What are the time periods for determining a planning application?
Once a planning application has been validated, the local planning authority should make a decision on the proposal as quickly as possible, and in any event within the statutory time limit unless a longer period is agreed in writing with the applicant.
The statutory time limits for applications for planning permission are set out in article 34 of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure (England) Order 2015 (as amended). They are 13 weeks for applications for major development, 10 weeks for applications for technical details consent, and (from 1 August 2021) applications for public service infrastructure development, and 8 weeks for all other types of development (unless an application is subject to an to an Environmental Impact Assessment, in which case a 16 week limit applies).
Where a planning application takes longer than the statutory period to decide, and an extended period has not been agreed with the applicant, the government’s policy is that the decision should be made within 26 weeks for major applications and 16 weeks for non-major applications (as defined by article 34(2)(b) of the Development Management Procedure Order 2015) in order to comply with the ‘planning guarantee’.
What is the government’s ‘planning guarantee’?
The planning guarantee is the government’s policy that no application should spend more than a year with decision-makers, including any appeal. In practice this means that major planning applications should be decided in no more than 26 weeks and non-major applications within 16 weeks. Appeals should be determined within 26 weeks. The planning guarantee does not replace the statutory time limits for determining planning applications.
In what ways can a longer time period be agreed?
Where it is clear at the outset that an extended period will be necessary to process an application, the local planning authority and the applicant should consider entering into a planning performance agreement before the application is submitted.
If a valid application is already being considered and it becomes clear that more time than the statutory period is genuinely required, then the local planning authority should ask the applicant to consider an agreed extension of time. Any such agreement must be in writing and set out the timescale within which a decision is expected.
The timetable set out in a planning performance agreement or extension of time may be varied by agreement in writing between the applicant and the local planning authority.
What happens if an application is not dealt with on time?
Where a valid application has not been determined within the relevant statutory period (or such other period as has been agreed in writing between the local planning authority and the applicant), the applicant has a right to appeal to the Secretary of State against non-determination.
If the applicant has not exercised this right of appeal, and the application remains undetermined after 26 weeks for major applications or 16 weeks for non-major applications, then the fee paid by the applicant will be refunded to them (unless a longer period for the decision has been agreed).
Applicants should not attempt to delay a decision on their application simply to obtain a fee refund. A local planning authority will be justified in refusing permission where an applicant causes deliberate delay and has been unwilling to agree an extension of time; and such behaviour will be taken into account in determining any claim for costs by the local planning authority if the applicant then goes to appeal.
What happens if a planning authority fails repeatedly to decide applications on time?
Section 62B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) allows the Secretary of State to designate local planning authorities that “are not adequately performing their function of determining applications”, when assessed against published criteria.
Those criteria relate to:
- the speed of decisions made by local planning authorities for applications for major and non-major development, measured by the percentage of applications that have been determined within the statutory period or such extended time as has been agreed between the local planning authority and the applicant
- the quality of decisions made by local planning authorities for applications for major and non-major development, measured by the proportion of decisions on applications that are subsequently overturned at appeal (including those arising from a ‘deemed refusal’ where an application has not been determined within the statutory period)
If a local planning authority falls below the performance thresholds set out in the criteria it may be designated for its performance in relation to applications for major development, non-major development, or both.
In this case, section 62A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) allows applications for the category of development for which the authority has been designated (i.e. major development, non-major development or both) to be submitted directly to the Secretary of State (if the applicant wishes) as long as the designation remains in place. This excludes householder and retrospective applications, which must still be made directly to the local planning authority.
How must decisions on applications for planning permission be made?
To the extent that development plan policies are material to an application for planning permission the decision must be taken in accordance with the development plan unless there are material considerations that indicate otherwise (see section 70(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 – these provisions also apply to appeals).
The National Planning Policy Framework represents up-to-date government planning policy and is a material consideration that must be taken into account where it is relevant to a planning application or appeal. This includes the presumption in favour of development found at paragraph 14 of the Framework. If decision takers choose not to follow the National Planning Policy Framework, where it is a material consideration, clear and convincing reasons for doing so are needed.