Section 107 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (“the Act”) provides for payment of compensation by the local planning authority, when a planning permission granted under Part III of the Act is revoked or modified. Essentially, compensation becomes payable in respect of (a) abortive expenditure and (b) other loss or damage attributable to the revocation or modification. In the latter respect, depreciation in the value of the land attributable to the revocation or modification is included.
Section 108(1) of the Act extends that principle so far as the section provides that where planning permission has been granted by development order and that permission is withdrawn – whether by the revocation or amendment of the order or by the issue of a direction – and on a subsequent application for planning permission for that development the application is refused, or granted subject to conditions (other than those previously imposed by the development order) the provisions of section 107 are similarly to apply. However, the effect of section 108(2) of the Act is that compensation will only be payable if the subsequent application for planning permission is made within 12 months of the date on which on which revocation or amendment of a development order took place.
Furthermore, sections 108(2A) and (3B) to (3E) of the Act enable the circumstances in which compensation is payable to be limited, and in that respect it is now necessary to have reference to the Town and Country Planning (Compensation) (England) Regulations 2015 (“the 2015 Regulations”) which came into force on 15 April 2015. (They amend and consolidate the Town and Country Planning (Compensation) (England) Regulations 2013).
Regulation 2 of the 2015 Regulations prescribes for the purposes of these sections of the Act certain types of development permitted by Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015, the manner of withdrawal of the planning permission, the manner of publication of notice of withdrawal and the maximum period of such notice. Regulations 3 and 4 of the 2015 Regulations then provide a mechanism for the rights to be withdrawn without compensation being payable. Regulation 5 makes similar provision regarding withdrawal of permitted development rights granted by local development order, and Regulation 6 makes similar provision regarding withdrawal of rights granted by neighbourhood development order.
John Martin is a planning law consultant
