27th March 2012, 12:06 PM
tmsarch Wrote:In my experience it is rarely, if ever, possible to keep a condition 'undischarged' until the full publication report has been finished - although in an ideal world this would be great.
The pace of the building trade compared with archaeological post-ex means that invariably the development will be completed and ready to sell a long-time before the publication is ready. Selling developments with outstanding planning conditions is pretty much a no-no.
Planning officers are in my experience are often reluctant to keep archaeological conditions in place once development is underway and would certainly want to see the condition discharged before houses are released to market. Most people on here seem to forget that curators only advise planning officers - the ultimate decision as to whether to discharge or not lies with the LPA. Most LPAs charge for discharging planning conditions - around ?85 a pop so this is a useful income generator for them.
Our approach is to insist on a written undertaking from the developer and archaeological contractor to complete the full post-excavation and publication programme as well as written confirmation that the funding to undertake this work has been secured and 'ring-fenced'. The condition is then discharged on this basis and can only be considered to have been fully complied with once the full programme is finished.
Hi
I think your planners are right tmsarch and I'm sure you know that the idea that a condition has to remain "undischarged" to be applicable is not legal fact. Depending on the condition wording (but based on the Model 55 wording) a condition is discharge at the point where the developer (successors in title etc) submit a WSI. Exactly the same as when they submit a landscaping scheme or any other scheme. They still have to implement the scheme to have a legal planning permission. It doesn't matter that the LPA have discharged the condition as the WSI is the basis for the discharge.
I'm a little worried about the ring-fencing bit though. Planning conditions shouldn't be used to require payment or control financial issues as that should be agreed in a S106. I don't think you can require written confirmation of funding as a reason not to discharge a condition (laudable though your aim might be)
Steven