Plan a scheme of 10 to 49 homes

A scheme of 10 to 49 homes is major development in law, however small it feels next to a large estate. Expect the major-development rules below to apply in full.

Plan the timetable

The decision period runs from a valid application and is 16 weeks if the scheme needs an environmental impact assessment. The council can ask you to agree a longer period in writing. Build any Section 106 negotiation into the decision period, not after it.

From 31 October 2026, the national scheme of delegation decides who takes the decision. Householder, minor commercial and minor residential schemes of up to 9 homes on under 0.5 hectares must be decided by an officer. Your scheme is not in that group, but it is presumed to be decided by an officer too. It goes to committee only if the council's nominated officer and the chair agree and one of the regulations' criteria is met, such as a significant local economic, social or environmental issue.

Submit the documents

Ask the council for its local validation list before you apply, because it sets what makes an application valid. For a major scheme it will normally include:

• a design and access statement, which the 2015 Order requires for major development
• a planning statement that sets out the planning obligations you propose
• a transport statement or assessment
• a site-specific flood risk assessment and a sustainable drainage statement, where flood policy applies to the site
• a viability assessment, only if you are asking for lower obligations than policy requires and can justify it

Settle the Section 106 agreement

Raise the obligations at pre-application stage and price them into your land appraisal. Each obligation must meet the three legal tests, and the council's evidence should show how it did.

Deal with biodiversity net gain after permission

Biodiversity net gain is not a ground for refusal at application stage. Instead, permission is subject to a condition that you submit a biodiversity gain plan, and have it approved, before you start work.

Budget for the Building Safety Levy

A scheme of 10 or more homes is chargeable, and splitting it into several building control applications does not avoid the levy.

Give the building control body the levy information with the application and again at commencement. The collecting authority then issues a levy liability notice or a notice of no charge, usually within 5 weeks. You cannot get a completion certificate until the levy is paid, so build the charge into your cash flow.

Changes that may follow

These are proposals or announcements, not law, so do not price a scheme on them:

• Budget 2026 announced a future biodiversity net gain exemption for residential brownfield development, with no start date yet.
• A consultation on biodiversity net gain for minor, medium and brownfield development opened on 15 April 2026.
• A consultation on four standard Section 106 templates for medium-sized sites ran from 25 August to 20 October 2026.