Permitted Development - October 1st 2008

Welcome to the Permitted Development web site. Since October 1st 2008 new Planning Legislation is in place that allows the home owner certain rights and development benefits that they can implement WITHOUT the need to obtain formal Planning Permission. This site seeks to explore and discuss these 'PD' rights to determine what the benefits, issues and pitfalls may be.

There is a lot of confusion at the moment with regard to the new Permitted Development rights legislation of the latest revision to the 'Town and Country Planning (general permitted development Order) (Amendment) (No. 2) (England) Order 2008' being its full title.

Not only was the legislation rushed at the last moment, it is very poorly phrased and worded that will set the path for the English Lawyers and Legal System to make huge fees over the coming months possibly years until the Law courts have set various precedents for Case Law.

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Permitted Development information

Why were the Permitted Development Rights revised?

Central Government for a long time has tried to unlock the Local Planning System which is predominantly made up of 'Householder' Planning applications for domestic extensions, conversions or ancillary garden buildings. Many of these planning applications find there way to the Planning Inspectorate for the Appeal when an Application has been refused by the Local Council. This causes delays, costs. Certain academics at their 'White Hall Towers' have decided that many of these 'low level' planning applications cause unnecessary delays to the Planning System which subsequently holds up a lot of the more 'grander' high profile planning schemes. So something had to be done.

So how does this affect me?

Planning Permission is perhaps one of the most subjective and wide ranging set of issues there is for a Local Authority to consider. This leads to a variety of opinions, inconsistent assessment of relevant Planning Policy and third party interventions all seeking to have their say on what you (the home owner) want to build.

Many of you may have already been 'through the mill' experiencing these issues only to be denied formal Planning Consent - perhaps even at appeal.

Therefore, assessing what you are legally able to build on your property without formal Planning Approval is perhaps an option you are now having to consider.

However, this process is not without its hurdles and obstacles and the new PD legislation has certainly 'upset the apple cart' for a certain number of people which are mainly the Planners and disgruntled neighbours. Summary of changes to the Permitted Development

QUOTE: "Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status".

The previous Permitted Development legislation had remained pretty much in tact for the last 20 years with only minor wording revisions - The main context and assessment criteria remaining pretty much the same.

This new phrasing of the Permitted development rights that began on October 1st 2008 really is a fresh approach in most instances with a whole new assessment criteria of what you can build without Planning Permission that is generally better for the home owner wishing to develop or extend than the previous set of criteria and limitations that had a lot of Case Law as back up for clarification of certain dubious elements of the wording.

This new set of wording for the Permitted Development criteria wipes away an awful lot of previous Case Law precedents that will now be re-challenged in the Courts all over again over the next few months if not years.

Having dealt with such Planning matters for over 25 years now I can guarantee that the current wording will be revised very shortly to cater for the 'White Hall cock ups' when the Courts and Appeal systems have once again been overloaded or some 'obtuse' MP in the Shires or Home Counties has his aspect interfered with or garden overshadowed by a neighbour erecting an extension or garden building in a totally unneighbourly way without the need for obtaining Planning Permission first.

OBSERVATION: Looking at what you can build without formal Planning Permission is not just for the 'disillusioned home owner' who has just been refused Planning Permission now seeking to locate a 'second best' position for their building requirements.

It is more usual that those people wanting to maximise their development potential for a site should perhaps first consider what they can erect without formal Planning Permission and to then develop a 'two prong' design solution that seeks to obtain planning consent for one scheme but then implements the PD scheme after successfully obtaining Planning Permission for the other scheme. If you do this in the opposite manner the Planners will likely 'means test' you for what you have already achieved on the site and then consider the 'accumulative effect' of the total scheme with what you are applying for at Planning and a refusal will likely be the result.

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