Planning permission- do I need to do everything I apply for?

[Caroline147]

Hi all,

I’ve got a couple of very silly questions about planning permission- hoping you can help!

• Do you need to do everything you apply for permission for? For example, if I apply for a single storey extension and a loft conversion- would it be ok to just do the extension within the 3 year limit? I don’t want to apply again in a year’s time, but also don’t want to do the wrong thing if we can’t afford all the work in the 3 years.
• If you don’t go for pre-planning advice, is it held against you? We know we need full planning so seems silly to delay for the pre-planning appointment.

Thank you SO much in advance. Would also welcome any general tips for getting through planning successfully.

As far as I understand it, you have to make a material start to the build, so foundations would count. The rest of the changes that you have permission granted for can then be left until after the three years if you want to.

We've got permission for two extensions under one application, have built one and we're told by the council we can leave the other until later.

We didn't bother with pre-planning, like you we knew we'd need full permission so just put the application in. Thankfully it went through very easily.