A narrow period house on Heath Street in Hampstead with a bay window, pale green render and a small front garden — Photograph: Images George Rex (CC BY-SA 2.0)

01Planning

Changing a London planning permission after it is granted

Plans move between consent and the builder's first spade: a window shifts, a roof lowers, the staircase turns. Many such changes can be made without a new application. We draw the revision and write the covering statement, for work we drew. From £325, fixed before we start.

From £325

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02The fee

One fixed fee, published

Planning amendment

from £325

The total you pay. No VAT to add.

Ask for your fixed fee

What you get

A written view on which route fits your change: non-material amendment, section 73, or a new application
Revised drawings with the change clouded against the approved set
A short covering statement for the officer, explaining why the change is acceptable
The application form, submitted with the council's fee form
Replies to officer queries, and a free redraw if the officer asks for it

The council fee for a non-material amendment is £46 on a householder permission and £309 otherwise; it is paid to the council. Our fee covers revisions to drawings we prepared and carries no VAT to add.

03How it runs

From change of mind to an amended consent

Choose the route first: the wrong application is refused or wastes the fee.

Georgian brick terrace with sash windows, arched fanlight doorways, stone steps and iron railings in London — Photograph: Lorenc Memaga

04Planning

Is your change material or not?

The law gives no definition of non-material. Whether a change is acceptable under that route depends on the wider scheme, and the council must be satisfied that the change is not material when judged against the permission as it was first granted, together with any earlier non-material changes.

A window moved a few hundred millimetres, a slightly different roof pitch or a rooflight added to the rear slope often falls on the right side of the line. An extra storey, a new bay or a wider footprint does not, and a request that tries to pass as non-material is refused.

Red-brick Queen Anne style houses on Marlborough Crescent in Bedford Park with white sash windows and tall chimneys — Houses in Bedford Park: a shifted window or chimney is a small amendment; a new storey would not be.Photograph: stevecadman, CC BY-SA 2.0

05Planning

Twenty-eight days against eight weeks

The guidance sets 28 days for a non-material amendment, or a longer period if you agree it in writing. That compares well with eight weeks for a new application, and the fee is a fraction of it, which is why it is the route to prefer whenever the change truly fits.

If it does not, a minor material amendment under section 73 can vary conditions, such as the list of approved plans. It produces a new permission and leaves the original intact, and for a householder it carries the same £89 fee as discharging a condition.

Fees taken from the national table that applies from April 2026.

06Planning

Before the builder reads the old drawings

Once the amended permission is issued, the approved drawings change, and conditions that refer to the old list may need to be revisited. We update the sheet register and check each condition against it, so the builder and building control work from the same set.

If your changes are larger, say a deeper extension, the honest answer may be a new application. See our planning drawings for that route, and discharge of planning conditions for what follows consent.

A hand drawing a floor plan with a black pen on tracing paper — A revised plan: the change is clouded so the officer sees at once what moved.Photograph: homegets.com, CC BY 2.0

07The record

Figures that shape the job

28 days
Period for deciding a non-material amendment application, or longer if agreed in writing.
Source: Planning Practice Guidance, Flexible options for planning permissions, paragraph 007, checked 25 Oct 2026
No definition
The law gives no definition of non-material; it depends on the wider scheme.
Source: Planning Practice Guidance, Flexible options for planning permissions, paragraph 002, checked 25 Oct 2026
s96A
A council may change a permission if satisfied that the change is not material, judged against the permission as originally granted.
Source: Town and Country Planning Act 1990, section 96A, checked 25 Oct 2026
£46
Fee for a non-material amendment to a householder permission, from 1 April 2026; £309 for any other development.
Source: Ribble Valley Borough Council, national fee table from 1 April 2026, checked 25 Oct 2026
£89
Fee to vary or remove a condition on a householder permission under section 73, from 1 April 2026.
Source: Ribble Valley Borough Council, national fee table from 1 April 2026, checked 25 Oct 2026
New permission
A section 73 grant creates a new, independent permission, and the original remains intact.
Source: Planning Practice Guidance, Flexible options for planning permissions, paragraph 014, checked 25 Oct 2026
8 weeks
Time a council has to decide a new non-major application once it is valid.
Source: Development Management Procedure Order 2015, article 34, checked 15 Oct 2026

08Questions

What clients ask before they instruct us

Can I amend a permission that another firm drew?

We revise drawings we prepared. For someone else's, we can still advise on the route and prepare the covering note, but the drawings stay with their author or are redrawn on a quote.

How long does an amendment take?

The council's period for a non-material amendment is 28 days unless you agree a longer one. A new application takes eight weeks, so the right route can save a month.

What does your fee cover?

Revised sheets, the covering statement, the application and replies to the officer, from £325 with no VAT to add. The council's fee is separate.

What if the council says the change is material?

We then apply under section 73 or make a new application, using the same revised drawings. The covering statement is recast for the new route at no extra drawing charge.

Does an amendment change the conditions?

It can, and the conditions list the approved drawings, which an amendment replaces. We check each condition for that. For the conditions themselves, see discharge of planning conditions.

09Related

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Send us the address of your house.

We look up the conservation area, listing and Article 4 position, then reply with a fixed fee. A message before 3pm is answered the same working day.

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