The definition of what is a development requiring planning permission is wide, and if every small-scale project necessitated a planning application to the council, the planning system would be overburdened.
Planning laws in the UK allows for rapid, efficient growth of land by permitting blanket planning. This is called ‘permitted development’, and government sets out specific development categories.
In the United Kingdom, there are different regulations, depending on where in the country you plan to build. In most cases, projects that fall within the authorized classes may just go forward as planned.
The right to control these types of development projects is reserved for the council, excluding office spaces and demolitions. You can also make additions to your house that are a bit large in size, but must have the approval of the council beforehand.
Most new developments, such as shops and offices, can be approved with a permitted development.
What are changes defined under the planning laws
The term Changes refer to the development of houses, minor works, and changes in use. Caravans and other agricultural buildings are also part of this change. With the new laws, commercial developments are now possible with public investment.
Various changes are allowed between the types of use defined in the government’s use classes order. For example, a pub could change to being used as a shop.
Development in England is divided into different types, but all of these types can be applied to residential properties.
Where you are a HouseHolder
Any residential properties
Extensions
Gates
Roof extensions
fences
porches
walls
Hard surfacing (paving)
access
outbuildings, swimming pools
painting your house
antennas and dishes
demolition
Requirements to get householder rights on AONBS and listed buildings
Householder rights must also be obtained before you undertake development in a Conservation Area, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs) or National Parks. Householder rights do not cover flats, maisonettes, mixed-use properties or houses in multiple occupations. Permitted development rights will not override a requirement to obtain listed building consent on a listed property.
The concept of permitted development is simple: there are limits and criteria to meet. However, the reality is more complicated. It takes a lot of interpretation, and different councils have different views on certain aspects. If you plan to develop your land around your house, this only applies to the curtilage in most cases (your yard). But for houses with large yards or that have other non-residential land annexed, the extent may not be as clear.
some exceptions on permitted development rights
Councils can take away some permitted development rights within certain areas. They usually do this in areas with conservation value, but also in high-density student communities.
Article 4 Directions are written public notices that are publicized by Councils and include information about where they are in effect.
For example, when a council grants a building permission, they can attach conditions that would remove permitted development rights. This might be done to keep the character of the original building, or to prevent further over-development.
There are some limitations on where development can take place, but it does not mean the development cannot ever happen. You would just need to make a planning application to request permission.
Planning details are available on the websites for England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
The right to undertake permitted development is fraught with uncertainties and can be established using the information in this chapter.
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When starting your project, it is important to try have a pre-application consultation for your planning permission submissions. I talked about it in my previous blog post as a way to try save time and cost early before you get a professional involved. This process will help you validate your building project idea before submitting your planning application.
At the pre-planning application consultation, you can meet with the planning officer who have reviewed 100s of planning applications . These meetings are informative, and many councils are open to hosting them. You just need to find your local planning website and see if they offer one.
Not all councils provide this, the ones that offers pre-application consultations, you will need to fill in a simple form before meeting. Others have officers available at certain times for callers. The planning portal for your local council will explain their pre-application consultation procedure, setting out the situations where a fee might be payable. This article is going to help explain and run through some of the things you need to consider when going through the pre-application consultation for your planning permission.
Try to get a face-to-face meeting
To ensure your application has a higher change of approval from the outset, have a meeting with the planning officer to showcase your proposed plans. This would help greatly as you can adjust and modify as necessary from the conversation you have with them. This is a lot faster than email or phone conversations.
Make sure you come in knowing what you want for your planning application
One of the major purposes of pre-application consultation with a planning officer is to inform you about any problems with your scheme that might be able to be fixed beforehand. This is different from finding out their ideal plan for your site, which can happen if you have not come in with any ideas.
Don’t go to a meeting without knowing what you want. The eyes of the planning officer might close up behind his or her’s vision of what should be done.
Bring your sketches
Again, as mentioned before in my other blog posts come in with some sketches of your proposal.
Take your sketch scheme or provide the basis for the discussion in advance. It can be better to leave out personal details to prevent “personal information from being used against you later.” Be brief, so you’re not taking up too much of the meeting time.
Focus on one application at a time
If you are applying for a building permit and want to build two houses instead of one, the officer may think your application has a stronger chance of granting when it’s only to build one.
In your correspondence with the council, ask for the application’s content requirements and if they need any specialist reports. Do this before the meeting and make sure you bring in as much information and questions as possible.
You can get required documents from their respective council, on the council’s website or at the planning department. You can search online for your local council’s planning department.
You can use a copy of the Development Control list to show an officer which items are necessary, what level of detail are appropriate to your proposal, and who they will need to consult with. Learn if financial contributions are needed and how the council handles it. Be sure you confirm how much money is being contributed regarding your proposal.
Also finally ask what other costs or processes you may need to go through to approve your planning permit. These can include ecology survey, structural surveys, or detailed measured surveys.
