Planning permission and planning policy
Planning permission overrides tree
preservation orders and the protection afforded by other
designations, once it has been granted. The planning system is
important and it is essential to understand how it works. Most cases
of woods under threat which the Woodland Trust deals with relate to
planning applications for development affecting ancient woods,
parkland and individual ancient trees.
Felling trees and clearing the land does not in itself necessarily require
planning permission. The planning service could only prevent that
from happening by serving an emergency tree preservation order.
The planning system consists of two parts: planning policy and
development control (increasingly known as development management).
- Planning policy is produced by central government to
guide future development in an organised and coordinated manner.
- Development control over individual planning proposals is
operated by divisional planning offices, which make their
decisions within the framework set out by the forward planning
system
Permitted development
covers certain classes of development which do not require a planning
application.
Development covers building work, and changes of use of buildings
and land
National guidance
The Planning Service issues Planning policy statements (PPS) which set
out national policies which are taken into account when preparing
development plans.
PPS2 Planning and nature conservation includes a
short section on trees and woods.
Development plans - area and local plans
The divisional planning offices for the area produce area plans. These
set out the detailed planning policies and specific proposals for the
development and use of land which guide most day-to-day planning
decisions and may include additional site specific policies relevant
to local circumstances, e.g. sites of local nature conservation
importance.
What you can do
Area plans are produced in a consultative issues paper followed by a
formal draft. It is vital to get involved at the issues paper stage if
possible as this gives you the opportunity to state which issues you
would like to see covered in the area plan. After a consultation
period, the planning office considers any representations and issues
the final area plan.
If you are concerned about a specific development proposal, you need
to check what stage the area plan has reached. If you can still feed
comments in on the development proposal, then the earlier in the
process the better. You can feed comments in through formal
consultation procedures as set out by the planning office.
You need to check the details of the development proposal set out in
the plan. It is also helpful to check what protection woods and trees
have under the plan. If the development proposal is not included in
the plan, or is contrary to general policies within the plan, this
will add weight to your campaign.
If the development has been approved in a previous plan and is
designated for that use then you need to engage with the development
control system which involves objecting to specific planning
applications (see Planning permission).
You can comment on area plans even if you are not concerned about a
specific proposal. Ensuring the plan contains the best possible
protective policies for woodland and trees will pre-empt development
proposals that could lead to their damage or loss. When commenting on
area plans you can refer to national planning policy guidance.
Find out more
Related sections
Disclaimer.
This information is based on the experiences of the
Woodland Trust and Ancient Tree Forum in dealing with cases of woods
and trees under threat. While its content is intended to broaden
understanding of the process, the Woodland Trust and Ancient Tree
Forum do not accept liability for any errors or omissions or for any
loss arising from use of the information contained herein by other
parties. In any circumstances outside the knowledge and competence of
an individual, he or she should always seek advice from an appropriate
qualified professional such as a surveyor or solicitor depending on
the case. None of the information on this web-page is to be relied
upon as a statement of fact.
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