Implementing Permission and Minor Changes
Implementing Permission
A planning permission may include conditions
requiring you to submit further details for approval by the
Council. Any request for approval of details will be dealt with in
the same way as a planning application, including consultation
where appropriate. In general, however, details will be dealt with
more quickly than full planning applications.
Development must be carried out in accordance
with the approved plans and any conditions attached to the
permission. It is the applicant/developer's responsibility to let
the Council know if amendments to the approved plans are necessary.
You should also ensure that the planning scheme is compatible with
other requirements like the
Building Regulations.
Even when you have got planning permission,
you may still need to get your landlord's approval, and the
permission will not override any restrictive covenants, which
affect your property.
Amendments
Since 1 October 2009 there has been a
statutory recognition of the concept of ‘minor amendments’. These
now take the form of applications for a ‘non-material change to the
grant of planning permission’ or an application for ‘minor material
change to the grant of planning permission’.
In the event that a development proposal
changes, for example to meet different demands from the new
occupiers or because of the need to meet other legislation such as
the Building Regulations, it is recognised that in many cases,
minor changes to the original scheme will be necessary.
(a)
Non-Material Amendments
Government guidance on non-material amendments
is set out in ‘Greater Flexibility for Planning Permissions’ (DCLG,
October 2010). It does not define what changes may be treated
as being non material as this will depend on the context of the
overall scheme.
S96A of the Town and County Planning Act 1990
states that ‘in deciding whether a change is material, a Local
Planning Authority must have regard to the effect of the change,
together with previous changes made under this section, on the
planning permission as originally granted.’
The basic premise of a non-material amendment
is that the overall description of the development originally
approved should not be varied and that the form, appearance and
siting of any building should remain basically the same. This
is a matter for individual judgement in each case.
An application has to be submitted to the
Council providing details of the proposed amendment(s) to the
original planning permission. The Council has 28 days to determine
the application, although a longer period may be agreed in writing
with the Applicant.
(b)
Minor Material Amendments
A minor material amendment is one whose scale
and nature results in a development which is not substantially
different from the one which has been approved. However, this
is not a statutory definition. S73 of the Town and County
Planning Act 1990 has effectively given the power to reissue a
planning permission with amended conditions attached to address the
proposed change.
An application for a minor material amendment
can therefore only be made if a condition exists on the original
planning permission that can be altered to reflect the change, for
example plan numbers, materials specified, etc. For further
guidance, please refer to the DCLG publication ‘Greater Flexibility
for Planning Permissions’ (October 2010). In determining such
applications the Council will focus its attention on national and
local planning policies as well as other material considerations
that have changed since the original grant of planning
permission.