What happens after a planning decision

The decision notice is rarely the end of the story. A grant comes with strings attached and a time limit; a refusal can be appealed or reworked; and an approved scheme can still change shape afterwards. Here is what each outcome actually sets in motion.

If permission is granted

Permission is granted subject to conditions listed on the decision notice, and they are worth reading. Some fix practical limits such as working hours or materials. Others are pre-commencement conditions: details the developer must submit and have approved before any work starts, such as drainage schemes or construction management plans. Those approvals arrive as fresh applications on the register, so a flurry of conditions applications on a site is the clearest sign work is close; our application types guide explains how they appear.

A grant does not last forever. Work must normally begin within three years in England and Scotland, or five years in Wales, unless the notice sets a different period, and beginning means a real material start on site. If the deadline passes unused, the permission lapses and a new application is needed. A granted scheme that never breaks ground is common; roughly, permission is an option to build, not a commitment.

Neighbours cannot appeal a grant. The only route against one is a legal challenge on the lawfulness of how the decision was made, which is a court matter on tight deadlines and needs advice; disagreement with the planning judgement is not enough.

If permission is refused

The notice states the reasons for refusal, each tied to policy or harm. The applicant has two broad options. The first is to revise and resubmit, dealing with the stated reasons; councils commonly accept one free-of-fee resubmission within twelve months, which is why a refusal is often followed by a similar application shortly after. Watching the register catches the second attempt.

The second is an appeal. In England that goes to the Planning Inspectorate, generally within six months (twelve weeks for householder refusals); in Wales to Planning and Environment Decisions Wales; in Scotland smaller delegated cases go to the council's own Local Review Body and larger ones to the DPEA. An appeal re-runs the planning judgement in front of an independent decision maker, and earlier objections are carried into it. Appeal decisions are published, and a dismissed appeal usually settles a site's prospects for some time.

Changes after approval

Approved schemes are frequently adjusted. Small tweaks go through as non-material amendments; bigger changes, such as revised house types or altered conditions, go through variation applications, often under section 73. Each appears on the register against the same site, which is how a scheme you thought settled can quietly change. If the built result seems to depart from the drawings with no such application visible, that is a question for the council's enforcement team.

Keeping track

All of this plays out on the public register: conditions discharged, amendments sought, resubmissions lodged. Application pages here show the status and decision as published, with dates, and link to the council record. A decision alert on the paid tiers tells you when applications in your area are decided, and how long decisions take covers the timetable in the run-up. For the process before the decision, start with how to object to a planning application.