If we impose conditions on your planning permission
When you get a Planning Decision Notice, you should check it carefully, to see if we've asked you to agree to certain commitments, or discharging conditions. These conditions are statutory, and may limit and control the way in which you can implement your planning permission.
The conditions can apply to any, or every, stage of the development, including the following:
- Things you must do before you start your development (such as agreeing materials or finishes to complement existing or historic buildings)
- Regulating how you or your builder does the work (for example, limiting the hours the site will operate)
- An agreement to do certain things before the development is occupied or used (such as providing adequate parking, or replacing trees lost during construction)
- Regulating how the completed development is to be used (for example, restricting an agricultural building permission to farming use only)
- Restrictions on possible changes in the structure or use of development in the future (such as limits on additional extension, when the existing proposal has already increased the 'footprint' of the building)
You have a right to appeal against a discharging condition, if you can show that it's unreasonable or extremely hard to meet. You must contact us at development_management@bathnes.gov.uk to lodge your appeal within six months of the date of your Decision Notice.
Don't start works while the appeal is taking place, or you may lose your planning permission, and we may take enforcement action against you.
The Decision Notice may also include informatives. These are not binding conditions, but guidance to assist you in ensuring the development is properly carried out. We may also use informatives to state which approvals might be necessary, or to confirm the submitted drawing numbers we have used to make our decision.
Complying with a planning condition
To get your planning condition discharged, you'll need to do the following:
- Read your Decision Notice to see if you need to submit an Application for the Discharge of Conditions. If you do, an application fee will be payable.
- Check to see what type of evidence you'll need to provide, to show that you have complied with the condition.
- Submit your application and pay through the Planning Portal. Please provide the original planning permission reference number, and the numbers of all the conditions that you wish to discharge, as well as your evidence of compliance.
- You'll need to allow eight weeks for us to process your application to discharge conditions, as we may need to get specialist advice from other departments, such as Highways or Environmental Health.
- You should not start work on your development until you receive written confirmation that the condition is discharged.
We also recommend checking with Building Control before starting any work, to make sure you get any necessary Building Regulations Approval.