Understanding Planning Permission

Getting planning permission on a piece of land, or for a renovation opportunity, not only transforms the value of that plot, but also gives you the chance to create development opportunities.

Unfortunately, the planning process can be drawn out, confusing and riddled with doubt and problems — but what you stand to gain should make it all worthwhile.

It is quite possible to buy a building plot that already has planning permission, as many on the market do. However, this is not always as good an idea as it may at first seem, as the most desirable plots rarely get beyond the estate agent’s door before being snapped up by developers. Another factor to watch out for is that the planning permission in place may not be all it seems; for example, there may be no details about the size of the house.

The rules of planning are unpredictable, open to interpretation and often easily bent — and this is something that can work both for and against you. It is vital to have an understanding of the planning process because, put simply, ending up with the right permission is the only way you will end up being able to build the house of your dreams. Whatever your circumstances, there is often a way to negotiate and come up with a satisfactory solution, as the case studies that are linked below demonstrate.

Planning: Our Top Tips for Success

Understand the System

Planning permission has a particularly unpredictable set of rules — open to interpretation and often capable of being bent. Unlike the Building Regulations, planning regulations differ from one area of the country to the next, while the scope for inconsistencies between planners – even within one authority – is huge. So if you want to self-build, renovate or extend, a flexible and pragmatic approach to achieving what you want is vital.

Buy Land Subject to Planning

It is perfectly legal to make a planning application on land you do not own — you don’t even need permission from the landowner, as permission goes with the land rather than the applicant. It is common practice to make a purchase subject to satisfactory planning permission — which is then legally secured by exchanging contracts with completion conditional upon getting the permission you want, or by entering into an ‘optional agreement’, whereby you have the legal option to buy if you’re successful or to walk away if you’re not.

Get Pre-Application Advice

Your local planning department and its website is a free source of information that can help you to exploit opportunities. But you need to know how to use it and this is where it is extremely helpful to talk to a planning officer from your local authority. Try to achieve a good rapport rather than approaching them as an enemy, and aim to gain an understanding of the key issues you will have to deal with in order to get permission.

Make Friends with the Enemy

Most objections from neighbours etc stem from a fear that their own properties will be devalued — and also often from a worry about the change that a new house will mean for them. Perhaps the best way to avoid objections, therefore, is to talk to neighbours and the parish council prior to making your application and try to accommodate in your design any specific concerns they have. If you can accommodate what might be trivial issues it could make the difference between a delegated approval and a planning committee refusal.

Understand the Conditions

If and when you do get permission, it will be subject to certain conditions. This will include a time limit during which the application has to be started — now three years. Any conditions on your application are extremely important and a failure to comply with them can result in a ‘breach of condition notice’ (BCN) to which there is no right of appeal and which can be enforced through the courts by prosecution.

Trade Up

If you come across a piece of land that comes complete with planning permission, don’t be put off if the nature of the approved house design does not quite meet your requirements. Just because permission already exists for, say, a bungalow, this does not mean that this is what you will have to build.

Know the Rules

The rules of the planning game are not simple. They are produced by local authorities and referred to as ‘development plan policies’. They are supposed to be a guide as to where new housing is located and what kind of developments are built in that area.

These rules are not hard and fast, and it is really all about how well you can sell what it is you are applying for to the local planning authorities in relation to the policies in their particular development plan.

The development plan policies set out – often not particularly clearly – criteria for what will and won’t be acceptable. Villages and towns will normally have been given a development boundary – also known as a settlement boundary – and it is within this boundary that the principle of new development is allowed. Outside of these boundaries, land is usually grouped together as countryside and is extremely difficult to gain planning permission on.

Trying to comply with any of these vaguely worded policies can be very difficult — particularly if you are aiming to do so without the help of a good designer or planning consultant who is able to interpret exactly what the local authorities are trying to say.

Try an Incremental Approach

By submitting parts of a controversial scheme incrementally, planners are less likely to countenance refusal because they are always duty bound to compare it to what has already been approved — meaning that big leaps forward can prove too controversial for consumption, but incremental amendments to approved schemes are difficult to resist.

Present Your ideas Clearly

Finally, spend money on presentation drawings of your development — planning authorities grant permissions for what is really only a picture at that stage.

Has What You Want to do Already Been Rejected

Check the planning office for records relating to the site you have in mind and investigate whether the plot has suffered any rejections or other forms of adverse planning history. What has gone on in the past will be the starting point that planning officers will base their new decisions on.

Further reading:

• Planning Permission: Making an Application
• Read three real-life planning case studies
• Planning approval for conversions
• How to get planning approval

	The Planning Game book by planning expert Ken Dijksman explains the game that is getting planning permission! Planning is a game and, like any game, there are rules that govern how you play - but not who wins.
	How to Get Planning Permission - This is a brand new edition of the best-selling book on planning consent. Used by the public and professionals alike this fourth edition is fully updated and completely re-designed.