A beginner’s guide to planning permission
Full app, pre-app, outline planning? What do all these planning terms mean? And what do they mean for you when building new or extending? Planning consultant Ken Dijksman dives into the detail
If you want to extend your house, build an office in the garden, or build a new house, then you need to have planning permission. You either need to make a planning application or, if your scheme is for a small scale extension or outbuilding, you may be able to avoid applying for permission by building within specific limits called Permitted Development (PD).
Understanding how the planning system works before you submit an application will help you better navigate the process. (I’ll be covering how to make an application in part two, next month.) As well as changes to keep on top of, there are different types of applications available, all of which have different caveats, costs and details required, so it pays to know which application would best suit your project. Here’s what you need to know about planning applications before you submit one.
Do I need planning permission?
If you are enlarging or improving an existing house the first question you need to ask is: do I need permission for what I want to do? It’s quite possible that the extensions or outbuildings you want to create might fall under the terms of Permitted Development. These PD rights are set out fairly clearly in government guidance on the planning system — detailed rules are found in the document ‘Permitted development rights for householders: technical guidance’, which is available on www.gov.uk.
Understanding PD rights can be really helpful if you make a planning application for something that is just a little larger than PD allows. This is because the council is duty-bound to compare what you want with what you can do anyway.
If PD would allow you a certain size of extension and what you want to build is a few meters higher or longer, remember that the council can only actually assess the impact of those additional elements. The fall back is your PD, and they cannot prevent that, so it’s only the additional amount that they can legitimately object to.
Lawful Development Certificate
The tricky bit about Permitted Development is being 100% certain you’ve interpreted the rules correctly. The way to be certain is to apply for what’s called a Lawful Development Certificate.you provide full details of what you intend to do, explaining how it complies with Permitted Development and submit this application to the council. It’s not a planning application, it’s a determination by them that what you want to do complies with the PD regulations. It takes about the same length of time as a planning application, but it’s not discretionary based on planning officers’ opinions or neighbour objections; it’s a legal determination that you’re doing something in accordance with the rules. It’s a good way of being certain and when it comes to selling your house you can prove that it was all legal.
What type of planning applications are there?
For self-builders, and homeowners whose proposals do not fall under PD, there are three relevant types of planning application, set out below. An application fee has to be paid to the council. If the application is withdrawn or refused, a second application can be submitted on the same site at no extra charge; this is to enable amendments and changes to be made that might make it acceptable. Unfortunately the planning application fee represents a tiny percentage of the cost of getting permission, when you factor in design fees, surveys etc.
HOUSEHOLDER APPLICATION
This is for small-scale domestic stuff; it covers changes to a single private house. So, assuming the scheme can’t
be trimmed back to fall within PD (and sometimes it really can’t due to the position of a road, for instance), then a normal householder planning application will cover extensions, loft conversions, outbuildings, and other alterations to a single property. The application needs detailed accurately scaled drawings of the existing property and the proposed changes to it, with a site layout and location plan.you may need to show the position of existing trees, demonstrate adequate parking, and show that the scheme won’t affect the neighbours.
An important thing to remember with householder applications is not to over-egg them. Provided your scheme is in line with the design of the existing house or surroundings and it doesn’t adversely affect your neighbours (by overlooking or overshadowing them) then overselling the scheme to the council (in terms of expensive drawings and graphics) may be unnecessary.the important thing is that you communicate precisely and accurately what you intend to build so they can make their judgements in terms of its size, design, impact on neighbours, trees and on highway safety. l Current application fee: £206 (£202 in Scotland)
FULL APPLICATION
This is a detailed application for a new development. If you want to build a new house, convert a barn, or subdivide a house into flats, this requires a full planning application. If there is any doubt about the principle of what you want to do and design is not the key factor it might be costeffective to get an outline permission first (more on this to follow).
Assuming that possible technical or policy objections do not apply and you’re confident that a house can be built on a plot, then the determining issues will be about design, appearance and impact.this is where presentation and the quality of architects’ drawings and graphics could be important.the drawings need to include the existing building (where relevant) and what’s proposed, usually providing details of the intended drainage, access, parking, and the retention and protection of trees. On the latter, the retention of existing trees and hedges as a way of softening the impact of your scheme could help smooth it through.
