Business and Planning Act 2020

16 Modification of conditions relating to construction working hours E+W

(1) The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 has effect as if it were subject to the modifications in subsections (2) to (4).

(2) The Act has effect as if after section 74A there were inserted—

“74B Conditions relating to construction working hours

(1) This section applies where—

(a) planning permission has been granted for the development of land in England, other than for the relevant development of a dwellinghouse, and

(b) a condition has been imposed on the grant of that permission which specifies the times during which construction activities may be carried out.

(2) This section also applies where—

(a) planning permission has been granted for the development of land in England, other than for the relevant development of a dwellinghouse,

(b) a condition has been imposed on the grant of that permission which requires the approval by a local planning authority of a document relating to the carrying out of the development,

(c) the authority has approved a document of that kind, and

(d) the document as approved (the “approved document”) specifies the times during which construction activities may be carried out.

(3) A person with an interest in the land, or a person acting on behalf of such a person, may make an application to a local planning authority in whose area the land is situated for the condition or approved document to be modified in either or both of the ways specified in subsection (4).

(4) Those ways are—

(a) to allow construction activities to be carried out for a longer period on a particular day (which may be the whole of that day);

(b) to allow construction activities to be carried out for the whole or part of a day on which they would not otherwise be allowed to be carried out.

(5) The application must—

(a) be made in writing and sent to the local planning authority using electronic communications in such manner as the authority may specify,

(b) give sufficient information to enable the authority to identify the planning permission in respect of which it is made, and

(c) give sufficient information to enable the authority to identify the condition or approved document in respect of which it is made.

(6) The application must specify—

(a) the date on which the application is sent,

(b) the proposed modifications to the condition or approved document,

(c) the date from which it is proposed the modifications should take effect,

(d) the date at the end of which it is proposed the modifications should cease to have effect, and

(e) the times which are specified in the condition or approved document as it has effect when the application is made as times during which construction activities may be carried out.

(7) The date specified under subsection (6)(c) must not be earlier than the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the application is sent to the local planning authority.

(8) The date specified under subsection (6)(d) must not be later than 1 April 2021.

(9) In this section “relevant development of a dwellinghouse” means development—

(a) of an existing dwellinghouse, or within the curtilage of an existing dwellinghouse for any purpose incidental to the enjoyment of the dwellinghouse, and

(b) which does not involve a change of use of the dwellinghouse or a change in the number of dwellings in a building.

(10) For the purposes of subsection (9)—

• “dwellinghouse” does not include a building containing one or more flats or a flat contained within such a building;

• “flat” means a separate and self-contained set of premises constructed or adapted for use for the purpose of a dwelling and forming part of a building from some other part of which it is divided horizontally.

74C Effect of application under section 74B

(1) If a person makes an application in accordance with section 74B to a local planning authority, the authority may by notice in writing to the person—

(a) modify the condition or approved document in accordance with the application,

(b) refuse to modify the condition or approved document, or

(c) make a determination about any of the matters specified in subsection (2).

(2) Those matters are—

(a) the modifications to be made to the condition or approved document, so far as it relates to the times during which construction activities are permitted to be carried out,

(b) the date from which the modifications to the condition or approved document are to take effect, and

(c) the date at the end of which the modifications to the condition or approved document are to cease to have effect.

(3) The local planning authority may make a determination under subsection (1)(c) only if the person who made the application has agreed in writing to the terms of the determination.

(4) A modification under subsection (2)(a) must not prohibit construction activities from being carried out at any time when they are permitted to be carried out under the condition or approved document as it had effect when the application was made.

(5) A date determined under subsection (2)(c) must not be later than 1 April 2021.

(6) Subsection (7) applies if the local planning authority does not give notice under subsection (1) before the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the day after that on which the application in accordance with section 74B was sent to the authority.

(7) The condition or approved document to which the application relates is deemed to have been modified in accordance with the application.

(8) If the local planning authority makes a determination under subsection (1)(c) about only some of the matters specified in subsection (2), the condition or approved document is deemed to have been modified in accordance with the application in respect of the other matters specified in subsection (2).

74D Sections 74B and 74C: supplementary

(1) In sections 74B and 74C and this section—

• “approved document” has the meaning given by section 74B(2)(d);

• “condition” includes limitation;

• “construction activities”, in relation to the development of land, means activities consisting of or relating to the carrying out of the development;

• “development” does not include mining operations in, on, over or under land.

(2) References in sections 74B and 74C to construction activities include references to construction activities of a particular kind.

(3) In calculating a period of 14 days for the purposes of section 74B(7) or 74C(6), no account is to be taken of a day which, apart from this subsection, would fall within that period and is—

(a) Christmas Day,

(b) Good Friday, or

(c) a day which under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 is a bank holiday in England.

(4) References in sections 74B and 74C to a condition or approved document include a condition or approved document as previously modified under section 74C.

(5) A person who makes an application under section 74B is to be taken to have agreed—

(a) to the use of electronic communications for all purposes relating to the application which are capable of being carried out electronically, and

(b) that the person's address for the purpose of such communications is the address incorporated into, or otherwise logically associated with, the person's application.

(6) In discharging its functions under sections 74B and 74C, a local planning authority must have regard to guidance issued by the Secretary of State.”

(3) Section 78(1) (rights of appeal) has effect as if after paragraph (aa) there were inserted—

“(ab) refuse an application under section 74B (variation of condition relating to construction working hours);”.

(4) Schedule 1 (local planning authorities: distribution of functions) has effect as if in paragraph 3(1) (functions which are exercisable by district planning authority, subject to exceptions) after paragraph (a) there were inserted—

“(aza) applications under section 74B;”.

(5) Article 40 (register of applications) of the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (S.I. 2015/595) has effect as if after paragraph (4) there were inserted—

“(4ZA) Part 2 of the register must contain, in respect of every application under section 74B of the 1990 Act (conditions relating to construction working hours) relating to the local planning register authority's area—

(a) a copy (which may be photographic or in electronic form) of the application,

(b) the decision, if any, of the local planning authority in respect of the application, including—

(i) any modifications to the condition or approved document (within the meaning of that section) to which the application relates,

(ii) the date from which those modifications take effect, and

(iii) the date at the end of which they cease to have effect,

(c) the date of any such decision,

(d) the name of the local planning authority, and

(e) the reference number, the date and effect of any decision of the Secretary of State in relation to the application on appeal.”

(6) Subsections (1) to (5) expire at the end of 1 April 2021.

(7) If the Secretary of State considers it reasonable to do so to mitigate an effect of coronavirus, the Secretary of State may by regulations substitute the date for the time being specified in any of the following provisions with a later date—

(a) section 74B(8) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as that Act has effect by virtue of subsection (2) of this section;

(b) section 74C(5) of that Act, as it has effect by virtue of subsection (2) of this section;

(c) subsection (6) of this section.

(8) In subsection (7) “coronavirus” means severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).