Planning Permission Deadlines to be Extended

Housing secretary Robert Jenrick has announced that planning permission deadlines will be extended in an effort to support the construction industry and ‘boost building’ as Britain emerges from the Coronavirus lockdown.

The change will mean planning approvals with an expiry date between the start of lockdown in March and the end of this year will be extended to 1 April 2021.

Existing planning rules mean that development permissions usually expire after three years if work has not been started. However, hundreds of projects with expiry dates during the lockdown were put at risk, as the control measures implemented by the Government to limit the spread of the disease prevented construction from getting under way.
​
By relaxing planning restrictions, the construction of 24,000 homes that were in jeopardy due to the health emergency could now be progressed. Ministers said the decision was designed to get Britain building again after three months of tough restrictions on business and social life.