In a statement issued today, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) confirmed measures to “enable development which has already received the grant of planning permission or listed building consent and would lapse between 23 March and 31 December 2020 to be extended until 1 April 2021”. 

Planning permissions expire after three years unless work begins on the project within that time. Following the Covid-19 lockdown in mid-March, many in the development sector lobbied for extensions to planning permissions that were due to expire, arguing that many builders were unable to start on site. 

A spokeswoman for the MHCLG was asked when and how the measures announced in the statement would come into effect and they advised that further details “will be set out in due course”. Reports suggest that it would “form part of the coronavirus recovery bill, which ministers hope to fast-track through parliament”.