Permission in Principle

A Permission in Principle is only suitable for small scale residential developments: 1-9 dwellings, under 1,000 square metres in total and on a site less than 1 hectare.

Development must be housing or be housing led, with housing as the majority use.

This process is not appropriate for major developments, householder applications or those requiring Environmental Impact Assessments or sites which constitute Habitat Development.

Local planning authorities can grant permission in principle to a site upon receipt of a valid application or by entering a site in Part 2 of its brownfield land register which will trigger a grant of permission in principle for that land providing the statutory requirements set out in Town and Country Planning (Permission in Principle) Order 2017 (as amended) and the Town and Country Planning (Brownfield Land Register) Regulations 2017 are met.

Validation requirements

The submission of a valid application for Permission in principle requires:

1. a completed application form
2. a plan which identifies the land to which the application relates, drawn to an identified scale and showing the direction of North
3. the correct application fee (PDF)

Additional requirements may apply where compulsory pre-application consultation is required by virtue of section 61W(1) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.

Time periods for determining a PiP application

The statutory time limit is 5 weeks, counting from the day after the local planning authority has received a valid application.

Habitats Development

Permission in principle must not be granted for development which is habitats development.

From 28 December 2018 habitats development means development which is likely to have a significant effect on a qualifying European site or a European offshore marine site, referred to as habitats sites in the National Planning Policy Framework (either alone or in combination with other plans or projects); is not directly connected with or necessary to the management of the site, and; the competent authority has not given consent, permission, or other authorisation in accordance with regulation 63 of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017.

This means for sites where development is likely to have a significant effect on a qualifying European site (such as the South Pennine Moors) without any mitigating measures in place, the local planning authority should ensure an appropriate assessment has been undertaken before consideration of the grant of permission in principle.

If the local planning authority is satisfied, after taking account of mitigation measures in the appropriate assessment and concluding that the development will not adversely affects the integrity of the protected site, then, subject to compliance with other statutory requirements regarding the permission in principle process, it can grant permission in principle.

The South Pennine Moors Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and South Pennine Moors Phase II Special Protection Area (SPA)