Planning permission is rarely the finish line. Almost every approval arrives with a list of planning conditions, and those conditions decide when you can start, what you must build with and what you must prove to the council along the way.
This guide explains what conditions are, the types you will meet, how to get them signed off and who does the specialist work. Read it before you start on site, not after.
What planning conditions are
A planning condition is a requirement attached to a planning permission. The council lists them on the decision notice, each with a short reason.
Councils can only impose conditions that pass six tests set out in national policy. Each condition must be necessary, relevant to planning, relevant to the development, enforceable, precise and reasonable in every other respect.
Conditions are part of the permission itself. Build without meeting them and the council can take enforcement action, even though you have planning permission.
How common conditions are
We read the decision notices behind 71,474 planning decisions with conditions made in the year to September 2026, across 335 councils. Those decisions carried 312,273 conditions between them, an average of more than four per permission.
The specialist subjects that came up most often were:
- Materials: 8,571 decisions
- Trees and arboriculture: 8,483 decisions
- Ecology: 8,021 decisions
- Landscaping: 7,975 decisions
- Drainage: 7,175 decisions
- Parking: 5,248 decisions
- Highways: 4,272 decisions
- Noise and acoustics: 3,847 decisions
- Construction management: 3,789 decisions
- Contaminated land: 3,209 decisions
Most of these need a report, a plan or a sample before the council will sign them off. That is real work, usually for a specialist consultant.
The four types of condition
Time limit conditions
Every permission has one. In England and Scotland a full permission must usually be started within 3 years. In Wales and Northern Ireland the default is 5 years. Miss the deadline and the permission lapses.
Outline permissions work differently. In England you must apply for reserved matters within 3 years, then start within 2 years of the last reserved matters approval.
Pre-commencement conditions
These must be discharged before any work starts, including demolition and site clearance. Typical examples are a construction management plan, a contamination survey, tree protection or an archaeology scheme.
Starting before they are discharged is the single most expensive mistake on a planning permission. It can leave the whole permission unusable.
In England the council needs your written agreement before it imposes a pre-commencement condition, so you will usually see these coming before the decision is issued.
Pre-occupation conditions
These must be met before anyone moves in or the building is used. Parking laid out, landscaping planted, bin stores built and drainage connected are common examples.
Ongoing conditions
These last for the life of the development. Obscure glazing that must stay obscure, opening hours for a shop or a ban on converting a garage are all ongoing conditions.
Discharging a condition
Where a condition says "details shall be submitted to and approved in writing", you need the council's sign-off. That process is called discharging the condition.
You submit an application with the details the condition asks for and a fee. In England the council should decide within 8 weeks. Our step-by-step guide, how to discharge planning conditions, covers the forms, the fees, the timescales and what to do when the council is slow.
Changing or removing a condition
If a condition no longer works for you, you can apply to vary or remove it. In England this is a section 73 application. The council looks only at the conditions, not the principle of the development.
A successful section 73 application creates a new permission. Check what that does to your time limit before you rely on it.
Who does the work
Most conditions are discharged with a document prepared by a specialist. The usual match is:
- Ecology and biodiversity net gain: an ecologist
- Trees: an arboricultural consultant
- Drainage and flood risk: a drainage or civil engineer
- Noise: an acoustic consultant
- Contamination: a geo-environmental consultant
- Highways and travel plans: a transport consultant
- Archaeology and heritage: an archaeologist or heritage consultant
Find local specialists in our consultants directory, or use find a consultant to match the condition to the right firm.
Conditions are leads for consultants
Every condition that needs a report is work waiting for someone. Conditions alerts send ecologists, arborists, drainage engineers and other consultants the new conditions in their area as soon as decisions are issued, so they reach the applicant first.
What happens if you ignore a condition
Breaking a condition is a breach of planning control. The council can serve a breach of condition notice, and there is no right of appeal against one. Our guide to breach of planning conditions explains the enforcement powers and time limits.
Frequently asked questions
Do all planning permissions have conditions?
Nearly all do. At the very least a full permission carries a time limit and a condition tying it to the approved plans.
Where do I find the conditions on my permission?
They are on the decision notice. Search for the application on Planning Signal or on the council's planning register and open the decision notice document.
Can I start work before conditions are discharged?
Not if they are pre-commencement conditions. Other conditions can be dealt with during the build, as long as you meet them by the stage the condition sets out.
How much does it cost to discharge a condition?
In England the council fee was £86 per request for work to an existing home and £298 for anything else from 1 April 2025. Fees are reviewed every year, so check the current figure. The specialist report usually costs more than the fee.
Is the planning permission still valid if a condition is breached?
The permission still exists, but the development is in breach and the council can enforce. Breaching a pre-commencement condition can mean the work was never lawfully started under that permission.