Campaigning for the countryside in Lancashire, Greater Manchester and Merseyside.
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The Lancashire Branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural
England
Hazelwell House,
Station Road,
Bamber Bridge,
Preston,
Lancashire,
PR5 6TT
Tel: 01772 627510
Email: ruralengland@btconnect.com
Registered Charity Numbers : 221244 and 1107376
The Lancashire Branch of CPRE is a Company Limited By Guarantee registered in England, no. 5291461
Lancashire CPRE is a charity and provides all the content of these pages free of charge to the general public.
If you use the resources provided please consider joining us or making a donation to help us carry out our activities.
Planning Conditions and Obligations
When might conditions or obligations be used?
Rather than refusing planning permission for industrial or commercial developments in residential and rural areas planning authorities may impose conditions or invite the developer to enter into obligations in order to achieve their planning objectives i.e. approval for the proposed development.
To be valid, conditions should meet six tests. They should be:
- necessary,
- relevant to planning,
- relevant to the development permitted,
- enforceable,
- precise and
- reasonable in all other respects.
What would the local planning authority hope to achieve by imposing such conditions or obligations?
Planning conditions and obligations are a way of safeguarding local amenity and preventing subsequent intensification of use, which may be unacceptable. For example, they may be used to control construction disturbance by limiting the number of vehicle movements, particularly by heavy vehicles on minor roads, to and from a site in a specified period.
Local planning authorities may also use their powers to secure the provision of public open space or other community facilities as part of larger mixed developments. Local Plan policies should give a clear indication of the types of development for which agreements of this kind may be appropriate.
May they be used in the interests of nature conservation?
Yes. Conditions and obligations may be imposed on developers when there is a risk of damage to a Site of Special Scientific Interest or other designated site. For example, a developer may be required to fence or bound off certain areas or to restrict operations at certain times of the year. Before granting planning permission for the wind farm at Coal Clough, near Burnley, 21 conditions were imposed by the local planning authority.
In the case of a protected species or its habitat, English Nature should be consulted and the developer made aware of their statutory obligations.
Keys to Action
See CPRE information on the Planning System which details how to influence Regional Planning Guidance, the Structure Plan, the Unitary Development Plan and the Local Plan.
Where the proposed development involves a Site of Special Scientific Interest or other designated site, a listed building or is a housing development, see the appropriate CPRE leaflet in this series.
Other Information
Town and Country Planning Act 1990
Planning Obligations and Compensation Act 1991
The Conservation (Natural Habitats etc) Regulations 1994
Department of the Environment Circular 11/95 Planning Conditions
Department of the Environment Circular 16/91 Planning Obligations
Department of the Environment Circular 1/92 Developments affecting SSSI and other designated sites
English Nature, Pier House, Wallgate, Wigan WN3 4AL Tel: 01942 820 342