Planning Permission: The Small Print

You’ve finally got your Planning Permission and your feeling pleased with yourself. As you have found out getting Planning Permission can be a very demanding and time-consuming business which is why it is always best to have an experienced Planning Consultant on your team to manage the process. However, having finally got your planning consent it is easy to think the process is over and you can get on with it. This is a big mistake that many in their elation at getting consent make as they fail to read the small print which in the case of a planning approval is the conditions attached to it.

Planning Conditions 

Not reading the detailed requirements of planning conditions is a common error that many applicants commit and if you are not careful it can come back to bite you hard in more ways than one. Failure to discharge conditions may lead to enforcement action by the Local Planning Authority or you may struggle to sell the development in future due to non-compliance. These are just two issues that could arise, but there are a myriad of other problems that could raise their head and end up costing you money, for the sake of not dealing with your planning conditions.

Discharging planning conditions can be a lengthily as well as costly undertaking which you shouldn’t underestimate. It can take a lot of time to produce and assemble all the information required to discharge your conditions, and then a further period of time for the council to process the discharge of conditions application, with potential toing and throwing as amendments to details submitted are sought.

Types of Conditions 

Conditions typically come in three broad categories namely those that must be dealt with before you start the development, those that must be dealt with prior to the occupation or use and finally there are those which place future restrictions on what you can do.

Planning conditions come in many forms ranging from fairly standard, materials sample panels to the more unusual, additional ecology reports, planting schedules and Construction Environment Management Plans which covers how you will build and what steps you are taking to protect local flora and fauna.

It is therefore important that when you get the all-important planning permission that rather than celebrating thinking you have finished with the planners, you should instead be questioning and challenging the conditions, seeking to shape them to reasonably suit your own requirements.

Pre-Commencement Conditions Agreement

Since October 2018, Local Planning Authorities have been required to seek the agreement of applicants to pre-commencement conditions prior to issuing the decision. The Regulations were made under powers given in the Neighbourhood Planning Act 2017. Pre-commencement conditions are those conditions on a planning permission which must be fulfilled before work starts on site or before the use of land changes. This therefore gives applicants the ability to shape these types of conditions through negotiation to suit their circumstances, unfortunately many are happy to accept such conditions as proposed by the LPA at the time, just to get the piece of paper in their hand rather than considering the implications of such conditions, which they often regret later.

While it is difficult to get a condition totally removed as they are there for a reason, you may be able to shape it through speaking with the planners to better suit your requirements. For example, you can request for its timing to be made more suitable to a possible build programme, so getting your materials and sample panels to be approved prior to the walls being erected rather than prior to commencement of the works. This will allow you to have builders on site already working who can make up the panels rather than getting them on site specifically to do so, which may increase costs.

If you are geared to dealing with your planning conditions you can approach it in a methodical manner allowing you to agree details in the sequence, they will be built rather than everything having to be ticked off before you commence work.

Things to Remember:

• Make sure you are aware of the conditions before your planning permission is granted, the planning officer dealing with your application should discuss any pre-commencement conditions with you to get your agreement prior to attaching them to the decision notice.
• Make sure you understand the requirements of the conditions and what they are there to achieve. Be prepared to question them if you don’t agree with them or their wording.
• If you can’t agree on the conditions, challenge them as soon as possible after getting your consent.
• Start discharging conditions as soon as possible as it can take time to work through them all to a point where you can actually make a legal start on site.
• Be diligent and do not to commit to things for the sake of it to get a quick approval. It may cost you a lot of money later in the build. It easy to think ‘it’s down the line’ and not do the research and costing properly. Above all remember conditions are legally binding agreements.