Consent types

Application for Permission in Principle

Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (section 58A)¹

The Town and Country Planning (Permission in Principle) Order 2017²

When permission is required

Permission in Principle (PiP) is a planning consent focused on housing led development of less than 10 dwellings. The site must be under 1 hectare and have less than 1,000 square metres of non-residential floorspace.

PiP is used to understand whether the nature of a development is acceptable, with further technical details being confirmed later in the process through a secondary application for Technical Details Consent.

A Technical Details Consent application can be completed through the Planning Portal’s application service using the Full Planning Permission form.

PiP can be granted by submitting an application to the local planning authority or automatically through land being allocated for development through a development order.

Information required

The supporting information required will vary depending on your application. You will need to provide a location plan.

The following details will be needed for the application form:

• The size of the site
• A description of the development, including the minimum and maximum number of proposed dwellings
• If the proposal includes non-residential uses, how many uses there will be.

Timeline

An application for Permission in Principle planning permission should be decided within 5 weeks. This begins when the local planning authority validates the application.

Fees

An application for Permission in Principle costs:

• Before 8 December 2026:£531 for each 0.1 hectare (or part thereof) of the site area.
• On or after 8 December 2026: £825

What happens next?

Permission in Principle (PiP) does not act as consent for development to begin.

Once PiP has been granted by the local planning authority, a ‘Technical Details Consent’ application must be made within three years of the consent (or a lesser period if specified by a condition on the original PiP approval).

If PiP was granted through a development order, then the consent lasts for 5 years.

The details of the application must be consistent with the PiP approval, including any conditions attached to the permission.

Useful resources

Read detailed guidance from Government on Permission in Principle³.

1. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/8/contents
2. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/402/contents
3. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/permission-in-principle