{"id":163835,"date":"2016-12-15T11:57:51","date_gmt":"2016-12-15T11:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lightsourcebp.com\/news\/pre-commencement-conditions-governments-latest-announcement\/"},"modified":"2023-07-25T04:18:02","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T04:18:02","slug":"pre-commencement-conditions-governments-latest-announcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/news\/pre-commencement-conditions-governments-latest-announcement\/","title":{"rendered":"Pre-Commencement Conditions: government’s latest announcement"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n

Pre-Commencement Conditions: government's latest announcement<\/h1>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
<\/div>\n<\/section>\n \n\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n \n \n \n \n \"\"\n\n <\/picture>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n
\n
<\/div>\n\n \n
\n
\n
\n \n

Pre-Commencement Conditions <\/span><\/h4>\n

It\u2019s that time of the year again \u2013 no not Christmas party season, although the fairy lights, tinsel and champagne are definitely in place \u2013 but solar farm building season. Due to the annual FiT\/ROC connection deadline of 31st of March, there is always a big push to build out solar farms over the winter. This year is even more pressing, with the closure of the ROC scheme to solar PV going forward.<\/p>\n

One thing that can delay the start of construction is the requirement to discharge pre-commencement conditions (PCCs), which have a statutory determination period of 8 weeks (and failure to do so pre-construction could well land you on that naughty list!).<\/p>\n

Therefore, I welcomed the Government\u2019s announcement in October that the Neighbourhood Planning Bill would include reforms to planning conditions that would require LPAs to get written approval from applicants before imposing PCCs. Their Factsheet on this states that \u2018The authority could not grant planning permission subject to pre-commencement conditions unless written agreement had been given by the applicant to the terms of the condition\u2019. <\/em>Where agreement cannot be met, the LPA has the option of either rewording the condition as a compliance condition, removing the condition \u2013 or if they feel approval cannot be granted without the information, then they can refuse the application.<\/p>\n

On first look this seems like an eminently sensible approach. Too often we have been the recipients of unnecessary PCCs. For example, PCCs requiring the submission of management plans already submitted with and assessed as part of the application. This results in a farcical situation where we are re-submitting documents that have already been assessed as acceptable, and waiting up to 8 weeks for statutory consultee approval to be re-confirmed and the condition formally discharged.<\/p>\n

However, ultimately the power still lies with the LPA, and there have been some concerns that where an applicant does not agree to proposed PCCs, the LPA might simply sit on the application until they agree. With the upcoming expansion of the \u2018special measures\u2019 regime meaning more LPAs could face being placed in special measures for failure to meet determination targets, I would not expect such tactics to be widespread. Perhaps more likely might be an abrupt refusal of planning permission if the LPA has run out of time to negotiate planning conditions.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to watch how the proposals progress, and to see how it works in practice. I am hopeful that if all parties enter into discussions on conditions in the spirit intended by the reforms that it will have a positive impact on the delivery of development projects.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, for the portfolio of sites Lightsource aims to build out this winter, the final PCCs were discharged a couple of weeks ago \u2013 so from a planning perspective at least, Santa\u2019s sleigh is packed and ready to go!<\/p>\n\n <\/span>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n
\n
<\/div>\n\n
\n
\n
\n

Related news <\/h3>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n

26 Jan, 2026<\/p>\n \n

Farming and energy – working side by side<\/h5>\n <\/a>\n

Sheep grazing on solar farms combines agriculture with solar electricity generation, enabling livestock to graze and crops to grow alongside and beneath solar panels.<\/p>\n

Read Story <\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n

29 May, 2025<\/p>\n \n

Lightsource bp publishes 2024 Sustainability Report\u00a0\u00a0<\/h5>\n <\/a>\n

Lightsource bp, a global trusted partner in delivering onshore renewable energy solutions, is pleased to publish its 2024 Sustainability Report.<\/p>\n

Read Story <\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n \n \"\"<\/picture>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n

16 Apr, 2025<\/p>\n \n

Opportunities for combining farming and solar in Ireland<\/h5>\n <\/a>\n

The Lightsource bp team travelled to Dublin to meet with a broad range of representatives from the Irish government for a session to discuss combining solar and farming.<\/p>\n

Read Story <\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n

<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[668],"tags":[],"filter_by":[667],"filter_tags":[],"class_list":["post-163835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corporate-en-ie-ie","filter_by-press-releases-ie"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163835"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":300641,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163835\/revisions\/300641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163835"},{"taxonomy":"filter_by","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/filter_by?post=163835"},{"taxonomy":"filter_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sandbox.lightsourcebp.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/filter_tags?post=163835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}