Reserved matters and what cannot be reserved
Only five matters can be reserved by an outline permission. The use, the quantum and the principle are settled at grant. Here is what must still be fixed, how binding parameter plans are, and the deadlines that lapse a consent.
Only five matters can be reserved by an outline planning permission: access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale. Article 2(1) of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 defines each one, and the list is closed. Everything else, including the use, the quantum of development, the red line boundary and the principle of building on the site, is settled when the outline permission is granted and cannot be revisited at reserved matters stage.
The five matters and what each one covers
The definitions repay a careful read rather than an assumption, because they overlap less than people expect.
| Matter | What the Order covers |
|---|---|
| Access | Accessibility to and within the site for vehicles, cycles and pedestrians, covering the positioning and treatment of access and circulation routes and how they meet the surrounding network |
| Appearance | The visual impression a building or place makes, including external built form, architecture, materials, decoration, lighting, colour and texture |
| Landscaping | Treatment of land other than buildings to protect or improve the amenities of the site and the area, including screening, planting, banks, terraces and open space |
| Layout | How buildings, routes and open spaces are provided, situated and orientated in relation to each other and to what lies outside the development |
| Scale | The height, width and length of each proposed building in relation to its surroundings |
Notice what is absent. Drainage, ecology, contamination, energy, archaeology and highway works outside the site are not reserved matters. A condition that appears to reserve them is an ordinary planning condition discharged under article 27, which carries a different fee, a different form and a different appeal route.
Outline permission is also only available where the development consists of or includes building operations. A pure change of use cannot be applied for in outline.
What the outline application must still fix
An outline application is not a blank sheet with a red line around it. Article 5 of the 2015 Order requires specific information even where a matter is reserved.
Where layout is reserved, the application must state the approximate location of buildings, routes and open spaces. Where scale is reserved, it must give upper and lower limits for the height, width and length of each building. Where access is reserved, it must state the area or areas where access points will be situated.
Beyond that, the description of development fixes the use and the amount. If the description says "up to 120 dwellings", 120 is the ceiling and the authority is entitled to grant for fewer. If it says "120 dwellings", you have committed to a number that reserved matters must deliver.
The authority can also require further information under article 5(2) if it considers the application cannot be determined without detail of a reserved matter, and that notice has to be served within one month. A developer who reserves everything on a sensitive site should expect that letter.
Supporting documents still have to be proportionate to what is being decided. A Planning Statement at outline stage argues the principle and the quantum. A Design and Access Statement at outline stage explains the design rationale behind the parameters rather than the appearance of buildings nobody has drawn yet.
Parameter plans and how binding they are
On anything larger than a small site, the parameters get drawn. Development zones, maximum building heights, access points, green infrastructure, storey heights by character area. Those plans are usually listed in the approved plans condition, which makes them binding.
That is a trade. Tight parameters reassure the officer and the committee, and they constrain you later. Loose parameters buy flexibility and invite objection, a longer determination and a reserved matters submission that reopens arguments you thought you had won.
Where the scheme is subject to environmental impact assessment, the parameters have to be fixed sufficiently for the environmental statement to assess a realistic worst case. That approach, generally known after the Rochdale cases, is the reason EIA outline applications carry more parameter detail than non-EIA ones. The assessment has to describe something definite enough to be assessed.
Set the parameters with the engineer and the cost consultant in the room. A maximum building height that omits plant, lift overruns and a parapet is a parameter plan that will need varying under section 73 before the first reserved matters application.
The time limits that catch developers out
Section 92 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 sets two clocks, and both are default positions that the permission can alter.
- An application for approval of reserved matters must be made within three years of the date the outline permission was granted.
- Development must begin within two years of the final approval of the last reserved matter.
Miss the first and the outline permission lapses entirely. There is no discretion and no extension by agreement.
Section 73 does not help. Subsection (5) prevents a section 73 permission being used to extend the time within which development must be started or an application for approval of reserved matters must be made. The only route is a fresh outline application, with everything that has changed in policy since the first one.
