October 2011.

What is planning permission?

Don't confuse planning permission with Building Regulations approval. Building Regulations is mainly about the house being built properly, i.e. structurally sound, fairly fireproof, insulated etc. whereas planning permission is about what type of building is allowed to be on the land, what it looks like, how it affects traffic in the area etc.

The main thing to understand first is that there are two kinds of land:

• Land which has or can get planning permission.
• Land which hasn't got it or cannot get it

People who are selling land usually apply for outline planning permission before they advertise and then they state in the advert what the permission is. For example "...with outline planning permission to build 3 x 2 storey two bedrooms houses..."

It is usually a very bad idea to buy land which does not have planning permission simply on the hope that you might be able to get it later. No matter how cheap the land is or how beautiful a spot, it's best to assume that you will not be able to get permission. If it were easy, someone would already have got it. The possible exception to this is the situation of an existing house with a large garden where you might well be able to get planning permission for an extension, depending on planning policy in the area. The planners will often give an indication of the likely outcome of an application

Many people do not realize how every bit of land in the UK is earmarked by the planners for some particular use. So after you find a site, the first question is whether it at least has some kind of planning permission for a dwelling. A slight problem might be that it has a somewhat different permission from what you want to build. For instance, the vendor might have gone for permission for a pair of semi-detached buildings, thinking that this would fetch the best price on the land, whereas you want to build one large house. At this point it is probably best to have a word with the planning officer for the area. They will give you an idea of what to do - possibly you may need to apply for an amendment to the permission before buying the land. Under certain circumstances you may have some inside knowledge which the vendor doesn't have and you might risk buying land without planning permission but it is advisable to get professional help with this.

Retrospective permission

Occasionally you hear about people who have gone ahead and built without permission. Local authorities have extremely strong powers to force you to take down what you have built or demolish it for you, and very heavy fines can follow. It is sometimes possible to get retrospective permission on a development but it's certainly not a good idea to assume you will.

planning permission must be obtained for all new houses and for most alterations (there are a few exceptions to do with small additions such as porches).

Outline permission

It is usual to get outline planning permission first to see whether the sort of thing you want to build is acceptable and if it is then you can go for detailed planning permission. It is not a good idea to buy land without outline permission, assuming you will be able to get it later. You may not and then the land will be worth a fraction of the price it would be with permission. For instance agricultural land is typically worth around £7000/ hectare whereas building land will be into the millions per hectare depending on where it is. Interestingly, anyone can apply for permission on any piece of land whether they own it or not.

The process

You apply to the local council for planning permission. Outline permission is a fairly simple procedure whereas detailed permission requires full drawings. It is always a good idea to have a chat with the planners first. They are usually very helpful and will give you a good idea about the sort of thing that is acceptable, especially if you live in some kind of sensitive area such as a conservation area or a SSSI etc. A considerable amount of information is available at the local authority planning department and a lot of this information is on line. You can find out whether planning permission has already been granted for a particular plot of land (whether you own it or not), you can find out whether a plot is in a specially designated area such as an SSSI or a conservation area and at a more strategic level you can see how the area fits into the UDP (Unitary Development Plan).

When you put in an application it is considered by the planning committee of the council who listen to the recommendations of their planning officers. With simple matters they will simply follow what the officers say and the decission will go through 'on the nod'. With anything a bit more contentious the committee will argue it out and that is why it sometimes pays to have a sympathetic councillor on your side.

If your application is not successful you can take it to appeal and a planning inspector will consider it. More about appeals on the Planning Portal here. It is a free process.

The main government web site covering planning is the Planning Portal and it has some useful tools for calculating fees, carbon footprint, and building volume. It also allows you to download a site plan for planning application.

Government planning policy

The government planning policy for housing is laid out in Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing

There have recently been some encouraging signs regarding the government's attitude to self build. Grant Chapps, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning, announced a government initiative to create a great deal more activity in the self build market. So far it is mostly encouraging words about building societies lending more money and more local land being made available. The sticking point has always been availability of small building plots and it remains to be seen whether councils are willing to take the necessary initiatives to make land available. Councils regularly have redundant land and they have four main ways of directing it to self builders

• directly by selling off land as individual plots
• selling land to a constituted group of self builders who raise the money through a bank loan
• to a private company whose purpose is to then split the land down into individual plots and sell them on to self builders
• to a housing association which intends to organise self build

All these methods have been used in the past but not widely. The first option is probably the trickiest because it is difficult to build in from the beginning how the financing of infrastructure such as roads and sewerage are handled.

There is also the possibility of rewarding vendors (local authority or private) for selling land to self builders rather than to volume house builders, though this might be politically sensitive.

Other new developments

A new and contentiousDraft National Planning Policy Framework has recently been issued by the government and its effect on the self builder is difficult to divine but if it goes through in its present form it will probably hand more power over to local neighbourhood forums and parish councils to decide on how land use is designated. For instance there is the proposal that

'Neighbourhoods can use neighbourhood development orders to grant planning permission. Developments that are permitted through a neighbourhood development order will not require further planning permission from local planning authorities.'

and

'Local planning authorities should create a shared vision with communities of the residential environment and facilities they wish to see. To support this, local planning authorities should aim to involve all sections of the community in the development of local and neighbourhood plans and in planning decisions.'

The Habitats Regulations

Increasingly the EU Habitats Regulations (which cover nature conservation in sensitive areas) are coming into force and are in fact cited in the Draft National Planning Policy Framework. See more on the APIS web site

Sensitive areas

Some areas (such as conservation areas) are designated as especially sensitive. In these areas there are tighter rules known as 'Article 4 Directions' and what is known as 'permitted developments' (some small extensions, alterations and repairs etc) are not automatically allowed. If you are in such an area you need to contact the council before making any alterations or doing any development.

Local applications

Local authorities have on line databases of current planning applications and to some extent, past ones. They tend to be rather buried away but the nitty gritty nature of the information can reveal useful details of what the planners allow in a specific area. You can usually search particular streets or types of building.

As an example try Norwich City Council at http://www.norwich.gov.uk/Planning/Pages/PublicAccess.aspx

This will lead to a page where you can search by address or keyword.

A couple of useful books on the subject are How to Get planning permission and The Planning Game

Latest planning news

There are several RSS news feeds from the Department for Communities and Local Government for latest news on Planning, building and the environment.

• Grant Shapps: £20million for safety net against repossession
• Housing and construction champions announced
• £1billion cash boost for pro-growth communities
• Grant Shapps: Housing takes centre stage in economic recovery plans
• Andrew Stunell: Government takes next step on zero carbon homes

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