Validation requirements: what a council can ask for

 

Validation requirements are the documents and information needed before a planning application can be treated as valid and move into the decision-making process. In England there is a statutory national baseline, together with local information requirements contained in a council’s formally adopted local validation list.

The August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework adds an important third layer to understand: policies DM1 and DM2, together with Annex C, now set national policy on the information that local validation lists should ask for. They do not replace the statutory validity rules, but they materially tighten the policy framework within which councils prepare their local lists.

Getting validation right matters because the statutory determination period normally starts with the day after the authority receives a valid application. A dispute about an unnecessary survey or assessment can therefore delay the start of the planning clock before the merits of the proposal have even been considered.

 

The statutory national validation requirements

 

A valid application for planning permission must use the required application form, provide the national information required for that application, and include the correct fee. The national requirements include the plans and drawings needed to identify and describe the development, the correct ownership certificate and agricultural land declaration, and a Design and Access Statement where one is required.

A Fire Statement is also a national information requirement for the categories of application to which the statutory fire-safety gateway applies. There are additional national requirements for particular application types, including outline applications and development requiring Environmental Impact Assessment.

There are also national information requirements concerning biodiversity net gain (BNG). Where article 7(1A) of the Development Management Procedure Order applies, the application must state whether the applicant believes the biodiversity gain condition would apply and give reasons if it would not. Where the applicant believes it would apply, the specified baseline biodiversity information, metric calculations and habitat information must accompany the application. This initial information is distinct from the Biodiversity Gain Plan submitted for approval after permission is granted. Article 7(1B) excludes section 73 applications from these particular application-stage requirements.

These national requirements are different from a council’s local list. A council cannot waive a statutory requirement merely because it considers the information unnecessary on the facts of the case.

 

What the August 2026 NPPF adds: DM1, DM2 and Annex C

 

The new NPPF does not turn every item in Annex C into a new statutory national validation requirement. Instead, it sets national policy for the information needed to determine development proposals and for what councils should put on their local validation lists.

DM1 says proposals for major development should be informed by proportionate early engagement and should be accompanied by a concise planning statement. That statement should explain:

• how the proposal is consistent with the relevant development plan and national decision-making policies;
• the outcome of pre-application engagement and how the proposal changed in response; and
• the proposed use of any planning obligations needed to make the development acceptable

For other development, DM1 says the proposal should be supported by the minimum necessary information needed to make a decision.

DM2 then tells councils how to build their local validation lists. Those lists should include the information specified by relevant national decision-making policies, summarised in Annex C. Annex C includes, where the relevant policy applies, matters such as a planning statement, viability assessment, town-centre impact assessment, transport statement or assessment, travel plan, flood-risk assessment, SuDS statement, heritage assessment and specified environmental or ground-condition information.

Crucially, DM2 also says a local validation list should include additional information requirements only where a development plan policy requires a specific further assessment. Those additional requirements should be proportionate to the scale and potential impact of the proposal and, where appropriate, distinguish between major, medium and other development.

A new-style Supplementary Plan can provide that development-plan-policy basis because, once adopted, it forms part of the development plan. An old Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) does not have that status and cannot by itself supply this particular DM2 basis.

This is useful ammunition where a local validation list has become a generic shopping list applied indiscriminately to every application.

 

The legal limits on a council’s local validation list

 

Alongside the new national policy, the existing statutory limits remain important. Section 62(3) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows an authority to require supporting particulars and evidence, but section 62(4A) limits that power.

A local requirement must be:

• reasonable, having particular regard to the nature and scale of the proposed development; and
• about a matter which it is reasonable to think will be a material consideration in determining the application

The Government’s current application guidance also confirms that a local information requirement has no bearing on validity unless it appears on a formally adopted local list published on the authority’s website less than two years before the application is submitted. A council should review its local list at least every two years.

That creates a useful two-stage check after August 2026: does the demand satisfy the statutory section 62 tests, and is it consistent with the proportionate DM2 approach?

For England, you can find the relevant council list through our local validation requirements directory.

 

A local list does not mean every listed document is required every time

 

A good local list should explain the trigger for each document. A transport assessment may be entirely appropriate for a major scheme generating substantial movement, for example, while being plainly disproportionate for a modest development with no material transport effect.

The August 2026 NPPF strengthens that point. DM2 expressly rejects an approach where additional local information requirements are simply applied equally to all applications. The information should match the proposal’s scale, complexity and potential impact.

