Granting planning applications and planning conditions

After planning permission is granted

Most planning applications that are approved have conditions attached to them. These will be listed on your decision notice.

Obtaining planning permission should not be viewed as the end of your involvement with the planning department. Rather it is a further step in the development process.

Planning conditions

Planning conditions are applied to almost every grant of planning permission. Conditions are important and must be read and understood. They can limit and control the way in which your planning permission can be carried out.

Conditions are generally included to ensure the development is an acceptable one. They may range from ensuring new brickwork matches the existing building to controlling the opening hours of a restaurant to protect neighbours' amenities.

In addition to imposing conditions on the approval notice that must be complied with, we may also attach informatives, offering advice or guiding the applicant to other consents that might be necessary.

Unlike conditions, informatives are not statutory parts of the decision notice, but we recommend you study them closely as they’re designed to help ensure the development is carried out well.

Applying to discharge your planning conditions

It’s important to discharge your conditions before you start your development. If you do not do this, the development will be unauthorised and we may consider taking enforcement action.

Conditions either:

• must be complied with before a development is started
• regulate how the work is undertaken
• require actions before a building is occupied or a use commences
• seek to regulate how the completed development is to be used
• control possible changes in the future

First, you should check which conditions ask you to submit further details or information, and when you need to do this.

To discharge your conditions you’ll need to write to us with the details required. You can discharge one condition at a time or all the conditions at once. Sometimes we’ll ask for samples of materials, or joinery details.

Email planning@newark-sherwooddc.gov.uk 

You can also apply to discharge planning conditions on Planning Portal.

Amend or discharge a Section 106 planning obligation

Planning condition fees

You’ll need to pay a fee for written confirmation that you have complied with one or more conditions on your planning permission. The fees are set nationally at:

• £86 per request – where the permission relates to extending or altering a dwelling (or other works within the curtilage of a dwelling)
• £298 per request – for all other application types

Until we receive the fee in full, we’re cannot process your condition discharge request.

Pay to have a condition discharged

How you pay to discharge a planning condition depends on how you submitted your original planning application. If you submitted your application:

• directly to us – pay using our online payments service.
• using Planning Portal

Once we have received the fee, we normally have eight weeks to discharge the condition. However, if we need to involve third parties in confirming compliance with conditions, this time period can be extended up to 12 weeks.

It’s important to make sure you allow adequate time for this process to be carried out before you begin work.

If you’re unhappy with the planning conditions

If you do not agree with the conditions we’ve imposed on your planning application, you can try to get them removed, so you no longer have to comply with them.

To try to remove a condition you can either:

• appeal the imposition of the condition(s) to the Planning Inspectorate – GOV.UK – an appeal must be lodged within six months of the date of decision
• make an application to us to remove the condition

Failure to comply with conditions

Failure to discharge conditions at the correct time can invalidate a planning permission, rendering the site without benefit of consent. 

Starting work on site without complying with the pre-conditions may render your permission null and void and can lead to enforcement action and possible criminal sanctions.

This would then mean you would have to reapply for planning permission, possibly attracting a further planning fee and potentially other financial penalties. It’s also possible that your development may not be approved a second time round.

We can check if conditions have been discharged and also inspect sites to make sure they have been complied with.