Beware…The Removal of Permitted Development Rights in the Green Belt.

Householder planning permission for the demolition of a single storey extensions and the construction of extensions on a semi-detached dwelling was granted in March 2024. However as part of the permission a ‘condition’ was attached to the decision notice by the Local Planning Authority (LPA) removing permitted development (PD) rights (Schedule 2, Part 1, Classes A, B, D and E of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (the GPDO) for extensions to the dwelling with the reason being that it was in the interest of the protection of the Green Belt.

ASC Planning Consultants were engaged to submit an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate under Section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 against a grant of planning permission subject to conditions.

When making such an appeal for the variation or removal of a condition, the main issues will be, whether the condition is reasonable or necessary.

The aim of Green Belt policy is to keep land permanently open, with the essential characteristics of Green Belts being their openness and their permanence. The existing consented development was considered to result in limited development within the Green Belt in accordance with local and national policy, which allows the extension or alteration of a building provided that it does not result in disproportionate additions over and above the size of the original building.

‘Disproportionate additions’ are not defined within national policy (the National Planning Policy Framework), however, in this case, local policy defined this as a 30% increase over and above the volume of the original building, which was considered to be a reasonable interpretation of a ‘limited extension’.

The consented scheme for the demolition of a single storey extensions and the construction of extensions resulted in a 29.47% increase in the volume of the original dwelling. The LPA in approving the proposals, attached the condition removing permitted development rights for Classes A (extensions), B (extensions to the roof), D (porches), and E (outbuildings). The reasoning, that it provided an opportunity to maintain control over harmful development in the Green Belt and restrict future sprawl. Whilst not meant to prevent development, the condition was seen by the Council as one of the considerations necessary to make the development proposal acceptable.

Paragraph 54 of the National Planning Policy Framework states that planning conditions should not be used to restrict national permitted development rights unless there is clear justification for doing so. Furthermore, Planning Practice Guidance advises that conditions of this nature will rarely pass the test of necessity and should only be used in exceptional circumstances. Area-wide or blanket removal of freedoms to carry out small scale domestic and non-domestic alterations that would otherwise not require an application for planning permission are unlikely to meet the tests of reasonableness or necessity.

The GPDO does not differentiate between these rights in the Green Belt. Therefore, small-scale additions allowed under these rights would not generally conflict with the purposes of the Green Belt or the essential characteristics of openness and permanence.

The Planning Inspector agreed with the appellant, that whilst any future extensions built under PD rights would be likely to exceed the 30% increase in volume threshold, these would be limited because of the domestic setting of the site, consented permission and the limited size of the rear garden. Therefore, they would be unlikely to result in disproportionate additions to the original building. It was concluded that the disputed condition is not reasonable or necessary in the interests of protecting the openness of the Green Belt.

The appeal was allowed and the original permission was varied by the deletion of the condition removing permitted development rights.

This appeal is a cautionary tale to both LPAs and Applicants to ensure that conditions are reasonable and necessary. It also illustrates that an assessment into each class of permitted development needs to be made if permissions are being removed ‘in the interests of the Green Belt’.

The appeal can be viewed via the Planning Inspectorate – Reference APP/N4720/W/24/3342168.