The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017

General development orders

General development orders

75.  It is a condition of any planning permission granted by a general development order made on or after 30th November 2017, that development which—

(a) is likely to have a significant effect on a European site or a European offshore marine site (either alone or in combination with other plans or projects), and

(b) is not directly connected with or necessary to the management of the site,

must not be begun until the developer has received written notification of the approval of the local planning authority under regulation 77 (approval of local planning authority).

General development orders: opinion of appropriate nature conservation body

76.—(1) Where it is intended to carry out development in reliance on the permission granted by a general development order, application may be made in writing to the appropriate nature conservation body for its opinion as to whether the development is likely to have a relevant effect.

(2) The application must give details of the development which is intended to be carried out.

(3) On receiving such an application, the appropriate nature conservation body must consider whether the development is likely to have such an effect.

(4) Where it considers that it has sufficient information to conclude that the development will, or will not, have such an effect, it must notify the applicant and the local planning authority in writing of its opinion.

(5) If the appropriate nature conservation body considers that it has insufficient information to reach either of those conclusions, it must notify the applicant in writing indicating in what respects it considers the information insufficient, and the applicant may supply further information with a view to enabling it to reach a decision on the application.

(6) The opinion of the appropriate nature conservation body, notified in accordance with paragraph (4), that the development is not likely to have a relevant effect is conclusive of that question for the purpose of reliance on the planning permission granted by a general development order.

(7) In this regulation and in regulation 77, “a relevant effect” means an effect of a kind mentioned in regulation 75(a).

General development orders: approval of local planning authority

77.—(1) An application to the local planning authority for approval, as mentioned in regulation 75, must—

(a) give details of the development which is intended to be carried out; and

(b) be accompanied by—

(i) a copy of any relevant notification by the appropriate nature conservation body under regulation 76; and

(ii) any fee required to be paid.

(2) For the purposes of its consideration of the application the local planning authority must assume that the development is likely to have a relevant effect.

(3) The authority must send a copy of the application to the appropriate nature conservation body and must take account of any representations made by it.

(4) If in its representations the appropriate nature conservation body states its opinion that the development is not likely to have a relevant effect, the local planning authority must send a copy of the representations to the applicant.

(5) The sending of the copy of the representations to the applicant under paragraph (4) has the same effect as a notification by the appropriate nature conservation body of its opinion under regulation 76(4).

(6) In any other case in which the application has been sent to the appropriate nature conservation body, the local planning authority must, taking account of any representations made by the appropriate nature conservation body, make an appropriate assessment of the implications of the development for the European site or European offshore marine site in view of that site’s conservation objectives.

(7) In the light of the conclusions of the assessment the local planning authority may approve the development only after having ascertained that it will not adversely affect the integrity of the site.

General development orders: supplementary

78.—(1) The local planning authority for the purposes of regulations 75 to 77 is the authority to which an application for approval under regulation 77 would fall to be made if it were an application for planning permission.

(2) The fee payable in connection with an application for such approval is £30.

(3) Approval required by regulation 75 is to be treated—

(a) for the purposes of the provisions of the TCPA 1990 relating to appeals, as approval required by a condition imposed on a grant of planning permission; and

(b) for the purposes of the provisions of any general development order relating to the time within which notice of a decision should be given, as approval required by a condition attached to a grant of planning permission.