What are Planning Conditions?

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) defines a planning condition as, ‘A condition imposed on a grant of planning permission (in accordance with the Town and Country Planning Act 1990) or a condition included in a Local Development Order or Neighbourhood Development Order.’

​Conditions are imposed on some applications rather than issuing an objection or refusal of a planning application. These conditions might require additional information or approvals for specific aspects of the development. On occasions there are opportunities to engage with the Local Planning Authority before the application is submitted to broadly agree the conditions that could be imposed and recommended. ​

Our team are able to review your project and the condition imposed to advise whether further surveys are needed whilst working with you on how we can overcome these conditions.

How can a Planning Condition be discharged or removed?

Conditions are regularly imposed on outline planning applications, as well as to full planning applications.

​These conditions are specific to what the planning authority or regulator body want to see addressed before a development is given full plan permission. By issuing a condition it prevents a refusal notice being issued or an objection to an application.

​In essence, the application is agreed in principle subject to more information.

​Surface Water Drainage Strategies require multiple pieces of data to review and conditions are no different. The level of detail normally required at condition stage is near to construction detail drawings and therefore the time-frames to produce the work can be longer than expected. Especially if there are data gaps.

An example of this is infiltration tests of the soils or groundwater monitoring. These items may not have been possible to source during the application stage due to time constraints or budget.

​Each application is so unique there isn’t a set list of what conditions are required. However, the subjects we see regularly are;

• Environmental conditions – topography, soil type etc,

• Flood zone,

• Type of development,

• Location in the country,

• Greenfield or brownfield,

• Ability to discharge water off site/connection point,

• Planning policies, etc.

​If you get conditions on your application, we would highly recommend getting a specialist to assess all the documents and advise on what’s required. This could include design changes, additional data and surveys.

How Aegaea can help you discharge planning conditions

Our team has supported many projects of varying complexities and scales of development. We regularly work from the pre-planning stages through to submission of the application, advising on the design, layout, and mitigation measures.

Our team is made up of ICE Chartered Engineers who are able to support your project needs​. If you have recently submitted a planning application and now been imposed with planning conditions, contact our team using the form below and we can advise you on what your next steps need to be.