Guide
How the process actually works — outline versus full permission, what councils assess, pre-application advice, timescales, conditions and appeals, and how to give your scheme its best chance.
In this guide
For a new home, yes. Building a new dwelling — or replacing an existing one — needs full planning permission from the local planning authority. Permitted development rights cover some works to an existing house, but not a new build. So the question isn't whether you need permission, but how to secure it with the least risk and delay.
There are two main routes:
An officer weighs your proposal against local and national policy and the site's context — principally: the principle of development, design and character, the impact on neighbours' amenity (light, privacy, overbearing), highways and access, and environmental factors such as trees, drainage and flood risk. Constraints like the green belt or a conservation area add further tests.
The best predictor: the pattern of recent approvals near your site. It shows what this council has accepted before — and a scheme that respects that pattern is far more likely to get a yes.
Start with the local plan and the site's designations — green belt, conservation area, flood zone, trees. What the council's policy allows, and the pattern of recent nearby approvals, tells you what's realistic before you design anything.
A paid pre-app gives you a planning officer's early, informal steer on your proposal. It's usually money well spent — it flags problems while they're still cheap to fix and improves your odds.
Develop a design that responds to policy, the site and the character of the street — then commission the drawings, reports and specialist surveys the application needs.
Lodge the application with the fee and required documents. The council checks it's complete (validation) before the clock starts on determination.
The council consults neighbours and statutory bodies, an officer assesses it, and a decision is issued — with conditions, or a refusal with reasons. Minor applications are typically decided in around eight weeks.
If approved, you discharge any pre-commencement conditions before starting. If refused, you can amend and resubmit, or appeal to the Planning Inspectorate.
No one can guarantee consent, but you can shift the odds: get pre-application advice, design to policy and the site rather than designing what you want and hoping, engage the specialists a scheme needs (heritage, arboriculture, drainage) early, and present a clear, well-argued application. Good design and the right strategy are usually the difference between an approval and a refusal.
Yes. Building a new dwelling, or replacing an existing one, needs full planning permission. Some minor works to an existing home fall under permitted development, but a new home does not — it goes through a full application to the local planning authority.
Outline permission establishes the principle of development, with details ("reserved matters") settled later — useful for testing whether a site can be built on before investing in a full design. Full permission approves the detailed scheme itself. For a one-off home, people often go straight to full; on land being sold, outline can be enough to prove value.
A minor residential application is typically determined in around eight weeks from validation, though larger or contentious schemes take longer, especially if they go to committee. Allow extra time to prepare the application and, ideally, for pre-application advice beforehand.
There's a statutory application fee to the council, plus the cost of the drawings, reports and any specialist surveys — which vary with the site and scheme. A pre-application enquiry has its own fee. We set out the likely costs at the outset so there are no surprises.
A refusal comes with reasons. You can often address them and resubmit (a free resubmission is usually available within a period), or appeal to the Planning Inspectorate. Understanding why it was refused is the key to what to do next — which is where an experienced hand helps.
Yes. We run the feasibility, shape the strategy, commission and coordinate the specialists, and manage the application through to a decision. We can't guarantee consent, but designing to the constraints from the start is what gives a scheme its best chance.
Need planning consent?
We run the feasibility, shape the strategy and manage the application end to end — with an experienced developer's judgement on what a site can realistically support.
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This guide is general information about the planning system, not planning or legal advice, and not a guarantee of permission. Policy and procedure change and are applied case by case — always take professional advice on your own site.
