Planning permission can vary a lot depending on your council but the overall answer is anything that involves extending your home will require permission. If you want to create storage at the back or an outbuilding this will require certificate of lawful development.

Certificate of lawful development

This scheme is used to be certain that the existing building/dwelling is for law planning (permitted development) in a lot of councils, you’re allowed to build a loft conversion under permitted development. However your area maybe under an article 4 restricting permitted development. A certificate of Lawful development give you certainty that planning permission is not needed and you’re able to carry out the building work. An example when a Lawful development application will be put through is when a owner of the house discovers that planning permission has not been granted for an extension to the dwelling, they will need to show the purchaser that there will be no enforcement action and hence obtain a lawful development certificate.

Lawful development is not the same as planning, however you will still need architectural drawings, existing floor plans and proposed, front back and sides elevations. Proof that your household building work is lawful.

Permitted development rights

PD was first introduced in the very beginning of the planning system, which allowed for minor work i.e converting a loft. The reason for this is to help improve the amount of application put through. As stated previous the amount of work, which you can carry out under PD, depends on a lot of factors, the geographic location of your property, if you’re in a conservation area or under article 4. You will also need to take in consideration the amount of work already carried out to the property.

Outline

This is very rare application to be used. An outline planning application is used to find out at the preliminary whether or not the proposed is likely to be approved by the Local authority, it is similar to pre application advice. The major advantage to this application is it allows fewer details of the proposal to be submitted decreasing your architecture costs.

How much will an application cost?

The price can vary significantly depending on the type of application submitted. The cost for a new dwelling full application would cost £385 and a householder planning application will cost £172. If you plan to seek pre application advice a further fee will need to be paid.

What are a design and access statement and Heritage statement?

A design and access statement should accompany any planning application in a conservation area or in a protected area. The statement is used to justify the design concept and the access to it while the proposed works is to be carried out. The detail will depend on the complexity of the job and how big the job is. A heritage statement is similar to a design and access statement. The heritage statement should cover the background of the site and the conservation area its falls within, the current appearance of the site and how the proposed works enhances the character of the building and the area as a whole.

The time process for a planning application.

Your application in brent will be submitted electronically through the Planning Portal. Once your application has been submitted, the relevant local authority will go through it validations, all applications will require a site plan normally marked out in red with 2 street showing and site plans of the existing a proposed dwellings. Once your application has been validated, it should take 8 to 12 week of registration.

Once the validation has taken place the case officer or validation officer will write to the neighbours who share the boundary with yourself and affected neighbours, this stage is called the consultation period whereby any neighbour can put there objections in. This process will carry on for a period of 21 days.

My planning application was refused what is the next step?

You can either go to appeal if you have strong ground or you can resubmit the plan in line with the recommendations of the case officer. Planning permission will normally last for up to 3 year however if you start the build you will have unlimited time to complete the works.