extend the life of your planning permission
New provisions come into effect today that enable local planning
authorities to extend the time limits for implementing existing
planning permissions.
The measures apply to planning permissions which are extant both
on 1 October 2009 and at the date of application and have not yet
commenced. They also cover listed building and conservation area
consents which meet the same criteria and are associated with a
planning permission which is also being extended.
Similarly, outline planning permissions can be extended,
provided they are extant on 1 October 2009 and at the date of
application and have not yet commenced. An outline permission is
extant if either:
- the time limit for submission of reserved matters has not yet
expired or
- reserved matters were all submitted in accordance with the time
limit for submission of reserved matters, and the time limit for
commencement has not yet expired
Application forms will be available for use on the Planning
Portal website. For such applications, the requirement to provide a
design and access statement will not apply; consultation
requirements are modified; and plans and drawings will not have to
be provided.
From 1 October 2009, it will also be possible to make
non-material amendments to existing planning permissions. This will
remove the need for entirely new applications where only a very
small change is sought.
The Department for Communities and Local Government will be
publishing guidance on the new measures in early October.
The proposed fees for applications to extend time limits are
£500 for major developments, £50 for householder developments and
£170 for other sizes of developments. However, until the fees
regulations are changed, the fee is as if it were a wholly new
application. For applications for non-material amendments, there is
no fee.
While the changes will generally be welcomed by developers,
there have been complaints from local planning authorities on the
lack of time available to prepare for the changes which were laid
before parliament on 8 September 2009.
