What is Permitted Development?
This is our first blog in our Permitted Development series addressing our take on real considerations and issues in the world of Planning and how it is implemented. We will focus future blogs in this series on specific development types and topics with original content that speaks to you with our experience and opinions, rather that recycling a cut and paste splurge of text that you may find elsewhere.
To kick off the series, lets discuss and understand what Permitted Development actually is.
The term ‘permitted development’, often referred to as ‘PD’ or ‘lawful development' gets thrown around a lot...I am at times alarmed at what I hear from homeowners, builders and architects on their interpretations of permitted development. Put simply, permitted development is not straightforward, is not a shortcut in the planning system, and cannot be applied with discretion. Whatever you do, approach permitted development with caution and read on.
Why is it called ‘permitted development’ ?
A bit of background on this…The term ‘permitted development’ is taken from the naming in legislation for The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. This legislation superseded the 1995 legislation introducing a number of amendments. The ‘Order’ is part of the Town and Country Planning Act which is an act of the UK Parliament regulating the development of land in England and Wales.
What is ‘permitted development’ ?
Subject to a vast range of conditions and limitations, certain types of building works, extensions, alterations and changes of use can be carried out without having to be assessed against a planning application. This is permitted development.
Permitted development is often considered ‘Planning Permission’, it is not. Permitted development is development that does not obligate you to submit an application to gain planning permission, which is assessed on very different criteria.
Is permitted development just for homeowners?
No.
Permitted development rights to sites and structures varied under a range of different use-classes. We will expand upon this is in future blogs so what this space.
How many types of permitted development rights exist?
Permitted development rights are documented under the Town and Country (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2025 as amended.
How do I know if I have permitted development rights?
Confirmation of permitted development rights can ONLY be confirmed through an application for a Certificate of Lawfulness. We recommend obtaining a certificate of lawfulness for all developments to ensure that compliance with legislation is achieved.
Developments under permitted development are often considered as the simplification or shortcut to developing however, what is NOT UNDERSTOOD is how inflexible permitted development is. Failure to comply with even one condition or criteria matter set under the Order and the Act will render the entire development UNLAWFUL. Legislation and the law on permitted development is black and white, like fitting a square box into a round hole you cannot negotiate with it, it is not open to interpretation and cannot be weighted on considerations like a full planning application.
Is obtaining a certificate of lawfulness the same as planning permission?
When seeking confirmation on whether your development is permitted, you are not asking for planning permission. You will be asking your local planning authority for confirmation that the works are ‘lawful’ under the Town and Country (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2025 as amended.
Planning permission is granted through a different process under a full (including householders) planning application.
What are the conditions and limitations that I need to address in order to carry out works under permitted development?
We do not expect homeowners or clients to digest the legislation set out under the Town and Country (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2025 as amended however, this is where compliance considerations start from.
Many simplified guides are available online, the one issued by the Planning Portal is a good place to start.
For residential developments, we recommend reviewing the technical guideline document issued by the government called Permitted development rights for householders: technical guidance. This document directly addresses a range of development scenarios and criteria on what can and cannot be done with illustrations.
Is permitted development available for all?
No.
For homeowners, permitted development cannot be applied to a structure that has previously been extended (though structures pre 1947 can be accepted), in any other event this will need to be from the original structure (or the line of the original structure). Should you find yourself in this position, you may need to apply to demolish and extend at the same time in order to be deemed lawful (but this can only be confirmed through a certificate of lawfulness).
If you are seeking to apply permitted development to a new build dwelling, you will need to check your original planning consent (decision notice) to confirm if the planning consent you have has removed your permitted development rights, this is more common for city based developments like London.
Depending on your location, permitted development rights are restricted. Restrictions are made under an Article 4 direction, wou will need to confirm if your area has one.
Across England, permitted development is not available to protected areas, under legislation this is referred to as ‘article 2(3) land which covers:
National Parks
World Heritage sites
Conservation areas
Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB)
The Broads
Article 2(4) lane is also restricted from permitted development, covering land within a National Park, the Broads and land outside National Parks.
My neighbour told me that I do not need to apply for anything because they did not, what do I do?
Any work carried out without the benefit of a Certificate of Lawfulness stating that the works are lawful may still be lawful however, this cannot be confirmed in any other formal document.
