Running out of time to discharge your planning conditions?

The majority of planning decision notices come with a number of planning conditions.  The details of these conditions will make clear at what point in the build process they need to be discharged and they are often time sensitive – for example a pre-commencement condition needs to be discharged before you can undertake any works on site, but the planning approval itself will have a time limit by which you must have implemented the permission. What ‘implementation’ means in practice is somewhat subject to interpretation as our article  here explores.

It is therefore worth noting that discharging conditions on a site approved for conditional planning permission can be a complex and lengthy process.  Typically, a range of technical reports and additional plans are required to support these types of application. As a result, it is important to ensure that the applications are organised in a way that prioritises any pre-commencement conditions over other types of conditions.

Discharging conditions – can I speed up the process?

We recently helped a client expedite a series of planning condition applications.  The client was up against a tight deadline to implement their planning permission and despite submitting their applications within several months of the time limit, additional consultation and Case Officer caseload meant weeks were passing without the Decision Notices being generated.

As a general rule, we always try to factor in additional time for negotiation and consultations. With many LPA’s under immense workload pressure at the moment, compounded by a lack of staffing, it can be difficult to ensure that your case goes to the ‘top of the pile’ or gets determined within the normal timescales.

Discharging conditions as quickly and efficiently as possible is important on two fronts: first, it facilitates the developer in bringing forward development in a timely manner; second, it prevents confusion over what has been approved and consequent problems with enforcement for both the developer and the LPA.

The deemed discharge notification – a potential solution

In this instance, in order to expedite things for our client, we served a Deemed Discharge Notice to the LPA (DDN).  The Development Management Procedure Order (DMPO) 2015 sets out the procedures for applicants to gain deemed consent if an application for a planning condition has not been determined within 8 weeks or an agreed extended period.  In essence this means that at any time after 6 weeks following the receipt of a discharge of condition application, the applicant can serve a DDN to the LPA – although a shorter time may be agreed.  There is no specified form for a DDN but the notice must meet a number of criteria, including: provide details of the application and identify the relevant condition(s) it applies to; and confirm that no appeal has been lodged if past the 8 weeks point since submission.

Although it is undoubtedly a useful tool,  as with all things planning related there are several caveats. For example, certain types of conditions are not eligible for deemed discharge, especially those relating to more technical and fundamental issues such as contamination and ecology. There are also restrictions on the timing of serving a notice.

If you are under pressure to secure a timely discharge of conditions for your site and are unsure of the best route forward then please contact a member of our planning team to see how we can best assist and to provide you with a  fee quote for our services to assess your situation.

About us

We are Plainview Planning – a solutions orientated, experienced and knowledgeable team of planning consultants.  If you need professional and informed planning support with your development project, then contact our team via enquiries@plainview.co.uk, to see how we can best assist you, providing the site address and a brief overview of your project.  We value your privacy and any information which you provide will not be shared outside of our company and will only be used in relation to your enquiry.

As always, the content of this article was correct at the time of publication, but for the most up-to-date information on planning topics and policy queries, contact our team.