When clients get into contact with us, the question of “will this go through Permitted Development or do I need Planning Permission?” pops up quite frequently. Firstly, to make a decision on what action to take, it’s worth knowing the difference between the two.
What is Planning Permission?
Planning Permission or Planning Consent is permission required in the United Kingdom granted by Local Authority in order to:
- Build something new on land
- Make an alteration to a property
- Change what use of the property
What is Permitted Development?
In short, Permitted Development Rights are a more relaxed version of Planning. This is not granted by the local authority but by parliament. Permitted Development allows homeowners to make alterations to their properties quickly without having to go through planning. The typical permitted development allows:
- Extensions
- Loft conversion (most depending on certain measurements)
- Roof Lights
- Windows
- Solar Panels
Differences
There are a few main differences when it comes to both Permitted Development and Planning Permission.
As previously mentioned, works that require planning permission will require the submission of an application, whereas those that fall within Permitted Development rights do not, however, we would always advise applying for a Certificate of Lawful Development (CLD) to ensure that you have proof the development fell within these rights.
A planning application will take a maximum of 10 weeks to be decided, this includes a 2 week validation period and an 8 week decision period. Permitted Development rights technically require no decision time but the application for a CLD will also take 10 weeks.
Permitted Development is ‘quicker and cheaper’.
