Planning Conditions

What are planning conditions?

Planning conditions are imposed on a planning permission. Conditions are used in order to enhance the quality of a development. Sometimes they are imposed in a way to assist a certain development to achieve planning permission where otherwise it would have been refused. Planning conditions are meant to be fair, reasonable and practicable in order to ensure a successful development. It is the Local Planning Authority’s (LPA) way of ensuring a high quality and reasonable build.

What are pre-commencement planning conditions?

Pre-commencement conditions are conditions set in place which must be abided by before receiving final planning permission. If you have applied for outline planning permission there will be pre-commencement conditions imposed on the planning permission. These must be discussed and agreed with the LPA in a timely order in order to satisfy their requests and gain final permission.

Can I discharge/vary conditions from a planning permission?

Yes. Pre-commencement conditions are set in place with intentions to be discharged before receiving final planning permission. But, there is possibility to apply to remove or vary a condition imposed upon a planning permission. An example of this would be to vary the design of an approved development. By applying to vary the design condition you can submit new/updated design plans to the LPA for approval.

Do I have to comply with planning conditions imposed on my planning permission?

Yes. If you do not fulfil the necessary objectives of the planning conditions within a timely manner it may mean that you are in breach of planning permission. When in breach, the LPA have the right to enforce the planning permission.

What is planning enforcement?

Planning enforcement is when someone has breached the planning permission. This may be that they didn’t submit necessary details in time to the LPA as agreed, or, they have built a new extension but not abided by the approved plans. If you are in planning breach, you are given 28 days in order to amend the breach, be that you submit an amended submission or in some cases remove the development in breach.