A Design and Access Statement must accompany both applications for outline planning permission and full applications for planning permission, and generally will be required for all planning and listed building consent applications except applications for planning permission only for:
- A material change of use of land and buildings, (unless it also involves operational development);
- Engineering or mining operations;
- Householder developments: statements are required for applications where any part of a dwelling house or its curtilage fall within one of the following designated areas:
- Site of special scientific interest
- Conservation area
- Area of outstanding natural beauty
A design and access statement is a short report accompanying and supporting a planning application that should seek to explain and justify the proposal in a structured way. The level of detail required in a design and access statement will depend on the scale and complexity of the application, and the length of the statement will vary accordingly. The design and access statement should cover both the design principles and concepts that have been applied to the proposed development and how issues relating to access to the development have been dealt with. A design and access statement should be proportionate to the complexity of the application, but need not be long. What is required in a design and access statement is set out in article 4C of the General Development Procedure Order 1995.