Watford Borough Council

Outline application

This is to determine whether or not a proposal is acceptable in principle. Detailed plans are not normally required at this stage and the permission is normally valid for three years. An outline application cannot be submitted for a change of use.

Sometimes, in order to consider applications of this type the Council may require you to submit further details to demonstrate how the proposed development can meet the Council's planning requirements. These details may comprise of one or more of the “reserved matters.”

Approval of reserved matters

If outline permission is granted, one of the conditions will be that full details of the proposal, known as “the reserved matters” are submitted for consideration prior to the commencement of any work on the site. This is usually required to be submitted within three years of the outline permission.

Full

This is the most common form of application and requires the submission of full details of the proposal, including elevations, floor plans and a site layout plan together with supporting information. Permission, if granted, is normally valid for five years and should the development not be commenced within that time, the permission lapses.

Lawful development certificate

The System of Lawful Development Certificates (LDC) enables the Local Planning Authority to grant a certificate; saying either that:

• An existing use of land, or some operational development; or some activity in breach of a planning of a planning condition, is lawful, (blue colour application forms), or
• A proposed use of the buildings or other land, or some operations to be carried out in, on, over or under land, would be lawful, (yellow colour application forms).

This system replaces the previous system of Section 64 Determinations (whereby the Authority could decide whether a development proposal could go ahead without having the specific grant of planning permission) and Established Use Certificates.
The system provides the possibility of obtaining a statutory document confirming that the use, operation or activity named in it is, or would be lawful for planning control purposes.

An LDC granted for an existing use, operation or activity will specify the area of land included within the Certificate and describe the precise nature of the use, operation or activity which is certified as lawful. It will not protect you from enforcement action by the Planning Authority if you subsequently change the specified use “materially” without making a planning application for it

An LDC granted for a proposed use or operation will describe the precise use or operation on a site in the terms considered permissible without the need to make a planning application for it. It will always conclusively establish the lawfulness of the use, operation or activity covered by the Certificate.

An LDC granted for a future use or operation will protect future development on the site but only if that future development is as described in the Certificate and is undertaken before there is any material change in relevant circumstances.

If the limitations specified in a Certificate are exceeded, the landowner or occupier may be liable to enforcement action by the Planning Authority for any resulting breach of planning control.

Advertisement consent

The law relating to the display of advertisements, such as illuminated shop signs, hoardings and directional signs, is complicated. However, the department for Communites and Local Government has produced a simplified guide for advertisers as to what requires “Express Advertisement Consent" and what may be displayed without an application being submitted to the Local Planning Authority. Copies of this booklet are available from the Customer Service Centre at the Town Hall and via the Communities and Local Government website.