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Consent types

Non-material amendment of an existing planning permission

Application for a non-material amendment following a grant of planning permission

Town and Country Planning Act 1990 Section 96A (as amended)1


When this application is required

Following a grant of planning permission, it may be necessary to make amendments to the proposals that were originally approved. A non-material amendment may be applied for to approve a minor change to the planning permission and does not breach any conditions originally placed on the consent.

If the amendment is not considered minor by the Local Planning Authority, a new planning application will be required.

Whether or not the proposed amendment(s) are considered to be ‘non-material’ rather than ‘material’ will depend on the specific details of the existing planning permission. A change which may be considered ‘non-material’ in one case could be considered ‘material’ in another. Judgements made on amendment(s) will be based off both the existing planning permission and any ‘non-material’ amendments which have previously been made.

Government does not provide a statutory definition of ‘non-material’, it is down to the local planning authority to be satisfied that any amendment(s) sought are ‘non-material’ thus eligible for this type of application. As a result, you may wish to contact your Local Planning Authority (LPA) or check their website to see if your proposed amendment is likely to be accepted.

More generally, it is often helpful to discuss your proposal with your LPA before you send in your application – this is known as pre-application advice. Your LPA will normally have details of how to go about this on its website.

Please note: This application type cannot be used to make changes to listed building consent.2

Examples of changes which may be considered non-material:

  • Minor changes to what was described in the planning permission
  • Changes which do not breach conditions of planning permission
  • Changes which do not increase the height of the property


Information required

An application for a non-material amendment may require you to submit any changes to drawings and plans which were submitted under the original planning permission. As well as detailed information around the proposed amendments and how these differ from the original application.


Timeline

Decisions should be made within 28 days of an application being deemed valid by the Local Planning Authority. This may be longer if the two parties agree to extend the period during the application process.


Fees

An application for non-material amendments will cost:

  • For householder development: £43
  • Any other development type: £293

For more information on fees, you may wish to consult our fee calculator.3


What happens next?

Applications for a non-material amendment can be made through our online application service4.

If a non-material amendment application is successful, no new planning permission will be created. The original planning permission will still be valid but will be modified as detailed by the non-material amendment decision. Therefore, both decisions will need to be read together.


Useful resources

Flexible options for planning permissions - GOV.UK5

  1. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1990/8/section/96A
  2. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/planning/planning-applications/consent-types/listed-building-consent
  3. https://www.planningportal.co.uk/app/fee-calculator
  4. http://www.planningportal.co.uk/app
  5. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/flexible-options-for-planning-permissions#Making-a-non-material-amendment

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The Planning Portal is delivered by PortalPlanQuest Limited which is a joint venture between TerraQuest Solutions Limited and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC). All content © 2024 Planning Portal.