Prior approval: what it is and what it is not

Prior approval is not planning permission. It is a step inside a permitted development right, where the General Permitted Development Order grants the permission and then requires the developer to obtain the local planning authority's approval of a short, listed set of details before starting. The permission comes from the Order. The council's role is confined to the matters the class specifies, and it cannot refuse on grounds outside that list.

Confusing the two causes two expensive mistakes. The first is treating a prior approval as a full permission and assuming the council has blessed the whole scheme. The second is treating it as a formality and starting work before the determination period has run.

How prior approval differs from permission

A planning application under section 70 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 asks the council to decide whether development is acceptable, weighing the development plan and any other material consideration. The council can refuse for any planning reason it can defend.

A prior approval application starts from the position that the development is already permitted, provided it meets every limit and condition in the relevant class of Schedule 2 to the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. The council checks the specified matters and nothing else. If the proposal fails a qualifying limit, there is no permitted development right at all, and the right answer is a planning application rather than an argument about the prior approval.

That is the structural difference. It also explains why a prior approval notice is often worded carefully to say the authority has no objection in relation to the specified matters, rather than that permission is granted.

The specified matters for each class

Each class sets its own list. A sample of the classes most often used:

Read the class itself, not a summary of it. The lists are amended regularly and a matter that was absent two years ago may be present now.

The determination period and deemed approval

Most prior approval classes run on a 56 day period. Development must not begin before the authority notifies the applicant that approval is given, or notifies that approval is not required, or 56 days have passed from the date the application was received without the authority notifying the applicant of its determination. That last limb is deemed approval, and it is a real route to lawful development.

The larger home extension scheme under Part 1 paragraph A.4 works differently, on a 42 day period built around neighbour consultation, and the development cannot proceed on a deemed basis in the same way. Part 6 agricultural notifications turn on a 28 day period for the authority to say whether prior approval is required.

Three practical points follow. Date-stamp the receipt, because the period runs from receipt of a valid application and the council's portal acknowledgement is your evidence. Do not rely on deemed approval where the council has told you the application is invalid, because an invalid application never started the clock. And check whether the class requires anything else to happen before development begins, such as a report on contamination or a transport statement being submitted.

What a council may and may not consider

Within the specified matters the authority has to have regard to the development plan and the National Planning Framework so far as they are material to those matters. Outside them it has no role. A council cannot refuse a Class Q conversion because it dislikes houses in the countryside in principle, and it cannot refuse a Part 16 mast on grounds of perceived health effects where the operator has provided the required declaration of conformity with public exposure guidelines.

It can impose conditions, but only conditions that relate to the matters it was entitled to consider. A condition about opening hours on a change of use where hours are not a specified matter is vulnerable. The same discipline that applies to conditions on a full permission applies here, and the six tests a planning condition has to meet are the right checklist.

Conditions written into the class itself apply whether or not the council mentions them. Class MA carries a condition about the use beginning within three years of prior approval. Part 20 classes carry conditions on construction hours and on the submission of a report. Breach of a condition in the Order removes the permitted development right, which means the development becomes unauthorised rather than merely in breach of a condition.

Refusal and the right of appeal

A refusal of prior approval can be appealed to the Planning Inspectorate under section 78. The deadline depends on the type of development, and householder and minor commercial cases run on the shorter fast-track timetable rather than the general six month period, so check which service applies before diarising the date.

An appeal against a prior approval refusal is a narrow argument. The Inspector is deciding whether the specified matters are acceptable, not whether the development is a good idea, which cuts both ways. Design arguments that would succeed on a full application are irrelevant where design is not a specified matter, and amenity arguments the council has raised outside the list should be dismissed.

Where the dispute is whether the right exists at all, an appeal on the prior approval is the wrong vehicle. A certificate of lawfulness of proposed use or development under section 192 of the 1990 Act is the formal way to establish that works would be lawful, and it is the only way to get a binding answer. The parallel procedure for demolition is covered in prior notification of demolition.

Common reasons an application fails

• The proposal exceeds a qualifying limit, so no permitted development right exists and the application cannot be approved
• An Article 4 direction has removed the right for that area, which is common for householder rights in conservation areas and for Class MA in town centres
• The site is in a position excluded by the class, such as land within the curtilage of a listed building or a site of special scientific interest
• The application omits a document the class requires, which makes it invalid and stops the clock before it starts
• The use was not in continuous lawful use for the period the class requires, which defeats several Part 3 classes
• Work began before the determination period expired, which puts the development outside the right regardless of the eventual answer

The last of those is the avoidable one. A notice that arrives on day 50 is still within time, and starting on day 40 because the council has gone quiet is a decision to build without permission.

Unlike reserved matters, which follow an outline permission the council has already granted, prior approval sits on a right nobody has yet confirmed applies to your site. Check the limits first, then the Article 4 register, then apply.

PlanScope can draft the supporting documents a prior approval application needs, including transport, contamination, flood risk and noise material, from a postcode and a set of answers. You can see the full set of types on the report index. Reports should be reviewed before submission and PlanScope does not guarantee planning approval. This is general guidance, not legal advice, and a lawful development certificate is the only formal way to confirm that works are lawful.