Reserved matters: the five defined in the DMPO

The reserved matters definition sits in article 2 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015, and there are five: access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale. An outline planning permission establishes the principle of development and reserves any of those five for later approval. Everything not reserved is fixed by the outline.

That last sentence is where most disputes start. A matter dealt with in the outline application cannot be reopened at reserved matters stage, and a matter reserved cannot be used to change the development the outline permitted.

The five reserved matters and their definitions

The Order defines each one, and the definitions are narrower and more specific than the everyday words suggest.

Two of these carry an extra requirement at outline stage. Where access is reserved, the application must still show the area or areas where the access points will be situated. Where scale is reserved, it must give an upper and lower limit for the height, width and length of each building.

So even a fully outline application still tells the council where the traffic comes in and how big the buildings might get. Applicants who treat outline as a blank cheque are usually corrected at validation.

Why an outline permission reserves them

Outline exists to test the principle before spending design money. A landowner promoting a site, or a developer securing a site subject to permission, wants the question of whether housing is acceptable here settled before commissioning a full design team.

The trade is certainty. The more matters you reserve, the less the permission guarantees, and the more scope the council has to resist the scheme you actually want at reserved matters stage. The less you reserve, the more design cost you carry before you know the answer.

Most schemes settle on reserving everything except access, because access is usually the contentious issue with the highway authority and settling it removes the largest single risk. That also means the Transport Assessment or transport statement supporting the outline has to be done properly rather than indicatively.

Time limits for submitting reserved matters

The default statutory position under section 92 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is that an application for approval of reserved matters must be made not later than three years from the grant of the outline, and the development must be begun not later than two years from the final approval of the last reserved matter, or three years from the outline, whichever is later.

Councils can and do vary those periods by condition, so read the condition rather than reciting the default. Shorter periods appear on sites where the authority wants delivery.

Miss the date and there is no remedy. An application for approval of reserved matters submitted out of time is invalid, the outline lapses, and a fresh planning application is needed, assessed against whatever policy applies then. Diary the date on the day the outline is issued and set a reminder at least a year out.

What cannot be changed at reserved matters stage

A reserved matters application is an application for approval of details, not a fresh permission. It cannot alter the description of development, exceed the parameters fixed by the outline, or change anything the outline settled.

The practical boundaries look like this.

• The quantum. If the outline permits up to 120 dwellings, reserved matters cannot deliver 135.
• Parameter plans. Where the outline approved development zones, building heights or a movement framework, reserved matters must sit within them.
• Any matter not reserved. If appearance was dealt with in the outline, it is fixed.
• The red line. The site is the site shown on the outline application.

Where the scheme has moved beyond those limits, the route is a section 73 application to vary a condition on the outline, or a fresh application. Trying to squeeze the change through reserved matters produces either a refusal or a permission vulnerable to challenge.

Conditions attached to the outline

Reserved matters approval and condition discharge are separate processes, and confusing them delays sites.

An outline typically carries conditions requiring details to be submitted and approved, some before development begins. Those are discharged by an application for approval of details under the relevant condition, not by the reserved matters submission, even where the subject matter overlaps.

Read the outline's conditions in three groups: those that must be discharged before any work starts, those tied to a later trigger such as first occupation, and those requiring something to be retained for the life of the development. Build a schedule of all three with the trigger points, because a pre-start condition discovered in week one of the build is an expensive discovery.

Phased submission of reserved matters

On larger sites the outline will normally allow reserved matters to be submitted in phases, and the condition will say how.

Watch two things. The time limit usually applies to the first submission, with a longer period or a different mechanism for later phases, so check what the condition actually permits rather than assuming each phase gets its own three years. And make sure the phasing plan itself is approved, because a phase boundary that does not match the approved plan causes problems at discharge.

Phasing also interacts with infrastructure. Conditions and obligations tied to unit thresholds, a spine road, a play area, a school contribution, land in each phase, need mapping against the phasing plan before the first reserved matters application is submitted, not after.

Fees and validation for the submission

A reserved matters application has its own fee, calculated by reference to the development, and the fee schedule is indexed, so check the current figures on the national fee guidance rather than working from an older table.

Validation is the part that surprises people. A reserved matters submission is assessed against the council's local validation list in the same way as a full application, and on a large residential scheme that can mean a long document list: detailed drawings, a Design and Access Statement where required, landscape and planting details, external lighting, boundary treatments, materials schedules and refuse and cycle storage.

Ask the case officer for the validation requirements before submitting. The most common cause of a reserved matters application sitting unvalidated is a missing document nobody thought applied because the outline was granted years earlier. If you are working out the full pack, browse the report types and check each against the outline's conditions.

This is general guidance rather than legal advice, and the periods and requirements for a particular permission are set by its own conditions, so check with your local planning authority 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.