How long is planning permission valid?

Permissions are normally granted with a time limit for making a start, and the exact period is stated on your decision notice. Read it, because if the deadline passes without a lawful start you are back to applying again.

Can I start work as soon as I am approved?

Not usually. Pre-commencement conditions must be discharged first, and building regulations approval should be in place. Starting early is a genuine risk rather than a technicality.

What is a lawful start?

It is a material operation carried out in accordance with the permission and after conditions are satisfied, which fixes the permission as implemented. If this matters to your timing, take advice specific to your decision notice.

Do I need to tell anyone when I begin?

Building Control needs notice before work starts so inspections can be arranged, and neighbours may need notice under the Party Wall Act depending on where you are building.

Can you handle this stage for us?

Yes. Condition discharge, the technical package, structural coordination and the building regulations submission are all part of what we do, and we can build the project as well if you want a single point of responsibility.

Guide · Process

What happens after planning permission is approved?

The decision notice arrives and it feels like the finish line. It is not. Planning permission establishes that you may build the thing. It says almost nothing about how, and the work between approval and the first day on site is where the programme and the budget are actually decided. Here is the order it happens in.

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Read the decision notice properly

The permission comes with conditions, and they are binding. Some are pre-commencement, meaning they must be formally discharged before any work starts, and starting anyway can invalidate the permission. Others deal with materials, drainage, landscaping or hours of work. Each one that requires approval needs a submission to Cornwall Council and a response, and that takes time you should build into the programme.

Identify which conditions are pre-commencement
Note the time limit for implementing the permission
Check whether any condition requires a specialist report
Submit condition discharge early rather than at the last moment

Move to technical design

The planning drawings now get developed into a building regulations and construction package. This is the stage where insulation build-ups, junction details, drainage, ventilation and specification are resolved, and where the structural engineer sizes beams, lintels and foundations. Doing this properly is what allows a builder to give you a real price instead of an estimate.

Sort the legal and neighbour issues

Two things commonly bite at this point. If you are building near or on a shared boundary, the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 may require notices to be served on neighbours, with time built in for them to respond. And if the property is subject to a covenant or a shared access, those are private legal matters that planning permission does not override.

Tender, appoint and start

With a complete technical package you can put the job out to two or three builders and compare like with like, or take a single contract route. Before work begins, building regulations approval should be in place, conditions discharged, and a start date notified to Building Control. Then the inspections run through the build to the completion certificate, which is the document that closes the project properly.

Frequently asked

Straight answers.

How long is planning permission valid?: Permissions are normally granted with a time limit for making a start, and the exact period is stated on your decision notice. Read it, because if the deadline passes without a lawful start you are back to applying again.
Can I start work as soon as I am approved?: Not usually. Pre-commencement conditions must be discharged first, and building regulations approval should be in place. Starting early is a genuine risk rather than a technicality.
What is a lawful start?: It is a material operation carried out in accordance with the permission and after conditions are satisfied, which fixes the permission as implemented. If this matters to your timing, take advice specific to your decision notice.
Do I need to tell anyone when I begin?: Building Control needs notice before work starts so inspections can be arranged, and neighbours may need notice under the Party Wall Act depending on where you are building.
Can you handle this stage for us?: Yes. Condition discharge, the technical package, structural coordination and the building regulations submission are all part of what we do, and we can build the project as well if you want a single point of responsibility.

Just had permission granted?

Send us the decision notice and the approved drawings, and we will tell you what the next stage involves.

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