Reserved matters can usually be submitted in parts, phase by phase, provided the condition wording allows it. Check the wording before you programme on that assumption. Some conditions require all reserved matters for the whole site in a single submission, which is a serious constraint on a long build-out.
Biodiversity net gain adds another layer on phased schemes, since the biodiversity gain condition operates through a plan approved before development begins, and the mechanics of the biodiversity gain plan on a phased outline permission need working out early rather than at the first reserved matters application.
Whether the principle can be reopened
It cannot. A reserved matters application determines the reserved matters and nothing else. An officer cannot refuse reserved matters because the site should never have been developed, and a third party cannot object on that basis with any effect.
What an officer can do is refuse reserved matters that fall outside the parameters, or that are unacceptable in their own terms. A layout that puts a three-storey block where the parameter plan showed two storeys is not a reserved matters application at all, it is an application for something the outline permission does not authorise.
Policy change between outline and reserved matters is the grey area. The development plan may have moved on, and the officer's report will say so, but the principle established by the outline permission remains. Where the argument for the site was that the plan was out of date, a later adoption can make life harder at reserved matters even though it cannot undo the grant, which is where the reasoning behind prematurity in planning becomes relevant in reverse.
Refusal and the appeal route
Section 78 of the 1990 Act gives a right of appeal against refusal of reserved matters and against non-determination. The deadline is six months from the decision notice for most appeals, and the inspector is confined to the matters reserved.
Non-determination appeals on reserved matters are rarer than they should be. The statutory period is eight weeks for minor development and 13 weeks for major, and an authority that has run past it without agreeing an extension has given you a route.
Drafting a description that survives
The description of development is the part of an outline application most often written last and regretted longest. Four habits help.
Use "up to" for unit numbers and floorspace, so that a lower figure at reserved matters does not need a section 73 application. State which matters are reserved and which are applied for, explicitly, in the description itself. Avoid describing anything that will later need to change, such as a specific access junction type, unless you are applying for access. And keep the use wording broad enough to survive a tenant change, while narrow enough that the officer can assess it.
As an illustrative example, a description reading "Outline application for up to 85 dwellings with access applied for and all other matters reserved, together with associated open space and drainage infrastructure" fixes the ceiling, the access and the supporting uses, while leaving appearance, landscaping, layout and scale to be resolved. A description reading "Residential development" fixes almost nothing and will be refused at validation.
To see which supporting documents an outline application of a given scale usually needs, enter your postcode on PlanScope and answer the guided questions.
This is general guidance, not legal advice, so check the position with your local planning authority or a qualified professional before relying on it. PlanScope provides AI-assisted draft reports for planning applications. Reports should be reviewed before submission. We do not guarantee planning approval.
Frequently asked questions
What are the five reserved matters?
Access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale, defined in article 2(1) of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015. The list is closed. Drainage, ecology, contamination and archaeology are not reserved matters, so conditions covering them are ordinary planning conditions discharged under article 27 instead.
Can I apply for outline permission for a change of use?
No. Outline permission is only available where the development consists of or includes building operations. A proposal that is purely a change of use has to be made as a full application. Where building works accompany the change of use, an outline application is possible for the building element.
How long do I have to submit reserved matters?
Section 92 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 sets a default of three years from the grant of outline permission to apply for approval of reserved matters, and two years from the final approval to begin development. The permission can vary those periods. Missing the first deadline lapses the outline permission with no discretion available.
Can section 73 extend an outline permission?
No. Section 73(5) of the 1990 Act prevents a section 73 permission from extending the time within which development must begin or an application for approval of reserved matters must be made. The only route once the deadline has passed is a fresh outline application, assessed against whatever policy applies at that point.
Can the council refuse reserved matters because it dislikes the development?
Not on that basis. The principle of development is settled by the outline grant and cannot be reopened. An officer can refuse reserved matters that fall outside the approved parameters, or that are unacceptable in their own terms as a matter of layout, scale, appearance, access or landscaping.
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.