Guide
Class Q application and prior approval: seven matters, 56 days
Updated
Permitted development does not mean no application. Class Q has a formal process with a fixed list of matters, a consultation stage and a deemed consent at 56 days.
Question 1
Where is the building?
Class Q is a permitted development right in England only. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate regimes.
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The seven matters
Where the scheme is a change of use with building operations, paragraph Q.2(1) requires a determination as to whether prior approval is needed for:
- transport and highways impacts;
- noise impacts;
- contamination risks;
- flooding risks;
- whether the location or siting makes changing from agricultural use to a dwellinghouse otherwise impractical or undesirable;
- the design or external appearance of the building;
- adequate natural light in all habitable rooms.
A change of use only drops design and external appearance. Including the rear extension adds the impact on the amenity of adjoining premises.
What a Class Q application has to include
- A written description of the proposed development which, for Class Q, must include any building or other operations in the same application.
- A plan indicating the site and showing the proposed development.
- A statement specifying the net increase in dwellinghouses proposed.
- A statement specifying the number of dwellinghouses proposed, and whether previous Class Q development has taken place within the established agricultural unit, with the number of homes and cumulative floor space.
- A floor plan showing the total floor space in square metres of each dwellinghouse, the dimensions and proposed use of each room, the position and dimensions of windows, doors and walls, and the elevations.
- Your contact address, and email address if you are content to be contacted electronically.
- A site specific flood risk assessment where the Environment Agency has to be consulted, and the fee.
How the council handles it
- It may refuse outright if the proposal does not comply with the conditions or limitations, or if you have given insufficient information to show that it does.
- It consults the relevant highway authority where a material increase or change in traffic is likely, and the Environment Agency for Flood Zone 2 or 3 sites, giving consultees at least 21 days.
- It publicises the application, by a site notice displayed for at least 21 days or by notice served on adjoining owners and occupiers.
- It takes account of representations, has regard to the National Planning Policy Framework so far as relevant to the matters for approval, and must refuse if the site will be contaminated land or if adequate natural light is not provided in all habitable rooms.
- You may begin once you receive notice that prior approval is not required, or notice giving prior approval, or 56 days pass from receipt of the application without a decision.
The 56 day rule is not a loophole
Deemed consent at 56 days applies only to a valid application the authority has not answered. A refusal within the period, or an invalid application, means no deemed consent: starting work is unlawful development. If prior approval is given, follow the approved details; if not required, the details in your application.
Development must be completed within 3 years of the prior approval date. Refused? A refusal is treated as a refusal of an application for approval, so the section 78 appeal route to the Planning Inspectorate is open.