What is Planning Permission and when does it apply?
Planning permission is the control of development zones and visual appearance. The planning department have a great deal of bearing over how your property looks and where it goes. The authority publish guidelines within which properties should be designed. Some elements of these guidelines are open to interpretation, others are firmly enforced.The major headache with planning is the waiting. Planning applications generally take around 8 weeks to process, although the maximum allowable time is far longer. This period must always be factored in to any works you are considering.Once granted, unless works are commenced, planning approval is valid for 5 years from that date. In order to secure planning approval, that is to void the 5 year period, works should be commenced. On new builds this generally requires the casting of foundations. On projects such as barn conversions, forming openings and re-roofing will generally suffice.As a general rule of thumb, you should always check whether pl
