Meaning of Development and The Legislation
The Meaning of Development
Section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 defines the meaning of development for which planning permission is required as being:
"the carrying out of building, engineering, mining or other operations in, on, over or under land, or the making of any material change in the use of any buildings or other land."
There are stated exceptions to this and further Regulations and Orders by Central Government allow certain developments to be carried out without the need for planning permission. These include The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987 and The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995.
Contact officers of the Borough Council or complete a 
preliminary enquiry form (PDF format) (274kb) to find out if you require planning permission.
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The Legislation
The Town and Country Planning Act 1990 is the principal legislation which sets out how the statutory functions of planning authorities are to be performed. These include:
development plans
control over development
enforcement
compensation - revocation, discontinuance, purchase notices
special controls in respect of adverts, trees and highways (diversions, stopping up)
The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 is legislation related to Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas. It provides a self-contained code for the protection of architectural heritage. Great Yarmouth has 17 Conservation Areas and around 403 Listed Buildings.
The Planning and Compensation Act 1990 introduced new enforcement powers by amendment to the 1990 Act. Enforcement powers are wide ranging but the fact that a development is unauthorised is not a reason in itself for action being taken. It must be expedient to take action and if planning permission would normally be granted for the development then action would not normally be taken.
There are a number of options in taking action, these include issuing:
a planning contravention notice
a breach of condition notice
an enforcement notice
seeking an injunction
or prosecuting for non compliance with one of the above notices
(The carrying out of unauthorised development is not in itself an offence which can be the subject of prosecution.)
The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 received Royal Assent on 13th May 2004.
It is a key element of the Government's agenda for the speeding up of the planning system. Various parts of the Act wil come into operation at different times over the next few years.
Contact officers at the Planning Department of the Borough Council for more details.
Other legislation includes:
The Town and Country Planning (Use Classes) Order 1987.
This classifies planning uses into groups to determine whether planning permission is required. Planning permission is not normally required to change from one use to another use in the same class. Such changes are not considered to constitute a material change of use.
The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 classifies the types of development which can be carried out without planning permission. This is known as ‘permitted development.’ There are 33 different classes ranging from house extensions to industrial and agricultural developments. If you are proposing an extension to your house we need to know the following before we can confirm whether planning permission is required:
volume of extension
whether located in Conservation Area or is a Listed Building
whether any previous extensions have been built
height of extension
distance from boundary
location in relation to any highway
any conditions on the original planning permission for the house removing permitted development rights
Find out whether you need to apply for planning permission.
The Borough Council operates a Preliminary Enquiry procedure for house extensions and forms can be obtained from this web site (
click here for preliminary enquiry form in PDF format) (274kb) or by contacting us.
The Town and Country Planning (General Development Procedure) Order, 1995 sets out the procedures for submitting planning applications, lodging appeals, consultations to be carried out, etc. and includes a wide range of statutory and non statutory consultees, now over 40, including the County Council as Highway Authority, the Environment Agency, English Heritage, etc.
The Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 1992 set out the procedures for advertisement control.