Publicity for major development: notices and the rules
Publicity is the council's duty, not the applicant's, but a defective site notice is the applicant's problem. What Article 15 requires and how to check it was done.
Publicity for a planning application is governed by article 15 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015, and the duty to carry it out sits with the local planning authority rather than with the applicant. Which does not mean applicants can ignore it. A site notice put up in the wrong place, taken down early, or never displayed at all is the applicant's problem when a decision is challenged.
The rule that separates major development from everything else is the press notice. Applications for major development require publicity in a local newspaper as well as a site notice or neighbour notification. Most minor and householder applications do not.
The publicity categories
Article 15 sets different requirements according to what is being applied for.
For an application for major development, the authority must publish a notice in a local newspaper and either display a site notice or serve notice on adjoining owners and occupiers.
For an application accompanied by an environmental statement, for development that does not accord with the development plan in force in the area, or for development affecting a public right of way, the requirements are higher: a press notice and a site notice, both.
For everything else, a site notice or neighbour notification is sufficient.
Applications for listed building consent and for development affecting the setting of a listed building or the character or appearance of a conservation area carry their own publicity requirements, and those run alongside rather than instead of the article 15 requirements.
Major development, and how it is defined
Major development has a defined meaning in the procedure order, and it is worth checking against your scheme rather than assuming.
| Threshold | Major development |
|---|---|
| Residential | 10 or more dwellings, or a site of 0.5 hectares or more where the number is not known |
| All other development | 1,000 square metres or more of floorspace, or a site of 1 hectare or more |
| Minerals and waste | Winning and working of minerals, or use of land for waste disposal |
Nine dwellings on a 0.6 hectare site is major on the site area limb even though the unit count is below ten. And the site area is the application site as shown by the red line, which is one more reason to make sure the red line and the stated area agree with each other across the submission.
Departures from the development plan
The departure category catches more applications than people expect. Where a proposal does not accord with the development plan in force, and the authority nonetheless proposes to grant permission, both a press notice and a site notice are required.
The category is not limited to major schemes. A single dwelling outside a settlement boundary in an area with an up to date local plan is a departure, and the publicity requirement follows the conflict rather than the scale.
For applicants this is worth flagging in the covering letter where you think it applies, because a council that publicises an application as a straightforward minor and then grants it as a departure has left a procedural hole in the permission.
Who displays the notice, and where
The authority displays the site notice, in a position where it can be read by the public, on or near the land to which the application relates. It must be displayed for not less than 21 days.
Practical failures are common and mostly innocent. A notice cable tied to a lamp post that is removed by a contractor. A notice on a gate that is opened flat against a wall during the day. A notice fixed at the back of a long site frontage where nobody walks. A notice on a site with three separate road frontages where only one gets a notice.
If you are the applicant, walk the site during the publicity period and photograph the notice in position, with the date visible. If you are an objector and the notice was never displayed, photograph the absence and write to the council within the period rather than after the decision.
Press notices are published by the authority in a newspaper circulating in the area, and the cost of statutory publicity is met by the authority from the application fee rather than charged separately to the applicant.
What happens when publicity goes wrong
Defective publicity does not automatically invalidate a permission. The courts look at whether the failure caused substantial prejudice, meaning whether anyone who would have made representations was in fact deprived of the opportunity.
That is a real test with real outcomes. A permission granted where a site notice was never displayed, on a scheme that attracted no objections and had no obvious objectors, will usually survive. A permission granted where the notice was defective on a contested scheme, and neighbours can show they only learned of the application afterwards, is far more exposed.
The usual remedy is re-consultation rather than litigation. Where publicity is found to be defective before the decision, the authority repeats it and restarts the representation period, which costs weeks. Where it is found afterwards, the exposure is judicial review, and the claim period is short.
An authority cannot determine an application before the period for representations has expired. If a decision notice arrives suspiciously early, check the publicity dates on the file.
There is a separate point about amended plans. Where a scheme changes materially after publicity, the authority has to consider whether further publicity is needed, and there is no fixed rule about when a change crosses that line. A revised layout that moves a building closer to a boundary will normally cross it. A change of brick colour does not.
Checking the record
Everything you need is on the public file. Before a decision, look for the dated copy of the site notice and the certificate confirming when and where it was displayed, the press notice tear sheet or a copy with its publication date, the list of neighbour notification addresses, and the consultation responses log with the dates each consultee was notified and replied.
Three checks are worth making on any application you care about.
- Was the correct publicity category applied, in particular whether a press notice was required and published.
- Was the site notice displayed for the full period, in a position where it could be read.
- Did the representation period expire before the decision was issued.
Where the proposal is a major scheme, the applicant's own consultation is a separate matter from the statutory publicity and should be documented in a Statement of Community Involvement. Where an environmental statement is required, the publicity requirements are stricter and the Environmental Impact Assessment regime brings its own notification duties, with the Environmental Statement prepared by competent experts as the EIA Regulations 2017 require.
Set the publicity dates against the determination period in your own programme. On a major application the press notice, the site notice and the 21 day period between them account for a meaningful part of the thirteen weeks, and an application submitted the week before Christmas will lose more than that. A well prepared Planning Statement will not save a programme that ignores the publicity clock.
This is general guidance rather than legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.
Frequently asked questions
Does every planning application need a press notice?
No. A press notice is required for applications for major development, for applications accompanied by an environmental statement, for development that does not accord with the development plan, and for development affecting a public right of way. For other applications a site notice or neighbour notification is sufficient under article 15 of the procedure order.
Who is responsible for putting up the site notice?
The local planning authority. Publicity is the authority's statutory duty under article 15, not the applicant's. In practice applicants should still check the notice is displayed correctly and photograph it with the date visible, because a defective notice creates a risk to the permission rather than to the council.
How long must a site notice be displayed?
Not less than 21 days, in a position where it can be read by the public on or near the land. The authority must not determine the application before the period for representations has expired, so an unusually early decision notice is a reason to check the publicity dates recorded on the public file.
What happens if publicity was not carried out properly?
It does not automatically invalidate the permission. The courts consider whether the failure caused substantial prejudice, meaning whether someone who would have objected was in fact deprived of the chance. Where the defect is found before the decision, the usual remedy is re-consultation, which restarts the representation period.
When is an application a departure from the development plan?
When the proposal does not accord with the plan in force and the authority nonetheless proposes to grant permission. It is not limited to large schemes, so a single dwelling outside a settlement boundary can be a departure. Departures require both a press notice and a site notice.
Sources and further reading
This article is general guidance about the planning system in England and, where stated, the rest of the UK. It is not legal or professional advice. Check your local planning authority’s validation requirements and take professional advice for your specific site.