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Class C: Mine maintenance and safety
Part 17 Class C covers development required to maintain a mine or disused mine, or to protect the surface of land at or next to it. It is a safety and maintenance right, with a specific exclusion for the Coal Authority and licensed coal operators.
Those bodies should examine Class G instead. A safety purpose alone does not remove the relevant siting, appearance and approval controls.
England only. For other jurisdictions, see the Welsh GPDO or local legislation.
Need help with permitted development?
Permitted development can avoid a full planning application, but only if the right applies and every relevant limit and condition is met. Planning Geek can check the planning history, Article 4 directions and other restrictions, and help with a lawful development certificate or prior approval where needed.
Who can use Class C?
Class C does not permit development carried out by the Coal Authority or a licensed operator within the Coal Industry Act 1994 definition. Its broad description is limited by that express exclusion.
When prior approval applies
The mineral planning authority’s prior approval of detailed siting, design and external appearance is generally needed for the relevant building, plant or machinery. C.2(2) sets a narrow exception: the mine’s external appearance must not be materially affected, the height tests must be met, and building works must be within the 25% cubic-content and 1,000 square metre floorspace increases. Check every limb together. The authority’s grounds for refusing or conditioning approval concern amenity or reasonable alternative siting.
Relevant legislation
Read the current GPDO Schedule 2 Part 17 text together with the general limits in Article 3. The statutory extract below provides the detailed class wording; check the consolidated text for any later changes.
Class C: Mine maintenance and safety statutory wording
Class C – developments for maintenance or safety
Permitted development
C. The carrying out of development required for the maintenance or safety of a mine or a disused mine or for the purposes of ensuring the safety of the surface of the land at or adjacent to a mine or a disused mine.
Development not permitted
C.1 Development is not permitted by Class C if it is carried out by the Coal Authority or any licensed operator within the meaning of section 65 of the Coal Industry Act 1994 (interpretation).
Conditions
C.2— (1) Subject to sub-paragraphs (2) and (3), development is permitted by Class C subject to the prior approval of the mineral planning authority of detailed proposals for the siting, design and external appearance of the building, plant or machinery proposed to be erected, installed, extended or altered.
(2) The prior approval referred to in sub-paragraph (1) is not required if—
(a) the external appearance of the mine or disused mine at or adjacent to which the development is to be carried out would not be materially affected;
(b) no building, plant, machinery, structure or erection—
(i) would exceed a height of 15 metres above ground level, or
(ii) where any building, plant, machinery, structure or erection is rearranged, replaced or repaired, would exceed a height of 15 metres above ground level or the height of what was rearranged, replaced or repaired, whichever is the greater, and
(c) the development consists of the extension, alteration or replacement of an existing building, within the limits set out in sub-paragraph (4).
(3) The prior approval referred to in sub-paragraph (1) may not be refused or granted subject to conditions unless the authority are satisfied that it is expedient to do so because—
(a) the proposed development would injure the amenity of the neighbourhood and modifications could reasonably be made or conditions reasonably imposed in order to avoid or reduce that injury; or
(b) the proposed development ought to be, and could reasonably be, sited elsewhere.
(4) The limits referred to in paragraph C.2(2)(c) are—
(a) that the cubic content of the building as extended, altered or replaced does not exceed that of the existing building by more than 25%; and
(b) that the floor space of the building as extended, altered or replaced does not exceed that of the existing building by more than 1,000 square metres.
Page created: 16th August 2023
Page updated: 24th September 2026