Likewise, some Annex C requirements arise only when the underlying national decision-making policy is engaged. Annex C is a summary of conditional policy information requirements, not a checklist to attach wholesale to every planning application.

 

AI declarations and validation

 

Some councils now ask applicants and agents to declare substantive use of AI in planning submissions. Checking evidence and explaining altered images or computer-produced analysis is sensible practice. Whether a missing declaration makes an application invalid is a separate question.

For an application for planning permission in England, a local AI declaration requirement must have a proper basis in the authority’s current published local validation list and meet section 62’s tests of reasonableness and materiality. Consultation and adoption do not make an otherwise unjustified demand lawful.

The August 2026 NPPF also requires proportionate information. DM1 expects the minimum information necessary for proposals other than major development. DM2 limits additional local-list requirements to those supported by a development-plan policy requiring a specific further assessment. Annex C does not introduce a general AI declaration.

A council may have good reason to investigate how particular evidence was produced or checked. That does not establish an unrestricted power to demand the same declaration on every submission, including confirmation that AI was not used. Non-material amendments, lawful development certificates and tree procedures have their own statutory requirements. A planning-permission checklist cannot simply replace those rules.

The Planning Inspectorate’s AI guidance concerns material submitted in proceedings it handles. It asks for substantive use, the tool, checks and responsibility to be disclosed, while excluding routine spelling, grammar, formatting and accessibility functions. It does not create a new national validity requirement for applications made to councils.

If a council refuses to validate an ordinary planning application solely because an AI declaration is missing, ask it to identify the applicable statutory provision, adopted local-list entry and justification for that application. Our validation dispute guide explains the article 12 route where it applies. The legality of an AI requirement depends on the wording and circumstances; we have not identified a reported judgment deciding that specific question.

 

If your council asks for too much

 

If a council refuses to validate because it says local information is missing, first check four things: whether the item is actually on the current local list; whether the list was published or republished within the last two years; whether the demand satisfies the section 62(4A) tests; and whether the way the requirement is being applied is proportionate under DM2.

If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the formal route is the Article 12 validation dispute procedure. The applicant serves an Article 12 notice explaining why the disputed information does not meet the statutory tests. The authority must then issue either a validation notice or a non-validation notice.

England does not provide a separate standalone appeal whose only subject is a refusal to validate. If a non-validation notice is maintained and the relevant determination period passes, an applicant can appeal for non-determination. The Planning Inspectorate then considers the validation dispute as part of that appeal.

 

The planning clock

 

Once a valid planning application has been received, the usual statutory periods are 8 weeks for standard applications, 13 weeks for major development and 16 weeks where an Environmental Impact Assessment is required, unless a different statutory period applies or a longer period is agreed in writing.

For those ordinary planning-permission cases, the period starts with the day after the authority receives the valid application. Other consent and approval procedures can have different periods, so do not automatically apply the 8/13/16-week figures to prior approvals, technical details consent or other specialist applications.

A council can request further information after an application has been validated, but current Government guidance makes clear that a later request under section 62(3) must still meet the statutory tests and does not undo the validity of an application which has already been validated and registered.

 

Should you fight a validation request?

 

Being legally right is not always the same as choosing the most economical route. If an inexpensive document can be supplied quickly and also improves the application, arguing for weeks may achieve very little. On the other hand, a disproportionate demand for a costly technical assessment can be worth challenging, particularly where the trigger is absent or the local list is out of date. Where the issue is acoustic evidence, see our guide to noise in planning applications.

The best time to identify these issues is before submission. Pre-application advice can sometimes clarify what the authority considers necessary, while the local validation list tells you what it is entitled to rely upon for validity.

If the application is subsequently refused on its planning merits rather than stalled at validation, see our planning appeals section.

 

Where to go next

 

Use our England validation-list directory to find your council’s current requirements. If the authority is refusing to validate, see the Article 12 validation dispute guide. For the wider application process, return to Planning Applications.

 

Relevant legislation and national policy

 

• Section 62, Town and Country Planning Act 1990: applications and local information requirements;
• Section 65, Town and Country Planning Act 1990: notices and ownership certificates;
• Article 7, Development Management Procedure Order 2015: applications for planning permission;
• Article 9, Development Management Procedure Order 2015: Design and Access Statements;
• Article 12, Development Management Procedure Order 2015: validation disputes;
• Article 34, Development Management Procedure Order 2015: determination periods and local information requirements;
• National Planning Policy Framework, August 2026: particularly DM1, DM2 and Annex C

Other Planning Application Sections

 

Validation Requirements Page Updated: 17th September 2026