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Are you thinking about building a house of your own on a piece of land or alter your current home? If so, you’ll need permission from the local authority. Planning approval is a statutory permit given by the Council that allows for the construction of a specific site. Planning permission is attached to the property and can be given to anyone, not always to the person who applied for permission in the first place.
The Council shall consider both local and national planning strategies, along with the opinions of statutory experts and the local community, when dealing with applications for planning authorisation.
Some construction is allowed without authorisation and is referred to as allowed development. Other innovations require an application for advance notice, known as prior approval. Figure out if you need permission to prepare or have prior approval. In addition, you can also require the approval of the Building Regulation.
Will You Need Planning Permission To Make Changes To Your Property?
If your property project requires constructing a new home (by either building from scratch or subdividing an existing home), then planning approval is usually required.
Adding out buildings or building additions may require planning permission, depending on the scale of the project and the amount of approved development rights given or still retained on the land.
Things You’ll Need to Know About Getting Planning Permission:
You can make a planning application for any piece of land in the country — you don’t have to own it. Planning decisions should not take more than eight weeks from the date of application. There might well be a bearing on the final judgement on the concerns of neighbours and local citizens.
Applications can be withdrawn at any time — so if you think you’re going to get a rejection, you can withdraw it at any time before the day itself, and resubmit it free of charge.
You can submit an endless amount of planning applications on any one site — and choose which one to use. As long as it’s current, you don’t have to use the most recent one.
What Are Permitted Development Rights?
Permitted development allows small minor improvements, such as the conversion of a loft or modest extensions to your home, to be made without blocking the planning system. Wales, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland each benefit from their own version of the regulations.
The amount of work that you can carry out under the Permitted Development Program depends on a number of factors, including:
- Place (The Natural Beauty and Conservation Areas have separate rules)
- The extent of work already done on the property.
There are various forms of planning permissions with the most common being:
- Permission for Outline Planning
- Permission for Full Planning
Outline Planning Permission
Let’s assume, for example, that you purchased a piece of land and you’d like to build a house on. You’ll want to know if you will be able to build on the property first, so you may be trying to get the Outline Planning Permission. This is simply a letter to the local authority to notify them of the intention to build the property, and they will notify you of the size of the house you may build.
Compared to the Full Planning Permission Application, the Outline Application does not include as much detail about your proposal, only more about a simple ‘outline’ of what you’re going to do.
PLEASE NOTE: Outline Planning Approval is not a legal prerequisite for obtaining planning permission. Depending upon your project, you might prefer to apply for Full Property Planning Permission as your first initial step.
Full Planning Permission
You’ll need to verify whether or not you need full planning permission is something that you need to verify with the local authority. When applying, you will need to fill in the application form first. You can find an example of this type below.
Examples of when you might need to apply for Full Planning permission are:
- Structural improvements
- Building in your backyard
- Demolition of an existing building
- Extending your property (depending on size)
- Changing the main use of the building
How Much Does It cost to apply for planning permission?
The price you pay for an application varies depending on the complexity of the project. The average cost of applying for a new building in England and Wales is £462. If you’re looking to renovate or improve your home, the cost is around £206. It costs a little less in Wales, around £190.
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Be mindful, though! You’ll find that, as your application progresses, you may encounter additional fees depending on the nature of your application.
What Does a Planning Application Include?
- In general terms, the application will include:
- Five versions of the application form
- A signed certificate of ownership
- Site plan, block plan, the elevation of all current and planned sites,
- Definition of Design and Access
- The correct fee
Design and Access Statement
The Design and Access Statement should be followed by your application if you are planning a major development. It is basically a report arguing that the design is suitable for the area in which the construction will take place, and that future users will have adequate access to the land.
Overall, the Design and Access Statement is intended to ensure that you have given considerable thought to the impact of your development on the surrounding area. This also includes the impact on local people who may be disabled, young children and the elderly.
Planning Permission Conditions
Planners may also give permission according to certain conditions that need to be met/agreed within a specified timeframe. Those are highly critical circumstances. Failure to comply may result in what is referred to as a violation of condition notice, for which there is no right of appeal—not to mention that it may be enforced by litigation in the courts.
Conditions can be as simple as specifying that materials suit current materials or that all border treatments must be agreed upon.
How are Applications Decided?
The local government will base its decision on what is known as ‘material considerations,’ which may include (but are not limited to):
Overlooking/loss of privacy
- Loss of light or overshadowing
- Parking
- Highway safety
- Traffic
- Noise
- Impact on listed building and Conservation Area
- Layout and density of building
- Design, appearance and materials
- Government policy
- Disabled access
- Proposals in the development plan
- Previous planning decisions
- Nature conservation
Neighbours will be contacted and encouraged to comment along with parish councils (in England and Wales), but only certain complaints based on material considerations will be taken into account. So long as your neighbours do not object and the officers suggest approval, they will usually give planning permission to apply for a householder using what is known as delegated powers.
How long does the application take?
After your application has been submitted, the planning department must verify that all the information needed has been provided along with the appropriate fee. Local authorities are required to classify planning applications within 10 to 12 weeks of filing, and the majority of direct householder applications will be handled within this period.
A sign is posted outside the address for the new building, and any residents likely to be impacted are written to and encouraged to view and comment on the plans. It is known as the public consultation process which takes between three and eight weeks. The authority shall make statutory consultations with the local Highways Department and, where necessary, with the Environment Agency and others.
What happens if my application is refused?
Approximately 75% of applications are approved in England and Wales. However, if an application for planning authorisation is refused, you may either amend the application already submitted in order to comply with the guidelines of the local authority or make an appeal. According to a study, nearly 40 per cent of the appeals to the local planning inspectorate are eventually approved!