One of the most commonly asked questions we receive is that relating to application types, what needs to be submitted and how application types differ depending on projects. In this article we have, therefore, set out the basics relating to application types and their uses as a quick article which you can refer back to.
Householder – Householder applications are generally used for works or extension to a dwelling including works within the curtilage so the garden or boundary of a house. If works relate to a flat or they change the number of dwellings (including building a separate house in the garden) or there are any changes of use to non-residential or anything is outside of the garden of the property such as stables and a separate paddock these would come under the remit of a full application and not a householder application.
Full Planning Applications essentially cover everything else. These are the most common type of planning application, and the full details of a proposal must be submitted for consideration. Essentially everything to do with the proposal will be considered as part of the determination of an application.
Outline Applications – Outline applications are generally used to decide whether the scale and nature of a proposal is acceptable in its most basic form before the full details are put together and this is more commonly associated with larger schemes such as housing or industrial sites.
You can submit an outline application and pick which matters you want to be considered at outline stages so for example it is possible to submit an outline application with nothing else considered other than principle, but you can also tick boxes on the applications forms to allow matters such as scale or access to be actively considered and approved at outline stage. If approved conditions are normally attached to that which need to be completed the same as any other application which we will discuss later, and they are subject to submission of reserved matters.
Outline applications are not always suitable for certain site settings. It is possible for a Council to refuse to validate and consider an outline application where certain constraints require full details to consider whether the proposal would be appropriate – the most common examples of this would be whether the proposal was in the setting of a listed building or it was in a conservation area, it is not uncommon for Council’s to want full details in such situations.
Reserved Matters – Once outline planning permission has been granted an application for approval of the details (referred to as reserved matters) must be submitted to the local planning authority for approval before the development starts. Generally reserved matters are required to be considered and submitted within 3 years of an outline application being approved – typically includes layout, access, scale and appearance, the sort of thing you would normally see within a full application, but this is dealt with after the principle has been established in basic terms at outline stage.
Permission in Principle – Permission in principle is an alternative route to obtaining planning permission for housing led development which separates matters of principle i.e. is it acceptable in basic terms from the technical detail of the development. It is similar in some respects to outline and then reserved matters.
Permission in Principle has two stages the first stage (or permission in principle stage) establishes whether a site is suitable, and the second (technical details consent) stage is where the detailed proposals are then assessed.
Permission in Principle is generally geared towards housing. Non-residential development can be given permission in principle, but housing must occupy the majority of the floor space of the overall scheme and anything non-residential must be compatible with the overall scheme. Permission in principle is generally used on smaller sites of between 1 and 9 dwellings with a total development of under 1,000 square metres and a site under a hectare. It can’t be used for larger developments and comparatively to a normal planning application it is time limited to 5 weeks from the day after the planning application has been validated.
The scope of permission in principle is limited to location, land use and amount of development and issues relevant to these in principle matters should be considered at the permission in principle stage so, for example, matters relating to ecology can validly be related to stage 2 rather than requiring submission alongside permission in principle the first stage. Essentially for smaller sites this could be a quicker and comparatively more cost-effective way to test the principle of development prior to spending money on more detail and it is slightly quicker than an outline route which would still carry the statutory determination period which should be 8 or 13 weeks depending on the size of the development.
If, therefore, you have a project or site and you are unsure as to application type we will always advise you as to the options and implications to enable you to make the best decision which suits you and your objectives. If you have any queries – get in touch via the contact page and we can see how we can help you.