Part 1Preliminary

Citation, commencement, extent and application

article 1 + 1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the Town and Country Planning (Crown Development) (Urgent Applications) (Procedure) (England) Order 2025 and comes into force on 1st May 2025.

(2) This Order extends to England and Wales.

(3) This Order applies in relation to England only.

(4) This Order applies to all land in England, but where land is the subject of a special development order(1) this Order applies to that land only to such extent and subject to such modifications as may be specified in the special development order.

Interpretation

article 2 + 2.  In this Order—

term the 1990 act + “the 1990 Act” means the Town and Country Planning Act 1990;

term the2015 order + “the 2015 Order” means the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015(2);

term site + term access + “access” in relation to reserved matters, means the accessibility to and within the site, for vehicles, cycles and pedestrians in terms of the positioning and treatment of access and circulation routes and how these fit into the surrounding access network, where “site” means the site or part of the site in respect of which outline planning permission is granted, or, as the case may be, in respect of which an application for such permission has been made;

term appearance + “appearance” means the aspects of a building or place within the development which determine the visual impression the building or place makes, including the external built form of the development, its architecture, materials, decoration, lighting, colour and texture;

term building + “building” includes any structure or erection, and any part of a building, as defined in this article but does not include plant, machinery or any structure in the nature of plant or machinery;

term document + “document” includes a photograph, map or plan;

term eia application + “EIA application” means a urgent Crown development application in respect of EIA development which is accompanied by an environmental statement;

term eia development + “EIA development” and “environmental statement” have the same meaning as in the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017(3);

term electronic communication + “electronic communication” has the meaning given in section 15(1) of the Electronic Communications Act 2000(4);

term landscaping + “landscaping”, in relation to a site or any part of a site for which outline planning permission has been granted, or, as the case may be, in respect of which an application for such permission has been made, means the treatment of land (other than buildings) for the purpose of enhancing or protecting the amenities of the site and the area in which it is situated and includes—

term layout + “layout” means the way in which buildings, routes and open spaces within the development are provided, situated and orientated in relation to each other and to buildings and spaces outside the development;

term local planning register authority + “local planning register authority” has the meaning given in article 40(1) of the 2015 Order;

term outline planning permission + “outline planning permission” means a planning permission for the erection of a building which is granted subject to a condition requiring subsequent approval with respect to one or more reserved matters;

term public holiday + “public holiday” means Christmas Day, Good Friday or a day which under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971(5) is a bank holiday in England;

term relevant local planning authority + “relevant local planning authority” means the local planning authority to whom an application could otherwise have been made had it not been made to the Secretary of State under section 293B of the 1990 Act;

term reserved matters + “reserved matters” in relation to an outline planning permission, or an application for such permission, means any of the following matters in respect of which details have not been given in the application—

term scale + “scale”, except in article 8, means the height, width and length of each building proposed within the development in relation to its surroundings;

term by site display + “by site display” means by the posting of the notice by firm fixture to some object, sited and displayed in such a way as to be easily visible and legible by members of the public;

term urgent crown development application + “urgent Crown development application” means an application made in accordance with section 293B of the 1990 Act;

term working day + “working day” means a day which is not a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday.

Electronic communications

article 3 + 3.—(1) In this Order, and in relation to the use of electronic communications for any purpose of this Order which is capable of being carried out electronically—

article 3 1 a + (a)term address + the expression “address” includes any number or address used for the purpose of such communications, and

article 3 1 b + (b)references to applications, notices, documents, drawings, certificates or other documents, or to copies of such things, include references to such documents or copies of them in electronic form.

term the recipient + (2) Paragraphs (3) to (6) apply where an electronic communication is used by a person for the purpose of fulfilling any requirement in this Order to give or send any application, notice, other document or information to any other person (“the recipient”).

(3) A requirement is taken to be fulfilled where the application, notice or other document transmitted by the electronic communication is—

article 3 3 a + (a)capable of being accessed by the recipient,

article 3 3 b + (b)legible in all material respects, and

article 3 3 c + (c)sufficiently permanent to be used for subsequent reference.

term legible in all material respects + (4) In paragraph (3), “legible in all material respects” means that the information contained in the application, notice or document is available to the recipient to no lesser extent than it would be if sent or given by means of a document in printed form.

(5) Where the electronic communication is received by the recipient outside the recipient’s business hours, it is taken to have been received on the next working day.

(6) A requirement in this Order that any application, notice or other document is in writing is fulfilled where the document satisfies the criteria in paragraph (3).