If there is any demolition of existing buildings you are very likely to need a bat survey before planning permission will be granted and a bat licence before the development starts.
So, a full planning application is likely to generate the need for more drawings, more complex presentation and more expense than a simple householder application. l Current application fee: single dwelling £462 (£603 Scotland)
OUTLINE APPLICATION
This is used to establish the principle of a development without having to submit all the details of what is proposed. Outline applications are normally used to avoid the expense of providing all the details necessary for a scheme where the principle might still be in doubt. Hence they are worth considering when the key question is whether you can build a house at all, not its specific size or design.
The point is, if the principle of a development is in question and you want to establish whether you can build a house in a specific location, issues like scale and design may be distractions and may in themselves generate objections or controversy, when all you’re trying to do is get confirmation that it will be possible to build a house on a plot. For example, if flooding is a possible constraint there is no point in spending money on designing a beautiful house that may simply be refused because the council objects to the principle of development due to flood
For self-builders and private homeowners there are three relevant types of planning application
risk and drainage issues. Alternatively, an outline application could be useful way of discovering whether permission might be granted for a single dwelling on a greenfield plot in a village. l Current application fee per
0.1 hectares £462.
Once received, an outline permission on its own doesn’t allow you to build right away. Rather, it must be followed by a Reserved Matters submission.
RESERVED MATTERS SUBMISSION
This covers the details that weren’t dealt with in the outline application, such as design, materials, the exact position of the plot, drainage, landscaping. In other words, the tricky bits, but the additional eight weeks and extra cost of submitting the Reserved Matters is in the knowledge that the principle of building a house is not in doubt.
l Current application fee per dwelling £462 (Scotland £401)
Planning permission almost always relates to land or property, not to the applicant. So, when you buy a property or plot with
Buying a house or land subject to planning
planning permission you will have as much right to implement that as the person who originally obtained it (provided it hasn’t expired).
This means it’s possible to make a planning application on land you do not own, and you can therefore make the purchase of that land or property subject to getting the planning permission you want.there is obviously no point in doing this unless you enter a contract with the owner — if there is no deal, they can say thanks very much and sell it to someone else or do it themselves. But a ‘subject to planning’ arrangement means they are legally obliged to sell to you if you get permission, and if you don’t you can walk away.
This means you can take the financial risk of making a planning application, without the risk of being burdened with a land you don’t want if the planning application fails.
Timescales: The reality of the planning process
If you intend to embark upon the exciting journey of trying to get planning permission, please remember one key fact — it will likely take longer (possibly much longer) and cost more, than you imagine. This is particularly true at the moment, as council’s struggle to deal with the pandemic spills over into all sorts of different arenas.
Major applications, those for 10 or more houses (or on sites of more than 0.5 hectares) have a deadline of 13 weeks. Planning applications for extensions and single houses have a target decision date of eight weeks, and sometimes they do meet this deadline, but very often it’s necessary to negotiate changes to your submitted plans, or to wait for the council to receive comments from the highways department or from drainage engineers.
In other words, this is all out of your control, which makes timetabling your build rather tricky. Before you have the permission for what you want to build, my advice is not to get tied into any fixed dates or building contracts. I would always encourage you to accept delays if they lead to a positive outcome — far better to get a slow approval than a quick refusal.
What’s next?
There’s a lot to consider when it comes to applications of this type, so understanding the jargon of householder application, PD rights, or full application can help you start the process on the right foot.
Once you’ve chosen the right application for the build project you want to undertake, it’s time to pull the submission together. The amount of detail you need will ultimately depend on the type of application your making and the complexity of the project you’re looking to take on. Next month we’ll be looking at the step-by-step process of applying for planning permission and what to do next.
On a concluding note, obtaining planning approval isn’t usually the end of the process and doesn’t generally mean that you can start the build. Planning conditions – covering things like external materials, access or landscaping – will need to be approved by the local planning authority. If they aren’t then your planning permission could be invalid. For a self-builder, the Community Infrastructure Levy might well come into play, too.
NEXT MONTH: Submitting a planning application.what happens next?
Once you’ve chosen the right application for your build project, it’s time to pull the submission together