Planning application guidance for schools

Reviewed January 2020

 

School planning application scenarios

1. The anticipated date for determination of the planning application (with sufficient contingency for delay) is prior to likely academy conversion.

Submit as a regulation 3 application. The regulation 3 permission will then be implemented by the county council.

2. The anticipated date for determination of the planning application is close to or after the likely date for academy conversion.

Regulation 3 applications can only be implemented by the county council. If the development is going to be implemented by the county council and then transferred to an academy the application must be submitted as a regulation 3 application. If however the transfer to the academy will take place prior to the implementation the application must go to the district because the academy cannot implement a regulation 3 permission.  In either case a justification why the work is required to meet the county council’s statutory obligations as education authority should be included.

3. Proposed works are on an academy or diocese school that are delivered by the county council or funded in whole or in part by the county council through a funding agreement.

Submit as a joint application between OCC and academy / diocese as regulation 3. Attach justification as to why the work is required to meet the county councils statutory obligations as education authority. The case must be made that it is a joint application. The direction of the application would depend on who would be the lead on the development. If it would be the responsibility of an OCC Officer and the academy would defer to them, then the development would be a county council development and must be submitted as a regulation 3 application. If however the development was being carried out by the academy board and funded by the county council it would not come under regulation 3 and the application must be submitted to the district council. A statement setting out the relationship of the parties should be drawn up and then advice sought from the county’s Development Management Team. The statement would then also be included in the application.

4. The proposed works are being delivered by an academy, a diocese school, or as a self-help scheme at a county school.

The application must be submitted to the district council because Oxfordshire County Council will not be the developer and a regulation 3 planning permission cannot be implemented by other parties..

5. The proposed works are on an academy or diocese school that are being delivered by the diocese / academy and funded by others (such as the Education Funding Agency) but are required by the county council to meet their statutory obligations then submit the planning application to the district council.

Regulation 3 only applies where the planning authority intend to either develop the land themselves or jointly with any other person.  The fact that the development is delivering one of our statutory obligations is not a matter that is relevant to the terms of the regulation. The application must therefore be submitted to the district council.

Notes

There are risks in submitting a joint OCC / academy planning application and determining it as a regulation 3 application.  Those risks have to be assessed and only if they are considered acceptable should we proceed.

These risks are:

  • challenge on ground the application does not fall within regulation 3
  • Challenge by means of judicial review (high cost to an objector, unlikely to achieve their aims, should be resolvable by a retrospective application)

If the developer has gained outline consent from the district council then any reserved matter applications would also have to be made to the district council. However the application can be made as a fresh application through the regulation 3 process. The outline consent would continue to be a material consideration in the determination of the application.