A Farmer's Guide to the Planning System - ARCHIVE: Defra

WHEN PERMISSION
IS GRANTED
6.1 The planning authority will notify you by letter of its decision on your application. If it
has granted outline permission, you can go ahead with your detailed application. If it is full
permission, you must read it carefully before you start any work because there may be
conditions with which you must comply. Do not risk enforcement action by doing
something which your planning permission does not cover or specifically prohibits.
Usually, both full and outline planning permission require you to start work within a certain
period - typically five years. If you do not, the permission will lapse, unless renewed.
6.2 Unless otherwise provided in the permission, planning permission runs with the land to
which it relates rather than being personal to the owner or occupier. So the question of who is
to carry out development, or occupy premises for which you have obtained permission, will
normally be irrelevant. This means that land or buildings can usually be sold or let with the
benefit of planning permission (but see paragraph 6.3).
CONDITIONAL PERMISSION
6.3 As an alternative to outright refusal, the planning authority can grant permission subject to
one or more conditions. It must advise you of the specific reasons for imposing the conditions.
An example could be that a site has restricted access with only one entrance and the authority
will only allow the development if two are provided. Planning conditions sometimes limit the
use or occupation of land or premises to a named person or company. Before you sell or let a
building, or land which is subject to such conditional permission, you must make a further
application to the local planning authority to remove the condition. Similarly, if a building is
subject to a ‘local firm’ condition, that too would need to be removed if the purchaser is not a
local firm.
In general, conditions must be:
• necessary; • enforceable;
• relevant to planning; • precise; and
• relevant to the development to be permitted; • reasonable in all other respects.
6.4 Conditions are enforceable and you must not ignore them. If you think you cannot meet
all of them and the problem is not resolved after discussion with the planning officer, you have
two options:
• to apply to the local planning authority to have the conditions lifted;
• to appeal to the First Secretary of State against the conditions - see Section 7.
PLANNING OBLIGATIONS
6.5 In appropriate circumstances, you may enter into a formal planning obligation under
Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Such obligations may restrict
development or use of land; require operations or activities to be carried out; require the land to
be used in a specified way; or require payments to be made to the local authority, either in a
single sum or periodically. They may be enforced against you or anyone purchasing the land
from you. Planning obligations are unlikely to be commonplace. They may, for example, be
used to tie a farmhouse to adjacent farm buildings, or to tie the dwelling to the land, so that
they cannot be sold separately without further application to the local planning authority. You
should consult a lawyer before signing such a document.
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SECTION six