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When you receive a decision notice for your application it is important to read and understand all the conditions in full before any work begins.
What are planning conditions?
Decision notices often come with an attached list of conditions. Where planning permission is granted with conditions, the permission stands subject to these conditions being met. Planning conditions are used to regulate a development, from working hours on site to the materials being used. They also specify how a development should or should not be used in the future.
When planning permission is granted there will likely be at least one or two informative conditions. Usual conditions require the development to commence within a set time period of 3 years, and in accordance with an approved set of plans. There may be other informative conditions which give general guidance on how certain aspects of the development should be carried out. These do not request further information to be submitted so do not require an application to discharge them. They are considered to be complied with as long as you have built the proposal in accordance with the documents that were approved e.g. 'The development hereby approved shall not be occupied until a minimum of 2 parking spaces per dwelling have been provided within the curtilage of the site.'
Certain conditions require additional information to be submitted. These conditions will usually be imposed to secure precise details and further information that was not submitted with the planning application. This type of condition may prevent development from starting until the details have been agreed, or may require certain aspects of the work to have this information submitted and agreed before it can begin e.g. 'The dwelling hereby approved shall not be occupied until the new vehicular access to the site has been constructed in accordance with Type A of Northumberland County Council standard specifications, in accordance with details which shall first have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority.'
If you are uncertain about any conditions attached to your decision notice please contact the Planning Officer who dealt with your application (their name should be at the top of the decision notice).
How do I discharge planning conditions?
The discharge of a planning condition involves a formal application process where details relating to an approved development can be considered and a decision made on their acceptability. This is known as a 'discharge of conditions' application (or Approval of details reserved by a condition). A fee is required per application, whether you are discharging one condition or several conditions at once. It is more cost effective to discharge multiple conditions under one application for one fee.
‘Approval of details reserved by a condition’ forms, supporting information and payment can be submitted online at www.planningportal.co.uk/applications. We may refuse your application if it is submitted with incomplete information. Please note you cannot discharge two permissions on one form e.g. householder application plus the associated listed building consent application. Only one application is allowed per permission.
The standard timescale for your submission to be considered and approved (discharged) by us is 8 weeks so please plan ahead and apply in good time.
What happens if conditions are not discharged/followed?
If you don’t complete work in compliance with the approved plans/conditions or fail to discharge your condition(s) at the correct time this could result in enforcement action being taken. You might also invalidate your planning permission which means that it is not lawful. Learn more about Planning Enforcement.
How can I check if conditions have been discharged?
You may be unsure whether or not conditions have been discharged on an application for example if you have purchased a property and were not the original applicant.
You can check for yourself, all applications for discharge of conditions for a site are available for viewing online (note the reference number which will include DISCON e.g. 21/012345/DISCON). It’s worth noting that a ‘variation of condition application’ could have also been submitted so it’s worth checking the conditions on those also (and any subsequent discharge of condition applications related to those). We cannot provide paper copies of applications.
Find planning applications and decision notices on our Public Access system.
You can ask us to check for you. If you require written confirmation that one or all conditions imposed on the same permission have been complied with/discharged, please use the ‘Approval of details reserved by a condition’ form and apply online at www.planningportal.co.uk/applications. Ensure you state in the proposal description e.g. ‘Application for compliance of conditions in order to check conditions 1-18 have been discharged’. We do not require further plans or documents, just the form and fee. The same fees and timescales above apply.
You are advised to keep any compliance of conditions or discharge of conditions decision notices with your original decision notice for planning permission as these may be required for any future property sales or enforcement queries.
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