Almost every planning permission in England is granted subject to a condition requiring that development be commenced within three years of the date of the permission (or a different period if specified in the condition). If development is not commenced within that period, the permission lapses — it becomes invalid, and you cannot build under it without applying again. A new application is assessed against current planning policy, which may be materially different from the policy that applied when the original permission was granted. Keeping a valuable permission alive by making a material start before it expires is often a significant commercial and practical priority.
A planning permission is implemented — and the time limit stopped — when development is lawfully commenced. Development is commenced when any material operation comprised in the development begins. The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 defines material operations to include: any work of construction in the course of the erection of a building; any work of demolition of a building; the digging of a trench which is to contain the foundations; the laying of any underground main or pipe; any operation in the course of laying out or constructing a road; and any change in the use of any land. Not every physical act on site amounts to a material start — the operation must be part of the authorised development.
Courts have held that the material operations must be more than trivial or token. Digging a trench that will form the actual foundations of the building, at the size and depth required by the structural design, in the position shown on the approved plans — this is a material start. Laying the first course of brickwork is a material start. Installing underground drainage in the position shown on the plans is a material start. These acts must be genuine operations that form part of the development as approved — not just breaking ground symbolically.
Clearing vegetation, stripping topsoil, or levelling the site are generally not material operations unless they are specifically comprised in the development as approved and are more than incidental groundworks. Erecting hoarding or site signage is not a material start. Carrying out a soil investigation is not a material start. And critically — operations that do not form part of the development as described in the permission do not count, even if they are substantial. The act must be related to the specific development authorised.
A critical point: if the permission has conditions precedent — conditions that must be discharged before development commences — then making a material start before discharging those conditions does not create a lawful commencement. It creates an unauthorised development. The material start must be made after all pre-commencement conditions have been discharged. If you make a material start to keep a permission alive, confirm first that every pre-commencement condition has been formally discharged.
If you are making a material start to keep a permission alive, document it thoroughly. Photographs of the works with date stamps, contractor daywork sheets, site diaries, and a statutory declaration from the person supervising the works are all useful evidence. If your application was submitted before the permission expires and a start is made before it lapses, the planning authority is entitled to require evidence that a lawful start was made. A Lawful Development Certificate for the commencement of development is worth considering if the start is potentially contested.
The planning record for a site shows all permissions, their dates, and any associated certificates of lawful development confirming commencement. Before purchasing land with the benefit of planning permission, or before taking a position on a site where the owner claims a permission is extant, the planning record tells you when the permission was granted, what the commencement condition requires, and whether any commencement certificate has been issued.
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