How to Read a Planning Decision Notice
You have submitted a planning application, waited out the statutory determination period, and now a letter from the council has arrived — or an email notification directing you to the planning portal. You open the document and find several pages of dense administrative language. What does it actually mean, and what do you need to do next?
This post walks through the anatomy of a planning decision notice so you know exactly what you are looking at.
Grant, Conditional Grant, or Refusal
The first thing to establish is the outcome. Decision notices come in three forms: an outright grant of permission, a grant subject to conditions (by far the most common for householder applications), and a refusal.
Most approvals are conditional grants. Do not be alarmed by the list of conditions — this is standard practice. The important thing is to understand what each condition requires of you, and when.
The Three Types of Planning Condition
Conditions are the heart of the document, and they divide into three categories based on timing.
Pre-commencement conditions must be formally discharged — approved by the local planning authority — before you can legally start any work on site. A typical example might read: "Prior to commencement of development, details of the external materials to be used shall be submitted to and approved in writing by the local planning authority." This means you must formally apply to the council, submit the requested information, and receive written approval before a single foundation is dug. Starting work before a pre-commencement condition is discharged is a breach of planning permission — as if you had no permission at all.
Pre-occupation conditions must be satisfied before the building is occupied or brought into use. Landscaping conditions are a common example — you may be required to plant a specified number of trees or install a boundary treatment before anyone moves into the extension or conversion.
Ongoing and compliance conditions run for the life of the development and must be maintained continuously. A condition restricting construction hours to weekdays and Saturday mornings, for example, is not a one-off requirement — it governs the entire construction programme. An external lighting condition may restrict the type of lighting that can be installed at any point in the future.
Read each condition carefully and make sure you understand which category it falls into. Your architect or design team should be able to help you parse any ambiguous wording.
Informatives
After the conditions, decision notices typically include a section of informatives. These are advisory notes — they are not conditions, carry no legal weight, and compliance is not required. However, they are worth reading.
Informatives commonly remind applicants that the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may apply, that Building Regulations approval is required separately, that any connection to a public sewer requires consent from the sewerage undertaker, or that works near the public highway may require a licence from the highways authority. None of this is legally enforceable from the planning notice itself, but it is relevant intelligence as you plan your construction programme.
CIL Liability
If your project triggers the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL), you will receive a separate CIL Liability Notice from the council around the time of the planning decision. CIL is a charge that many local planning authorities apply to new development to fund infrastructure. For householder extensions, exemptions often apply — but the exemption is not automatic. You must submit a self-build exemption form (Form 7) to the council and receive written acknowledgment before development commences. Starting work without claiming an applicable exemption will invalidate your claim and the full levy becomes payable. Check with your council whether CIL applies in your area and act before you start.
Discharging Conditions
To formally discharge a pre-commencement condition, you submit a Discharge of Conditions application — online via the Planning Portal or directly with the council. The application requires a description of the condition(s) you wish to discharge, supporting documents or samples, and payment of the application fee (currently around £34 per condition, based on the 2024 fee schedule, though this may be subject to revision).
The council has a target of eight weeks to determine a discharge of conditions application. Factor this into your programme — if you have several pre-commencement conditions to discharge, you may need to submit all the relevant details well in advance of your hoped-for start on site.
The Three-Year Time Limit
All planning permissions carry a time limit — ordinarily three years from the date of grant, unless the decision notice specifies a different period. Development must be lawfully implemented within that period. Critically, pre-commencement conditions must be discharged before implementation begins — and implementation itself must be genuine. The clock does not pause if conditions have not yet been cleared.
Section 73 and Varying Conditions
If you need to change or remove a condition after permission has been granted, you can apply under Section 73 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 to vary or remove the condition. This is an application in its own right and results in a new permission. It is important to take advice before pursuing this route, as case law since the Supreme Court's decision in Hillside Parks v Snowdonia (2022) and subsequent judgments have placed limits on the scope of retrospective variations.
RCB Design & Build's Pre-Construction Role
At RCB Design & Build, reviewing the planning decision notice is part of our pre-construction service. Before we mobilise, we work through each condition, identify which require discharge applications and when, check CIL implications, and build the statutory requirements into the project programme so that nothing is missed and no work starts prematurely.
If you have just received planning permission for a loft conversion, extension, or refurbishment project in London and want to understand your next steps, we are happy to help. Reach us at contact@rcbgroup.co.uk or call +44 7359 872594.
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