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Planning permission is needed if you want to make some alterations to your home or property, but it’s not always easy to know where to start.
The first thing you need to do is decide what kind of project you want to take on. You could be thinking about extending your property with a conservatory or maybe building an extension that will give you more living space.
Regardless of what you’re doing, it’s important that the work complies with local planning regulations and meets certain standards. If it doesn’t meet these criteria, then it won’t get approved by council planners – so save yourself some time and money by making sure your plans are up to scratch before starting any construction work!
Sketch out what you want to do to your property
The first thing you need to do is sketch out what you want to do to your property. Make sure you include all the details, dimensions and different views of the job (e.g., a plan or elevation). You can use your local planning portal as inspiration for where to start with this step in the process.
This can be used when talking to architects, building surveyors or architectural technicians at a later stage of your project. Keep these safe and use them as a talking point.
I would not recommend spending time building detailed plans at this stage. Using the sketch can give you an idea of what you can do and also afford.
Check online if you can get planning permission by doing your own investigation before spending money.
If you’re not sure whether or not a planning permit is required for your project, it might be worth doing your own investigation before spending money on hiring a professional.
Check online if you can get planning permission by doing your own investigation before spending money.
Check the council’s website for permitted development policies
Check your local planning portal to see if similar applications have been approved in your area
When you find ambiguity or you want to proceed with your planning permission application, then connect with professionals
If you’re not 100% certain that your application will be successful, reach out to professionals who can help. You can reach out to architects, building surveyors or architectural technicians.
These professionals can help with planning permits and design, but at the early stages, they can advise if you can proceed with the project or not. By doing some of the research on your own, you would save some money by adjusting your plans or project idea.
Just be careful, and don’t fall into the trap of getting a cowboy builder to do it outside of the planning approval process.
Planning permission is a process that takes time and money. It’s essential to get it right because if you don’t, you may end up spending more than what you had originally planned.
You should also be careful when hiring builders who build it outside the planning permission process. Suppose the application is guaranteed to be non-permissible and the council finds out that you’ve built a non-compliant building. In that case, they can issue an enforcement notice, which is a legal order to stop work on the building and restore it to its original condition. This can mean that you could have to demolish your extension or rebuild it in accordance with planning regulations.
Planning decisions are made for various reasons, but the main one is to protect the character and amenity of an area.
It will give you insights on what to consider when considering putting a project in place in your home.
The role of planning policies
When a local authority is considering making a planning decision, it must consider its overall duty to protect the area’s amenities. This means that they must ensure that any new development will not harm existing residents or businesses and that it will be well designed and located in an appropriate place. They also have duties to protect the environment in general (including wildlife), promote sustainable development, and promote economic development.
In addition, they must not discriminate against anyone and ensure that any new development will not disadvantage any group of people. They also have to consider the needs of those most vulnerable in society, such as the elderly and disabled.
Local development plans or local plans are policies gathered from historical policies but also neighbourhood-specific plans such as town and parish policies. These policies include what can and cannot be done in a specific area.
What is in Planning Policy
A policy can be general and apply to general areas.
A policy can be general and apply to standards for building design.
A policy can relate to specific areas such as conservation areas, or it may categorise settlement into residential and non-residential areas. It could detail concerns of certain types of development such as house extensions or roof extensions. Finally, it could show how a particular site should be developed or site allocation for new houses.
how the historical planning decisions of an area can affect future planning permissions.
In areas where the planning policies of the area have a history of rejecting new buildings, developers may be more reluctant to submit applications for new developments. If you are trying to put a planning application for a mansard roof extension and you’ve noticed that other planning applications were rejected in neighbouring streets, then it will be highly likely that your application will be rejected.
Previous properties’ size and dimensions can also affect future applications’ limits. If the property only allows 8m extensions and you’re doing 9m then you’ll not get the planning permit approved.
Physical site constraints that influence the planning permission
The size and shape of the site
Landscape features, such as a river, railway line or motorway.
Current ground conditions, including the position of existing drains, sewers and water mains.
Services available to the property such as power, gas and telephone lines (and whether these are overhead or underground).
Tree and vegetation restrictions – for example, if you have a tree preservation order on your property, then tree felling will not be possible (or only allowed with special permission from your local council).
Wildlife protection – for example, some endangered animals might be using your land, and that would restrict your use or development of it on your land.
in the next few sections, we’ll cover each one of them in a bit more detail.
Size and shape of the site
Site size and shape. The site’s size and shape can have a major impact on the design of your house. For example, you may want to orient your house with a view or to capture sunlight. But if the windows/doors are affecting the privacy of others, the planning permission would likely be denied or would have a restriction.
