Referable applications and the Mayor's two stages

If your scheme crosses one of the mayoral referable application thresholds, the borough is no longer the only decision maker. The Town and Country Planning (Mayor of London) Order 2008 requires the local planning authority to refer the application to the Mayor of London twice: once after validation, and again once it has resolved what it intends to do. Each stage carries its own statutory clock, and the second one gives the Mayor the power to refuse the application outright or to take it over and determine it himself.

For a developer, the practical consequence is that a London programme has to carry roughly eight extra weeks of determination time, and the London Plan becomes the document your evidence base is written against rather than a background consideration.

Which applications are referable

Referral is triggered by the development itself, not by the borough's view of it. Schedule 1 to the 2008 Order sets out categories of development, and an application falls to be referred if it meets any one of them. The borough has no discretion to decide that a referable application is too minor to refer.

The categories most schemes meet are residential unit numbers, floorspace, building height, and development on Green Belt or Metropolitan Open Land. A fifth route catches development that conflicts with the development plan above a smaller floorspace threshold, which is why a departure application can become referable at a size that would otherwise stay with the borough.

Because the test is mechanical, it is worth running it at the appraisal stage rather than the submission stage. A scheme at 148 units that grows to 152 during design development changes its consenting route, its programme and its cost.

The categories and where the thresholds sit

The thresholds vary by location within Greater London, which catches people out. The pattern in Schedule 1 is:

Green Belt and Metropolitan Open Land have their own category, as do waste, mining and some agricultural land takes. Read Schedule 1 itself before you rely on any summary, including this one, because the Order has been amended and the definition of Central London is drawn by reference to a specified area rather than to a borough list.

Height is measured to the top of the building, which means plant enclosures, lift overruns and parapets count. A residential block designed to 29.5 metres with a 1.5 metre plant screen is a referable building.

Stage one and the six week clock

Once the borough validates a referable application it must consult the Mayor. The Mayor then has six weeks to issue a stage one report setting out whether the application complies with the London Plan and what would have to change for it to do so.

The stage one report is published, and it is the most useful document you will get in the process. It tells you, in advance of the borough's own committee report, which London Plan policies the GLA officers think the scheme fails and what evidence they want. Energy, fire safety, affordable housing, urban greening and play space come up repeatedly, so the quality of the submitted Energy Statement and Fire Statement tends to shape how much of the report is spent on them.

A stage one report does not bind the borough. It does set the agenda for everything that follows, and responding to it properly before the committee date is the single most effective thing an applicant can do.

Stage two and the fourteen day decision

After the borough has resolved what decision it intends to make, it must notify the Mayor again. The Mayor then has 14 days to do one of three things: allow the borough to proceed, direct that the application be refused, or direct that he will act as the local planning authority for the application.

Fourteen days is a hard deadline. If nothing is issued, the borough is free to issue its decision. In practice the GLA will usually have signalled its position at stage one, so a stage two surprise is uncommon but not unknown, particularly where the borough has resolved to grant on terms that differ from what the stage one report asked for.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it.

Direction to refuse and taking over the application

The two mayoral powers are different in kind. A direction to refuse under the Order obliges the borough to refuse, and the applicant's remedy is an appeal to the Secretary of State against that refusal.

Taking over the application is the power people mean when they say call-in. The Mayor may only do it where all three of the tests in the Order are met: the development has a significant impact on the implementation of the London Plan, its effects extend beyond its own borough, and there are sound planning reasons for intervening. Where the Mayor does take over, he becomes the local planning authority for that application and determines it after a public representation hearing, with the deputy mayor for planning usually chairing.

A taken over application is not a fresh start. The application documents, the consultation responses and the borough's officer assessment all carry forward, so an applicant who ignored the stage one report arrives at the hearing with the same gaps.

What referral does to a programme

Six weeks at stage one and 14 days at stage two are the statutory minimum additions. The practical effect is larger, because the borough will usually wait for the stage one report before finalising its own assessment, and because responding to the report takes design time.

Build the sequence into the programme from the outset:

1. Pre-application engagement with both the borough and the GLA.
2. Submission and validation.
3. Stage one referral and the six week period.
4. Applicant response to the stage one report, including any design revisions.
5. Borough committee or delegated resolution.
6. Stage two referral and the 14 day period.
7. Decision notice, usually after a section 106 agreement is completed.

Section 106 negotiation is normally the longest item on that list rather than the referral itself. Schemes in an area with an adopted allocation often move faster, and understanding what an opportunity area allocation changes helps with the sequencing.

Talking to the GLA before you submit

The GLA runs a charged pre-application advice service, and for a referable scheme it is worth using. A pre-application meeting produces written advice from the officers who will later write the stage one report, which lets you fix an energy strategy or a tall building justification while drawings are still inexpensive to change.

Bring the density and capacity argument to that meeting in the form the London Plan expects. The design led approach to optimising site capacity is the framing GLA officers work from, and a scheme presented as a unit count in search of a justification gets a harder reception than one presented as a design response to its context.

One honest uncertainty: the London Plan is under review, and policy numbering and some thresholds may shift. Check the current adopted plan and the current text of the 2008 Order at the point you fix your scheme, not at the point you first read about it.

Enter your postcode on PlanScope to see which reports a referable London scheme 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.