Discharge of conditions - overdue decision

[shuff27]

There are some historical posts on this but I thought I'd resurrect it as the planning application backlog seems to be getting ever larger atm.

 

So I applied to discharge my remaining conditions (7 of them in one go) on 24 Nov therefore the 8 week period expired yesterday, as confirmed by the council's portal which states 19 Jan as the 'expiry date'.

 

6 of the applications are still just listed as 'case officer allocated', 1 is listed as 'consults despatched' & actually shows a response from the ecology officer recommending discharge (it relates to bird & bat boxes).

 

The remaining 6 largely relate to materials & contain nothing imho which could possibly be considered unusual.  With the current long lead times, I've already had to order those materials to avoid the whole build grinding to a halt.

 

I suspect that my best course of action is just to carry on building & let the PO get round to approving stuff in their own good time, on the basis that they have bigger, potentially more difficult applications to prioritise over mine.

 

On the other hand, is there any benefit in informing the council that I now consider the conditions to be discharged by 'deemed consent'?  My worry would be drawing unnecessary attention to my case & it may be better to stay under the radar.

 

Any thoughts?

[Bitpipe]

I had this situation, had a mix of pre commencement conditions and pre occupation conditions. Wrote to them deeming acceptance and they scrambled a response after 12 weeks and refunded my fee.

 

 

[shuff27]

10 minutes ago, Bitpipe said:

I had this situation, had a mix of pre commencement conditions and pre occupation conditions. Wrote to them deeming acceptance and they scrambled a response after 12 weeks and refunded my fee.

 

 

 

Thanks for this.  For clarification, all the pre-commencement conditions have already been discharged, these 7 are all pre-occupation ones: 5 relate to materials (facing bricks, roof tiles, window colour & profile etc.), 1 to landscaping plan & 1 to ecology (provision for bird & bat boxes).

[WWilts]

1 hour ago, shuff27 said:

I now consider the conditions to be discharged by 'deemed consent'?

You need to notify the planning officer by means of a formal "deemed discharge notice". Then after 2 weeks if there is no response, the deemed discharge will automatically come into effect. Usually you will get approval (or at least a decision) before the 2 weeks are up.

One notice for each condition (ie. if 7 conditions remain to be discharged then 7 notices)

 

Preliminary text on the foll lines:

 

Purpose of current “deemed discharge notice”: To invoke article 28 of the
Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England)
Order 2015 and related procedures so as to

“avoid unacceptable delays and costs at a stage in the development process
where applicants are close to starting on site or where development is under
way” (ref PPG Paragraph: 041 Reference ID: 21a-041-20190723)

 

Then include the formal requirements:

Details of the Discharge of Conditions Application (eg reference number)

Identify the planning condition to which it relates

Confirm that no appeal has been made under s 78 of the 1990 Act

 

Specify the date on which deemed discharge is to take effect (normally 2 weeks from the date that you send this notice to the planning officer)

Good luck
 

[Temp]

It's brave buying bricks before approval. We choose some hand made bricks and the planners rejected them.

[shuff27]

1 hour ago, Temp said:

It's brave buying bricks before approval. We choose some hand made bricks and the planners rejected them.

 

Perhaps but they're the same bricks I used in the boundary wall (already built) which did not have to be approved, just 'in keeping with the neighbouring property' which is somewhat subjective.  I submitted that wall as the sample panel for the house but afaik the PO has not been out to look at it, so if she rejects them after the 8 week period is up surely that's too late.

 

I know it's irrelevant in planning terms but several neighbours have stopped by to say how much they like the bricks in the new wall!

[shuff27]

Quick update - bricks & roof tiles approved yesterday, just as well as I ordered the bricks a month ago & the roof tiles in November.  I called the roofing supplier to get the latest on delivery - tiles still not expected till May so even if that happens it's a 6 month lead time; if I'd waited till approval before ordering that amount of delay would have caused a massive problem with the build schedule - as it is I'm looking at about 10 weeks between felt/battening the roof & tiling it.

[Dave Jones]

On 20/01/2022 at 09:48, Temp said:

It's brave buying bricks before approval. We choose some hand made bricks and the planners rejected them.

 

yup planners are cretins sometimes. 

[shuff27]

Conclusion - all now approved.  In the end I submitted just one deemed consent notice (for the window profile & colour) along the lines suggested by @WWilts as a kind of test which seemed to spur the PO into action to deal with the others.