Prior approval: what it means in planning

Prior approval is a halfway house between doing something freely and applying for planning permission. The development is already permitted by the General Permitted Development Order, but the Order says you must first ask the council to approve a short list of specified matters, such as siting, design, transport or flooding. The council can only consider what is on that list. It cannot refuse because it dislikes the principle.

There is no single prior approval procedure. Each class in Schedule 2 to the Order sets its own subject matter, its own procedure and its own determination period, which is why advice that works for a barn conversion can be wrong for a mast.

Where it comes from

Permitted development rights are granted by the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. Schedule 2 is divided into Parts, and each Part into Classes. Some classes grant the right outright. Others grant it subject to a condition that the developer must apply to the local planning authority for a determination as to whether prior approval is required for specified matters.

That conditional wording is the whole mechanism. The permission already exists. The condition controls how it is exercised.

The matters differ by class. A change of use from commercial to residential typically lists transport and highways, contamination, flooding, noise from nearby commercial premises, the provision of adequate natural light in habitable rooms and, for taller buildings, fire safety. An agricultural building under Part 6 lists siting, design and external appearance. A larger rear extension to a house under Part 1 is not assessed against a list at all but against neighbour objections received during the consultation period.

What the council may and may not consider

The list is exhaustive. A council assessing a prior approval application may not refuse it because the site is outside a settlement boundary, because the local plan allocates the land for employment use, or because a neighbour objects to the principle.

That constraint cuts both ways. Applicants sometimes assume that a policy argument in their favour will rescue a scheme that fails on one of the listed matters. It will not. If flooding is a listed matter and the site is in Flood Zone 3, the flood evidence decides the application whatever the local plan says about housing supply.

The council can impose conditions when it grants prior approval, and it may require further information before determining. It can also conclude that prior approval is not required at all, which is an approval in substance.

How the procedure runs

Most Part 3 classes use the procedure set out in paragraph W of that Part. The applicant submits a written description of the development, a plan showing the site, contact details, the fee and any information the class specifically requires.

The council then publicises the application, usually by site notice or by writing to adjoining occupiers, with a period for representations. It may ask for further information. It determines the application within the period the class specifies, commonly 56 days from the date of a valid application, and it must notify its decision in writing.

If it fails to determine within the period, many classes provide that the development may proceed as applied for. That deemed consent is a real thing and councils occasionally lose applications to it. Keep the dated submission receipt.

A refusal of prior approval carries a right of appeal to the Planning Inspectorate under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, on the same timescales as an appeal against refusal of planning permission.

An illustrative example

This example is illustrative rather than a real case. A farmer proposes a new general purpose agricultural building on a holding of 30 hectares, sited 40 metres from a classified road.

Part 6 permits the building subject to conditions, and one of those conditions requires an application for determination as to whether prior approval is required for siting, design and external appearance. The farmer submits a plan, a description and the fee. A neighbour objects that the building will be used for a haulage business. The council cannot refuse on that ground, because use is not a listed matter, though it could take enforcement action later if the building were in fact used unlawfully. It can, and does, ask for the building to be moved 15 metres further from the road frontage and for the cladding colour to change, and it grants prior approval on that basis.

If the same farmer had proposed a building within the curtilage of a listed farmhouse, the right would not have applied at all and a full application would have been needed.

Where it is misunderstood

Four misunderstandings recur.

The first is that prior approval means the council has no role. It has a defined role, and on matters like transport or contamination it can be a demanding one.

The second is that prior approval is a lighter form of planning permission. It is not permission at all. It is confirmation that a right already granted may be exercised, which is why the refusal of prior approval does not create a planning history of refusal in the same way.

The third is that the deadline is a formality. It is not. A council that misses the period may find the development lawful without its approval, and an applicant who starts work before the period expires may find the development unlawful.

The fourth is that an Article 4 direction can be ignored. Article 4 directions withdraw permitted development rights in a defined area, and where one applies the right, and therefore the prior approval route, disappears. Check whether a direction covers the site before designing to a class.

Related terms and how they differ

Prior notification is another phrase you will meet, used for classes where the developer notifies the authority and the authority decides whether it wants to assess specified matters. In practice the two terms are used interchangeably in council correspondence.

What to do if it applies to your site

Work in this order.

1. Identify the exact Part and Class you are relying on in the current consolidated version of the Order.
2. Read the conditions and limitations in full, including the exclusions for listed buildings, article 2(3) land and other designations.
3. Check whether an Article 4 direction removes the right on your site.
4. List the prior approval matters for that class and prepare evidence for each one.
5. Submit, keep the dated receipt and diarise the determination period.

For the technical matters, prepare the evidence before submission rather than in response to a holding letter. A site in Flood Zone 2 or 3 will need a Flood Risk Assessment, a former industrial site will need at least a desk study feeding a contaminated land assessment, and a short Planning Statement setting out how each listed matter is addressed makes the officer's job straightforward. The full set of supporting documents is listed on our report index.

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.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which documents a prior approval application on your site 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.