How to make sense of permission in principle The government has recently introduced the concept of ‘planning in principle’ – Stuart Ashworth of the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk explains what it means for you
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arlier this year, and as an addition to the traditional planning application process, the Government introduced the first phase of an alternative way of obtaining planning permission for housing-led development, known as ‘permission in principle’ (PiP). The PiP consent route has two distinct stages; the first stage (or permission in principle stage) establishes whether a site is suitable in-
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principle for housing-led development, and the second stage (or technical details consent (TDC) stage) is when the detailed development proposals are assessed. HOW DO YOU OBTAIN PERMISSION IN PRINCIPLE? At present, the only way to obtain PiP is through a site being placed on Part 2 of a council’s two-part ‘brownfield land register’ – a register the council must
keep of previously developed (or brownfield) sites deemed suitable for residential development in its area. Those sites on Part 2 of the register will have already gone through a process of publicity, notification and consultation to ensure there’s still a level of public involvement in the process. However, it should be noted there is no requirement at present for councils to provide a Part 2 of the register – so for the time being this
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