PLANNING PRACTICE POINTS
Town and country planning
Planning permission
Paragraph 24 of Circular 04/2008: Planning-Related Fees advises that a local planning authority may accept a “hybrid” planning application, going on it describe it as one that “seeks outline planning permission for one part and full planning permission for another part of the same site”. It then states how the fees should be calculated. That said, there appears to be no statutory definition of the term “hybrid planning permission” though it is a term that tends to be recognised in practice.
In Eaden Homes Ltd v Dwr Cymru Cyfyngedig (Welsh Water)[2012] UKUT 153 (LC); [2012] PLSCS 133, the Upper Tribunal, as a preliminary matter in a claim for compensation under the Water Industry Act 1991, had to determine the exact nature of a planning permission granted in 1983, which was accepted by concession of the water authority as extent. The crucial wording of the description of the permitted development was: “Layout and detailed plans for the erection of 45 dwellings and layout for a further 38 plots at…making a total of 83 units in all in accordance with the plans and application submitted…”.
The claimant contended that this was a full planning permission permitting not only the erection of the 45 dwellings in respect of which details were submitted but also 38 dwellings in respect of which no details had been submitted. The water authority argued that it constituted a full planning permission for the 45 dwellings, and an outline planning permission in relation to the 38 dwellings. (The latter would be incapable of implementation as a result of there being no application for approval of reserved matters before expiry of the statutory deadline.)
The Tribunal held that what had been granted in 1983 was not a hybrid planning permission. It constituted in its entirety a full planning permission, though as a matter of construction in relation to the 38 plots the permission was for their layout and not for the erection of dwellings on them. It was settled law that an outline planning permission can only be granted in response to an outline application, and the application in the present case had to be viewed on its terms as an application for full planning permission. Furthermore, an outline planning permission could only be granted for the erection of a building. Finally, the conditions imposed on the planning permission were inconsistent with a hybrid planning permission.
John Martin