When submitting an Outline application, the applicant can decide on the amount of details that will be submitted for approval. More details are reserved to be submitted at a later stage, after seeing the outcome of the Outline application. The additional details will be submitted on a separate application, called ‘reserved matters’ application; as the name implies, this application includes details on all matters that were reserved on Outline application stage.
This is a good way for developers with projects that are not straight-forward, to see if the application will go through planning, then spend more time and money in further developing the project.
Reserved Matters applications must include details on the following areas (try to remember as ‘L-A-S-A-L’):
| LAYOUT | 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. |
| APPEARANCE | 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. |
| SCALE | the height, width and length of each building proposed within the development in relation to its surroundings. |
| ACCESS | 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. |
| LANDSCAPE | 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: (a) screening by fences, walls or other means; (b) the planting of trees, hedges, shrubs or grass; (c) the formation of banks, terraces or other earthworks; (d) the laying out or provision of gardens, courts, squares, water features, sculpture or public art; and (e) the provision of other amenity features. |
Following the permission granting of an outline application, subsequent reserved matters applications should be submitted within 3 years of the approval date.