In addition, the land’s topography—its slope and distance from water sources—can affect drainage issues during storms, which could trigger problems like flooding or erosion on your property. You might have conditions placed where you’ll need to ensure correct foundations are set or precautions made to the development of the property to avoid future subsidence or affecting neighbouring properties.
The topography of the land
Topography
As you can see, many factors influence the decision about where to build a home. In order to make an informed choice, you need to know what kind of topography your land has and how it will affect the design and construction of your new house.
The following are some things that you should consider when assessing your land’s topography:
The height of the land.
The shape of the land.
The steepness of the land.
Slope.
Highways and roads near your property.
Ponds or water bodies near your property.
Water run-off from nearby hills or mountains into streams or rivers near your property.
Flooding issues in specific seasons like springtime when snow melts after winter months
The current ground conditions
It’s important to understand that the ground conditions can greatly impact planning decisions. The ground conditions can be difficult to predict and expensive to change if you don’t get it right in the first place.
The planning officer will need as much information on your site as possible to make an informed decision about whether or not planning permission should be granted.
Archaeological remains
Archaeological remains are the physical remains of human activity in the past. They include:
Built structures (such as houses, temples and tombs), and their foundations;
Burial sites or cemeteries;
Tools and other cultural items (such as pottery).
The significance of archaeological remains varies according to their age, location and context. In some cases, they can provide direct evidence for events from years ago, such as how people lived at a particular time.
Having properties in close proximity or already in a zone of archaeological interest may restrict your works or deny it completely. Extensive research may be needed to disprove this.
Changes on existing buildings
If you are considering making any changes to an existing building, the planning decision-makers will want to see evidence that the existing building has been kept in good condition and has been maintained. If your application involves demolishing a part of an existing building, keep it as much as possible. If you live in a conservation area and have a listed property, you should consider retaining as much of the original fabric as possible.
The impact on boundaries
You’ll need to consider the impact of your proposals on boundaries. This is likely to include neighbouring properties but can also include:
Local authorities
Neighbours
Other public bodies such as highways authority, environmental health and so on.
The services available to the property
If services are available to your property, you’ll need to be sure that they meet your needs. For example, if you have a water supply and drainage but not a sewer system built into the property, then you will need to arrange for one installation (which could cost thousands).
This may be approved with restrictions or conditions to have specific services installed for future use.
Tree and vegetation restrictions on planning permission
Tree and vegetation restrictions on planning permission
Planning permission is only granted if the proposed development is not likely to have a significant adverse impact on matters of national environmental importance (MINEIs). These are things like air quality, flood risk management, water resources, landscape character and biodiversity. There is no list of MINEIs in the Planning Act; they are defined by law whenever they arise in relation to a specific proposal by reference to ‘well-established principles’ set out under section 58 of that Act.
One such principle relates specifically to trees – that any damage or destruction must not be permitted unless an exception has been made under section 59(4). This means that tree preservation orders (TPOs) can be used as part of development plans for particular areas or sites where there are concerns about existing trees being damaged or destroyed during construction works such as building new buildings or roads etc. A TPO will also provide protection against harm caused by activities such as felling trees from other properties which could affect neighbouring properties.
The proximity of the wildlife and how it can affect planning permission
In addition to the proximity of wildlife, it’s important to consider the impact the wildlife can have on planning permission. You should know that any planning applications may be refused if they conflict with an existing policy or development plan.
If you’re looking to buy a property in an area with a large population of badgers and their setts (burrows), it’s worth noting that there may be restrictions on what you can do with your land or even whether you’ll be allowed to build at all. This will also affect how much your property is worth.
If you want to give yourself some peace of mind when buying a property near badger habitats and/or woodlands, you should make sure that:
The local authority has adopted an appropriate management strategy for dealing with these issues
They have taken into account the views and interests of everyone involved in managing these areas (community groups, landowners etc.)
The information about these sites has been shared widely so people know what might happen during construction works etc., which could lead them to make informed decisions about where best for them to relocate – often for financial reasons!
The provision of the car park
If you’re building for new builds, then there will be some restrictions on car park provision.
The answer to this question depends on several factors. The following details should help you to decide:
The size of your car park should match the requirements for the proposed development. If it’s too big, it will be underused, and if it’s too small, then people won’t be able to park their cars safely or legally.
Whether there are additional requirements such as electric charging points and CCTV cameras will depend on who is using them (for example, private users vs employees), where they are located within an office block, etcetera; however, some basic guidelines include installing enough power sockets so that no one needs extension cables when charging their vehicle(s) overnight – this could mean having enough charging points for every floor plus some extra ones spread across each level.
Surrounding Area
The local authority is responsible for the planning of the area. The local authority has a duty to consult with the community before making a planning decision.
This applies to permits within the review of the town or parish council.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is important to remember that planning decisions are made by local councils. The process of making these decisions can be complex and time-consuming. Therefore we encourage you to contact us at any stage of the planning process so we can help guide and advise you through it.
