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ARTICLE · 27 FEBRUARY 2018

Before You Begin: Pre-Commencement Planning Conditions

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Pre-commencement conditions are powerful things: unless they are satisfied, then any works done to implement a planning consent will not count, and the consent will not have been properly implemented.

United KingdomReal Estate and Construction
Travers Smith LLP
Travers Smith LLP
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Pre-commencement conditions are powerful things: unless they are satisfied, then any works done to implement a planning consent will not count, and the consent will not have been properly implemented. If this occurs near to the expiry date, there is a risk that the consent will expire without having been implemented, and any works done on site deemed to be unlawful.

The Government is currently consulting on proposals to improve the use of planning conditions by clarifying when a pre-commencement planning condition can be imposed without the written agreement of the applicant.

OLD AND NEW CONSULTATIONS

The government has been cogitating over 'improving the use of planning conditions' for the last couple of years. In its response to the September 2016 consultation, it proposed requiring local planning authorities ("LPAs") to seek the agreement of the developer to any pre-commencement conditions. In doing so, it sought to 'place best practice on a

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