Stage 02·Development of building projects·SIC 41100
Two consents, three classes of condition
Planning permission says the development may happen. Building control approval says the building may be constructed the way it is drawn. They are granted under different regimes, on different timetables, and one is never evidence of the other.
Before the applicationpre-application
Pre-application advice from the authority is not a decision and does not bind the committee, but it names the policies the officer will apply and the consultees who will have to be satisfied, and it is cheaper to be told at that point than after a refusal. The development plan for the area, and the material considerations alongside it, are what the application will be judged against.
The choice between a full application and an outline application with reserved matters is a choice about where the risk sits. Outline tests the principle on a smaller pack. Full requires the whole design but produces a permission that can be built from.
The determination periodfrom validation
Once validated the application is publicised and consulted on. Statutory consultees reply within their own periods; neighbours and other interested parties make representations within the publicity period. The case officer writes a report with a recommendation, and the application is then decided either under delegated powers or by the planning committee, which meets on its own cycle rather than on the applicant's.
Where more time is needed the authority and the applicant may agree an extension in writing. Where the authority does not determine the application within the period that applies, there is a route of appeal against non-determination. The planner on the sequence page takes a validation date and the periods that apply and prints the dates that follow from them.
The three classes of conditionread on arrival
Conditions are not interchangeable and the class decides when the work they govern can happen. Each one that has to be discharged is applied for separately, in writing, and the authority has a period in which to decide it. That period is additional to the determination period and is the reason a permission and a start on site are different dates.
| Class | Due | Effect of ignoring it |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-commencement | Discharged in writing before any work begins | Work started without it can be unauthorised even where the permission is sound. |
| Pre-occupation | Discharged before the building is used | The building is finished and cannot lawfully be occupied or let. |
| In perpetuity | Runs for the life of the permission | A continuing breach that stays enforceable against the land. |
If it is refusedtwo routes
A refusal gives reasons, and the reasons decide the route. Where the objection is to a detail, a revised application that answers it may be quicker and surer than an appeal. Where the objection is to the principle, the appeal is the route, and it must be lodged within the statutory window. There is a separate route for varying or removing a condition on a permission already granted, which leaves the rest of the permission in place.
Building control is unaffected by any of this. It runs on a full plans application or an initial notice, and it is the route by which the building is inspected as it is built.
This page describes the sequence HAIXOR LTD works to on its own developments. It is a description of process and not advice on any application. Correspondence to acquisitions@haixor.space or to the registered office.