What is Development?
Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act
1990, defines "development" as the carrying out of building, 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.
Subject to certain exemptions as set out in the
Act, all development requires planning permission.
If you have any questions please telephone us to make an appointment to see a
planning officer. Please note that there may be a fee for
pre-application advice.
Permitted Development (PD)
The Government has made various exceptions
to the requirement for planning permission for certain classes of
development. This is known as "permitted development" and the rules
are set down in the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted
Development) Order 1995 (GDPO) (as amended from time to
time).
From 6 April 2010, significant changes
to non-domestic PD in relation to industry and
warehousing, schools, colleges, universities and hospitals, office
buildings, and shops were brought in. These amendments to
the Town and
Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment)
(England) Order 2010 (opens in new window) can be found on the
OPSI website.
From 1 October 2008, significant amendments to
the GPDO came into force in respect of Part 1 householder permitted
development (PD) rights. These replace the current PD rights for
householders which have remained essentially unchanged since 1995.
These amendments to the Town and
Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment)
(England) Order 2008 (opens in new window) can be found on the
OPSI website.
In addition, from 6 April 2008 new PD
rights (Part 40) were introduced in repect of the Installation of
Domestic Microgeneration Equipment.
Quick guide
For guidance on whether or not you need
planning permission for any householder related development, please
view
the Interactive House (opens in new window)on the Planning
portal website.
There are always exceptions to these cases and,
if you are not sure whether you need to get planning permission,
it is strongly advised that you obtain a Lawful Development
Certificate for your proposed development.
Please note that your PD rights may
still have been removed by virtue of a specific condition attached
to a planning permission, or by virtue of an Article 4 Direction attached to wider
area. It is therefore advisable to check with the Planning
Department first.
You do not have to be the owner of the property
to submit an application, although you must notify the owner.
Interpretation
The new householder PD rights have been drafted
somewhat ambiguously and are open to an element of
interpretation. In the interests of consistency, the
Hertfordshire authorities have agreed on its interpretation of the
rules as follows:
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Advertisements
You need "express" consent from the local
planning authority to display an advertisement unless it would
fall within the "deemed" consent provisions (Schedule 3) of the
Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations
2007, or it would fall within 1 of 9 classes of development which
are totally excluded from control (Schedule 2).
Classes of adverts excluded from control
The following are excluded:
Adverts on enclosed land (e.g. inside a railway
station), adverts forming an integral part of the building's
fabric, price tickets or markers and trade names on branded goods
for sale, adverts relating to parliamentary elections,
those required by parliamentary order, traffic signs, national
flags and adverts displayed inside a building.
Deemed consent
The rules enable certain specified classes of
advertisment to be displayed without application being made to the
local planning authority. There are 16 such classes of outdoor
advertisment. The rules on deemed consent are rather complex and
cannot be set out here. For further details, please follow the
external link to
Outdoor Advertisements and Signs: A Guide for Advertisers (opens in
new window). A hard copy of the guide can also be obtained
from the Planning and Building Control reception of the Civic
Offices.
Area of Special Advertisment Control
The Advertisement Regulations allow local
planning authorities to designate Areas of Special Control
Orders for advertisments within those areas. Within Dacorum,
an Area of Special Advertisment Control has been designated for all
areas of the Borough falling outside the main towns of Berkhamsted,
Tring and Hemel Hempstead. The effect of this order is that express
consent is required for all forms of outdoor advert to which the
deemed consent provisions would normally apply. For details of the
precise boundary of the Order, please contact the Planning Department.
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Extensions of time periods and non-material
amendments
Arrangements came into force on 1st October
2009 to enable the time period on planning permissions to be
extended.
At the same time the procedure for making
non-material amendments to planning permissions(for example
changing the position of a window where there would be no
overlooking issues involved or changing the external materials) was
formalised.
New forms and fees apply (opens in new window) and
Guidance Notes (opens in new window) have been published on the
Communities and Local Government website.
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Written confirmation (Lawful Development
Certificates)
As the factors involved in the need for
planning permission can be complex, and in many cases can
involve the need for considerable research, we are unfortunately
unable to give any written confirmation of this advice except by
way of the submission of an application for a Lawful Development
Certificate (LDC). This will normally attract a fee of half the
normal planning application fee but the decision on whether you do
or don't need planning permission will be ultimately binding on the
Council.
It is strongly advised that you obtain
a Lawful Development Certificate to avoid any
possible future embarassment if it should subsequently be
found that your development is not permitted development.
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