Planning Permission in Jersey
We prepare, submit and argue around 100 planning and building bye-law applications a year in Jersey. Our planning success rate is 85%. On bye-law applications it is 100%.
Planning permission is the States of Jersey's consent to carry out development. In Jersey that consent is required far more often than islanders expect, because the permitted development rights that cover routine work in England are much narrower here. The Island Plan, the conservation areas, the listed building register and the coastal and green zones all bite on ordinary domestic projects.
This page explains when permission is needed, how the process runs, and what we do. If you would rather just ask, call07781 150662.
Why our advice on this is not generic
Mike Smith, who owns the practice, joined the Jersey Planning Department in 1984 as a Development Control Officer. He processed building bye-law applications, inspected work on site, and helped write the Jersey Building Bye-Laws that the island still works to. He has been on both sides of the counter.
That matters because most planning refusals in Jersey are not design failures. They are policy failures — the application did not answer the test the officer was obliged to apply. Knowing which test is coming is most of the job.
The two consents, and why people confuse them
Planning permission
Decides whether the development is acceptable in principle — its scale, siting, appearance, effect on neighbours, and fit with Island Plan policy.
Building bye-law approval
Decides whether the construction meets the technical standards — structure, fire, insulation, drainage, ventilation — under the Building Bye-Laws (Jersey) 2007.
Most projects need both. They are separate applications, assessed by different officers against different tests. A scheme can hold planning permission and still be unbuildable until the bye-law drawings are approved. We handle both, which is why our drawings carry every dimension and specification a builder needs rather than the minimum a planning officer will accept.
How a Jersey application runs
- 1
Site visit and planning assessment
We measure the property and check what actually constrains it — zoning, listing, conservation area, flood zone, boundary relationships. Free, and before you commit to anything.
- 2
Drawings and supporting reports
Existing and proposed drawings, plus whatever the application needs to survive — flood risk assessment, heritage statement, design and access statement, energy assessment.
- 3
Submission and case management
We submit through the Planning and Building Portal and deal with the case officer — the queries, the amendments, the neighbour representations.
- 4
Decision, then bye-law drawings
On approval we produce the construction-level drawing set, so your builder can price and start rather than wait for a second round of drawings.
What we handle
Every category below is a full service, not a referral.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related reading
Where these rules come from
Everything on this page follows from two pieces of Jersey legislation and the States' own portal. The primary sources are below — worth reading before you rely on anyone's summary of them, including ours.
- Planning and Building (Jersey) Law 2002— the Law that creates planning permission, the Island Plan and the appeal route.
- Building Bye-Laws (Jersey) 2007— the technical standards a build has to meet, decided separately from planning.
- Jersey Planning and Building Portal— where applications are submitted and where the States publish the current fee calculator.
- Planning and building law and Orders— the Orders made under the 2002 Law, which is where the detail usually lives.