a counter-notice under section 81 requiring works such as shoring adjoining buildings, making good, weatherproofing exposed surfaces and disconnecting services. That notice period runs alongside the planning process and is frequently forgotten until the contractor asks for it.

The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 require a refurbishment and demolition survey before work starts, with licensed removal of higher-risk materials and notification to the Health and Safety Executive. The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015 apply in full, with demolition specifically called out as requiring arrangements recorded in writing.

The Party Wall etc. Act 1996 bites where a party wall is cut into, removed or exposed. Serving notices late is the single most common cause of a demolition programme stalling.

Conservation areas and relevant demolition

Demolition in a conservation area deserves its own paragraph because the penalties are real. Removing an unlisted building in a conservation area without permission is a criminal offence, and the offence is committed by the person carrying out the work as well as the person who instructed it.

Partial demolition is the grey area. Taking down a rear outrigger, removing a chimney stack or stripping a facade back to the frame may or may not amount to relevant demolition depending on how much of the building goes. Where there is any doubt, apply. The cost of an application is trivial against the cost of a prosecution.

Boundary walls, railings and gates in conservation areas frequently have their own protection through an Article 4 direction, and their removal is a common enforcement case.

Sequencing demolition with redevelopment

Demolition is almost never a standalone project. It sits between an acquisition and a build, and the sequencing decides whether the programme works.

1. Establish whether demolition is development at all, and whether the building is listed, in a conservation area or subject to an Article 4 direction.
2. Commission the asbestos survey and the pre-demolition audit before any application, because both can change the method.
3. Serve the section 80 notice and the party wall notices at the same time as the prior approval application, not afterwards.
4. Check whether any protected species are present. Bat roosts in roof voids and nesting birds in eaves both stop a demolition, and the survey seasons are unforgiving.
5. Prepare a Construction Management Plan covering both phases, so the demolition traffic route and the construction traffic route are consistent.
6. Programme the restoration works into the contract rather than leaving them to the end of a defects period.

Where the objective is more floorspace rather than a clean site, it is worth testing whether demolition is needed at all. Adding a storey under Class AA or extending upwards can deliver the same area without the programme risk, the embodied carbon or the party wall exposure.

One honest note on timing. The 28 day period for the prior approval determination is short compared with other routes, and authorities occasionally miss it. Do not rely on that. Get written confirmation of the decision before the machines arrive.

PlanScope drafts the Construction Management Plan, Site Waste Management Plan and Pre-redevelopment Audit that sit around a demolition, structured to UK planning policy. Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports your site 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. A lawful development certificate is the only formal way to confirm that works are lawful. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.