Though many people do not seek for a Certificate of Lawfulness, we strongly advise all clients (and the public) to obtain one. A Certificate of Lawfulness can be applied for before during or after the development takes place however, if you are seeking confirmation of lawfulness (permitted development), this should always be done before any works commence.
I am looking to extend my home, my builder says that I can build my extension under permitted development, my architect says that I cannot. What do I do?
Not an uncommon scenario.
When seeking professional advice, we would expect your architect to recommend applying for a certificate of lawful development. When in doubt, do not leave this to chance.
It is worth noting that your architect (or be it, architectural designer, technician or planning consultant) may not have all the answers to hand, architects are not typically trained in planning matters though many architects are good planners. A good architect regardless of planning ability when in doubt would seek to confirm this through a certificate of lawfulness.
Builders can be very helpful in drawing upon their previous experience, discussing what they have built with other architects or seen done on other sites however, builders are ultimately not involved with the level of detail and intricacies involved with planning legislation.
The planning department has told my architect that what I want to do is not lawful but my neighbour applied for the same thing last year and got it, what do I do?
First step is not to panic.
Their may be a number of reasons why the planning department refused to confirm your scheme as being lawful, the first thing to do is to obtain a copy of the planning officers report to determine the manner in which your scheme was determined and where it failed with policy compliance.
Reasons for refusal may be due to:
A recent article 4 direction that has removed permitted development rights
A failure to address one of the conditions or limitation set under the Order. In this scenario, we always recommend reverting back to the governments document - Permitted development rights for householders: technical guidance
You did not realise that you are in a conservation area or a protected area
You are working in a listed building
Your building has been previously extended and you are not extending off the original part of the building
It is worth noting that some works that are applied for under ‘permitted development’ are often similar to local policy and design guidelines set by local authorities. Where all else fails, you may find that you can apply for planning permission to do the same or similar thing. We would recommend considering this position first rather than going straight into an appeal which may not be successful and will take longer to be determined. In this scenario, if your architect is unable to advise you further on what to do, we suggest obtaining specialist planning advice either from one of the team at MSK Design or
My architect had told me that the planning department have changed the way they are assessing permitted development and what I want to do is no longer lawful, what do I do?
This does happen, when this occurs other options may be available for you.
With a handful of planning departments, we have seen many developments that are considered lawful on one day be deemed unlawful on the next. There are many pitfalls to lawful development and failure to comply even one condition will deem your entire development unlawful (requiring full planning permission). I will expand upon this later in this blog.
The manner in how the Town and Country (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2025 is considered and interpreted by some planning departments is often swayed by an appeal or high court decision.
We have seen many cases influenced through the wording of an appeal decision by some reactive planning departments including the London Borough of Barnet, London Borough of Camden and the London Borough of Islington who have at times refused to confirm the lawfulness of developments that they would have previously deemed lawful. It is not a matter of a planning department seeking to be difficult, the motivations of making such decisions are made in the public’s interest however, it can be hard at times for some homeowners when neighbouring boroughs still deemed such developments lawful. Many scenarios eventually reverted back to their previous states when later challenged at appeal. For many developments, schemes that are seeking to be deemed lawful are often well suited to obtain full planning permission. In this scenario this may be your only option.
The changes made to the use class order means that my commercial use is interchangeable, what does this mean?
Though a commercial use may be interchangeable under the revised use class order, some instances require prior approval.
For instance, a shop that becomes a café or restaurant will need to address regulations on ventilation and noise, the change of use would be subject to satisfying these requirements through a Prior Approval application.
Follow us to pick up our future blogs on prior approval, permitted development for commercial developments and more.
What can I do under permitted development
We will be discussing what can be done for various scenarios under permitted development in future blog posts under our permitted development series, follow up to keep up to date with our latest blogs.
Note from the Author
There is no one size fits all policy for permitted development. Though works under permitted development may seem like a simplification of the planning process it really is not. Policies under permitted development must be treated with the same level of consideration as full planning, but unlike full planning cannot be assessed and considered with the same level of flexibility.
Don’t get caught out with assumptions.
This is a big topic and will be the subject of many blogs in our Permitted Development series, follow us to find out more.