Planning House were contacted by a developer to assist in discharging planning conditions which were outstanding on a planning approval for residential development in Co. Durham. Some conditions can be confusing and it’s important not to get caught out with them.
In this situation planning approval was granted and the 3 year deadline for implementing the consent was running out, and fast!
There was only one way to safeguard the consent to ensure the development could be carried out and was not lost. Commence development, we sent evidence to the Council to ensure this was noted by them. And submit an application to discharge planning conditions which were pre-commencement requirements.
If development is deemed not to have been lawfully commenced and the period for commencement expires, then (unless an application for approval of any outstanding details is pending at that point and is subsequently approved ) the permission will lapse and a new application for the development will need to be submitted. Such an application is not guaranteed to succeed.
Not all pre-commencement conditions truly go to the heart of a planning permission and so only those which are true conditions precedent required to be discharged. Planning House agreed these with the Council in advance of the submission of a discharge of condition application.
Durham County Council found that the information submitted to discharge the conditions was acceptable and therefore the application was implemented lawfully. Hurrah the permission was saved and the development can be completed without going back to square one!
Special thanks go out to other companies we worked with to pull everything together for this one in such a short space of time – Blake Hopkinson, Lynas Engineers and Northpoint Geotechnical. Couldn’t have done it without you, amazing team!
Related Content:
If you have received a planning approval it’s essential you know what conditions are attached, what they cover and how they can be complied with. Read out article Understanding Planning Conditions which details the top 5 things to know about planning conditions.
