For owners, landowners and developers in England
What Is Town Planning? How the System Works
Sviatoslav JerdetchiiCEO & Founder of Craftex. Updated , 7 min read
The short answer
Town planning is the public system that controls what gets built, where, and what land and buildings are used for. England's system is plan-led: each application is decided by the local plan, unless other material considerations outweigh it.
- The development plan sets the local rules; the National Planning Policy Framework sets the national policy that sits above it.
- Most decisions are taken by the local council, by planning officers or a planning committee of councillors.
- An application moves through validation, consultation, assessment and a decision, with a right of appeal if refused.
- Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own planning systems, so the detail differs outside England.
Town planning is the system that decides what can be built where, and how land and buildings may be used. In England it is plan-led: the council decides each application by its local plan, unless other matters weigh against it.
For an owner or developer, town planning sets the value of a site. Misread the plan and you can pay for drawings the council will not support. Good town planning consultants read it before anyone draws. We do that first, then cost the options with our own build team.
Have a site in mind? Our Development Director, Rob Barton, took 10,000+ homes through planning in his previous roles. Ask for a free site appraisal and we will tell you what the rules allow. This guide follows the system from the top down.
Town planning as a plan-led system
Planning law starts with one rule. Section 57 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 says "planning permission is required for the carrying out of any development of land". Development means building work, engineering works or a material change of use.
The second rule makes the system plan-led. It sits in section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004. The decision "must be made in accordance with the plan unless material considerations indicate otherwise".
So every decision in England has two parts:
- The development plan. The council first asks whether the scheme complies with the adopted plans for the area.
- Material considerations. It then weighs anything else relevant to the decision. National policy is the main one.
Government guidance defines a material consideration as "one which is relevant to making the planning decision in question". Purely private interests, such as the effect on a neighbour's property value, are generally not material.
The test is not a vote. A scheme that fits the plan can still be refused if material considerations weigh against it. A scheme that breaks the plan can still be approved if they weigh strongly for it. So before anyone designs, find out which policies apply to your site.
How town planning differs across the UK
There is no single UK planning system. Each nation has its own law and its own national policy, and the rest of this guide describes England.
| Nation | Main planning Act | Who decides most applications |
|---|---|---|
| England | Town and Country Planning Act 1990 | District, borough or unitary councils |
| Wales | Town and Country Planning Act 1990 | Local planning authorities, under Welsh policy |
| Scotland | Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 | Planning authorities, under Scottish Ministers |
| Northern Ireland | Planning Act (Northern Ireland) 2011 | Councils, with appeals to the Planning Appeals Commission |
England and Wales share the 1990 Act, but some rules differ. A full planning permission must be begun within three years in England and five in Wales. The National Planning Policy Framework applies in England only. Outside England, start with that nation's own Act and policy.
The local plan and the NPPF
The development plan is not one document. In England it can include several layers:
- The local plan. Prepared by the council, it sets out where homes, jobs and other uses should go.
- A spatial development strategy. In London this is the London Plan, prepared by the Mayor.
- A neighbourhood plan. Once made, it becomes part of the statutory development plan for its area.
- Other plans. Minerals and waste plans, supplementary plans and the policies map.
Government guidance says plans "set out a vision and a framework for the future development of the area". Before a local plan is adopted, a planning inspector appointed by the Secretary of State examines it. The inspector tests whether the plan is sound. Councils must review their plans at least every five years from adoption.
The law on plan-making is changing. The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 brings in a new system for local plans, with parts in force from 25 March 2026. Check which system your council's plan was made under.
Where the NPPF fits
The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) is national policy for England. The current version was published on 17 August 2026 and replaced the December 2024 framework. It calls itself "a material consideration of critical importance".
In practice, the NPPF does two jobs. It tells councils how to write their local plans. It also guides decisions where the local plan is silent, out of date or short of housing land. Our guide to the NPPF explained covers the 2026 policies in detail.
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Who decides planning applications
The local planning authority decides almost every application. In England that is the district, borough or unitary council. In London it is the borough, or the City of London.
Inside the council, the decision is taken in one of two ways:
- Delegated decision. A planning officer decides under powers handed down by the council. Each council sets its own scheme of delegation.
- Planning committee. Councillors decide the cases the council reserves for them. The officer writes a report and recommends a decision.
Councillors are bound by the same rule as officers. Government guidance says they "must do so in accordance with the development plan". Local opposition is weighed only where it raises planning matters.
| Body | Role |
|---|---|
| Mayor of London | Larger schemes, such as more than 150 homes, are referred before the borough decides |
| Secretary of State | Can call in an application and decide it instead of the council (section 77) |
| Planning Inspectorate | Decides appeals against refusals, conditions or a missed deadline (section 78) |
Many smaller projects never reach the council at all. Permitted development rights grant permission in advance for them. Our guide on whether you need planning permission sets out where those rights stop.
The stages of a planning application
A planning application in England moves through the same stages, whatever its size. The detail grows with the scheme.
- Pre-application advice. You can ask the council for an early view. Councils may charge for it, but not more than the cost of the service.
- Validation. The council checks the form, the plans, the fee and its local list of documents. Nothing is assessed until the application is valid.
- Consultation. The council publicises the scheme, by a site notice for at least 21 days or letters to neighbours. It also consults bodies such as highways.
- Assessment. The officer tests the scheme against the development plan, the NPPF and the comments received.
- Decision. The council grants permission, with or without conditions, or refuses it.
- After the decision. You discharge the conditions, sign any section 106 agreement and start work within the time limit.
The legal target for a decision is 8 weeks, or 13 weeks for major development. A major scheme means 10 or more homes or a site of 0.5 hectares or more. Schemes that need an environmental impact assessment have 16 weeks.
If the council refuses, you can appeal. For applications made on or after 1 April 2026, you usually have 6 months from the decision. Householder and minor commercial refusals have 12 weeks.
Planning permission is not the last consent. Building regulations approval is a separate application. The full route, with documents and fees, is in our guide on how to get planning permission.
Where planning consultants fit
A planning consultant works for the applicant, not the council. The job is to find what a site can take under the plan, and then make that case.
On a development, a consultant usually covers four things:
- Site appraisal. Reading the local plan, the planning history and any heritage limits before you buy or design.
- Strategy. Choosing the route: full, outline, prior approval or a pre-application meeting first.
- The application. Writing the planning statement and pulling together the reports the local list asks for.
- Negotiation. Dealing with the officer, the committee, section 106 terms and conditions.
Early advice matters most on sites with heritage limits. At Allitsen Road in St John's Wood, a vacant corner building in a conservation area became four costed options in four weeks.
The statute behind all of this is set out in our guide to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. For pre-application costs, see our guide to pre-application planning advice.
You do not have to work through every layer of policy alone. Tell us where the site is, then get a free site appraisal. We test it against the local plan and the NPPF, then price what could be built. You see the likely route before you buy land or commission a design.
