Planning permission in the United Kingdom
Certain types of operation such as routine maintenance of an existing building are specifically excluded from the definition of development.
Although the public and nearby residents will be consulted about almost any planning application, the decision will not be made on the grounds of popularity or unpopularity.
An authority may also, following discussion, allow an application to be separated into core elements so that permission for site preparation works, say, can be given priority.
One should bear in mind that a LPA is empowered to require details even when the application is in outline, if necessary in the interest of good planning.
Typically they will also include a number of other conditions, for example undertakings regarding environmental and noise issues; limits on the size and external appearance of a new development; requirements for the scheme to be built in accordance with the approved drawings, trees to be planted as per the landscape scheme and replaced if they die in the first few years, or that the colour and finish of external materials be approved by the LPA.
Most conditions imposed on a granted planning permission will relate to implementation of works within the actual site of the application (the edges of which must be defined by a red line marked on an accurately scaled map of the site, usually an Ordnance Survey extract, accompanying the application).
This would be worded to the effect that the development being permitted must not be commenced (or must not be occupied, as appropriate), until the required off-site works had been completed.
Sometimes, planning permission will only be granted subject to the applicant entering into a legal agreement under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act requiring that certain things be done or money be paid to the LPA e.g. to contribute towards the improvement of local highways, schools, open spaces or other facilities serving the development before the development is completed or occupied.
This was confirmed in the case of Parkhurst Road Ltd v Secretary of State for Communities And Local Government, in which Islington Council refused a developer's application as it did not meet “the maximum reasonable amount of affordable housing” (See judgment at paragraph 14).
[5] The planning permission system has been criticised for being "too slow, bureaucratic and expensive", thus contributing to the housing crisis in the UK.
