Planning in Principle - what constitutes "Householder Development"

[OldSpot]

I'd be interested in people's thoughts on the following.

If I wanted to building a separate dwelling in my garden but it required me to demolition part of the existing house (single storey extension) to do so could the Planning in Principle route be used?

My view, having read the various documents, is that it can't as partial demolition (or alteration) constitutes building operations which is defined as "development" and......

Householder development is specifically excluded from using the PiP route.

 

According to The Town and Country Planning (Permission in Principle) (Amendment) Order 2017, LPA’s can only granted permission via that route under certain circumstances.

They are not able to granted permission under PiP when the application is in relation to “Householder Development”.

Section 5B(5) of that Order states that Householder development means “development of an existing dwelling, or development within the curtilage of such a dwelling for any purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwelling, but does not include change of use or change in the number of dwellings in a building;”

 

So it then comes down to what development of an existing dwelling means.

 

The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 has a section on what is classified as development:

That states in Section 55 (1):“Subject to the following provisions of this section, in this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, “development,” means the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land”

And then further in (1A)…"For the purposes of this Act “ building operations ” includes—(a)demolition of buildings; (b)rebuilding;(c)structural alterations of or additions to buildings; and (d) other operations normally undertaken by a person carrying on business as a builder.]"

 

So it seems that if you demolition part of an existing dwelling to seek permission for a new dwelling to be built the PiP route can't be used.

Thoughts?

[nod]

Why go down the route of planning in principle If you obtain planning in principle on a straight forward building plot You can still be denied full planning further down the line 

I’d go for full planning and get it done in one hit 

[OldSpot]

Thanks for your thoughts.

It might have been better if I'd have put "if someone wanted to..." as I'm interested in whether this route is permitted in the circumstances 😉