Part 3: Planning Construction working hours Section 17: Extension of duration of certain planning permissions
Sections 17 to 19 make provision to allow the commencement period for certain unimplemented planning permissions and listed building consents to be extended. This is to ensure relevant permissions and consents are still extant, enabling development to commence following delays caused by Covid-19.
	Section 17, which provides for an extension of the duration of certain planning permissions, temporarily modifies the effect of the TCPA 1990 which is to be read as if new sections 93A-93C were inserted in it (see subsection (2)) and modifications were made to section 78 (see subsection (3)) and Schedule 1 (see subsection (4)).
	New section 93A will modify any condition that imposes a time limit for commencement of development pursuant to a relevant planning permission for those permissions where the time limit for commencement of development is due to expire between the date that section 17 comes into force and 31 December 2020. The time limit for commencement of development pursuant to these permissions will be extended to 1 May 2021.
	New section 93B will have the same effect as new section 93A (that is to say, an extension of the time limit for commencement of development to 1 May 2021) for a relevant planning permission where the time limit for commencement expired between 23 March 2020 and the date on which section 17 comes into force, if an "additional environmental approval" is granted or deemed to be granted in relation to that permission.
	In respect of additional environmental approval:
an application for additional environmental approval may be submitted to a local planning authority by a person with an interest in the relevant land or a person acting on their behalf;
applications are required to be submitted using electronic communications in a manner specified by the relevant local planning authority, and to include sufficient information:
to enable the local planning authority to identify the relevant planning permission and time limit; and
to determine whether additional environmental approval should be granted;
the local planning authority is to grant additional environmental approval if it is satisfied that the EIA and Habitats requirements are met;
the EIA requirement is met if either:
the development contains no EIA development within the meaning of the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017; or
the development remains the subject of an up-to-date Environmental Impact Assessment within the meaning of those Regulations.
the Habitats requirement is met if either:
the development would not require an assessment in accordance with regulation 63(1) of the Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017; or
the development was previously the subject of an assessment in accordance with that regulation which ascertained that the development would not adversely affect the integrity of a European site or European offshore marine site, and which remains up-to-date;
the local planning authority must have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State;
the local planning authority must issue a decision to grant or refuse additional environmental approval within 28 days, or such longer period agreed in writing between the local planning authority and applicant (such longer period not to exceed an additional 21 days). If the local planning authority does not issue a decision within the 28-day period (or as extended), it is deemed to have granted additional environmental approval;
an applicant may appeal to the Secretary of State against a decision to refuse additional environmental approval;
additional environmental approval may not be granted conditionally; and
no additional environmental approval may be granted or deemed to be granted after 31 December 2020, unless the grant is on an appeal lodged on or before that date.
	New section 93C defines "relevant planning permission" for the purposes of new sections 93A and 93B.
	Subsection (3) of section 17 modifies section 78(1) to provide a right of appeal against a refusal of additional environmental approval.
	Subsection (4) modifies Schedule 1 to identify the local planning authority to which an application for additional environmental approval is to be submitted.
	Subsection (5) modifies the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) Order 2015 to require details of additional environmental approvals to be recorded by a local planning register authority.
	Subsection (6) provides that the modifications to the TCPA 1990 and the 2015 Order detailed above expire at the end of 1 May 2021.
	Subsection (7) enables the Secretary of State, if he considers it reasonable to do so to mitigate an effect of coronavirus, to make regulations to amend the duration of the extension of time limits referred to above, and permissions to which such extensions apply, by substituting certain dates in the legislation with later dates, being:
the latest time limit for commencement which will be modified by this section 17 (set by this legislation as 31 December 2020);
the date to which relevant time limits for commencement will be modified (set by this legislation as 1 May 2021);
the date after which no application for additional environmental approval may be granted or deemed to be granted, except on appeal (set by this legislation as 31 December 2020); and
the date on which subsections (1) to (5) expire (set by this legislation as 1 May 2021).
	Subsections (8) and (9) provide that the Secretary of State may, if making regulations under subsection (7) for any further or additional extension of time limits, require that such further or additional extensions be subject to further approval.
	An example of how these provisions would apply to certain planning permissions is detailed in the text box below.
Example 1: Cases of development with an extant planning permission
An unimplemented planning permission was granted on 11 November 2017. This was granted subject to a requirement to commence within 3 years, imposed as a condition limiting the duration of planning permission under section 91 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. Therefore, the planning permission would be required to be begun not later than 11 November 2020.
Under the provisions of this Act, this planning permission will now be required to be begun not later than 1 May 2021.
Example 2: Cases of development where planning permission has lapsed
An unimplemented planning permission for development which was required to undergo Environment Impact Assessment (but not an appropriate assessment under the Habitats Regulations) was granted on 15 April 2017, subject to a requirement to commence within 3 years, imposed as a condition limiting the duration of planning permission under section 91. This permission was not commenced before 15 April 2020 and has consequently lapsed.
As this permission lapsed before the date on which section 17 comes into effect, in order to be extended to 1 May 2021, a person with an interest in the land (or someone on their behalf) would have to submit an application for additional environmental approval to the local planning authority. In this case, additional environmental approval should be granted if (a) the Environmental Impact Assessment remains up to date, and (b) it remains the case that no appropriate assessment under the Habitats Regulations would be required, if planning permission for the development were being granted now. If the local planning authority is satisfied on these points, and so grants additional environmental approval, the permission would benefit from an extension to 1 May 2021.