Error planning conditions, can it be removed? - Public forum - Planning Advisory Service (PAS)

Technically if they are admitting an administration error they could correct it. Write to the Chief Officer of the Planning department. However, if they decline and if it is an unreasonable condition (which it is if it relates to merely an extension) then the formal process is to apply to have the condition removed. There is a application form and most Councils have delegated powers to process this within a few weeks . Some Councils charge a modest fee for this (ask for it to be waived) . Providing even a simple Phase 1 survey is an option and the authority might deal with is quicker and more informal. If you can get a letter from the officer admitting an error and agreeing with works commencing then it should should not be a problem later. You should get better advice than you have been given. Can you agent sort it for you?

A planning permission can't be amended except by the procedure in the 1990 Act which gives rise to a claim for losses from anyone such as a landowner. So local authorities do not like doing that and usually insist on a agreement not to claim. You might want to try that though it's rather cumbersome. There's no mechanism for correcting administrative errors - it obviously might be abused. There is a new process for non-material amendments which might help here. I'm off to a meeting now but if you want help, do contact me - 01223 222 438 and I'll get back to you asap. A well drafted condition can allow the LPA to consent.

You could of course do nothing. They would have to decide whether to enforce. There would be no practical purpose in taking enforcement action so a reasonable authority would not. You would still have the condition attached to the premission and this may cause a difficulty to you if you sold the property if a buyers solicitor saw it as an issue. However, the council could simply write to you and say that it is not their intention to enforce compliance of the condition. This should be comfort enough for all parties to progess.

Why not submit a "phase 1 survey" in the form of a blank piece of paper and ask them to approve it, thereby discharging the condition?

I find it unusual that it was a Phase 1 (ie. desktop) survey requested by condition, as opposed to an actual investigation of the site (notwithstanding that it shouldn't have been applied in the first place). It's shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted to approve a development and then ask that the ecology be checked out. If there's an incompatibility between the approved development and a wildlife interest then the council would be unreasonable to withhold the discharge of the condition, unless a legally protected species were involved (eg. bats), in which case the condition is duplicating the separate law that does that. If you ever come to sell the property it may be a bit difficult to explain that the condition was never discharged because the council would never enforce it. I therefore agree that the cheapest and quickest recourse is to discharge the condition (cheapest because it sound's like a domestic app where a £25 charge will apply, though you should ask for that to be waived). On the presumption that the council will want more than a blank piece of paper (tempting though that is), do state that you've inspected the areas of proposed works and seen no evidence of protected species or other wildlife, and then sign and date it and leave it at that.