National requirements and the local list
National application requirements and the local list are not interchangeable. The local list supplements the basic submission requirements by identifying information needed to assess issues relevant to that area and proposal. Reading only the online form can therefore leave important requirements undiscovered. [1]
A council's list should be read by application type and by the triggers attached to each report. A document required for a major redevelopment is not automatically required for a small domestic alteration. Redbridge and Tower Hamlets publish their own validation information, illustrating why an application prepared for one borough should not simply be reused in another. [3][4]
What changed in national policy
The NPPF published on 17 August 2026 uses policy DM2 for information requirements. It links local lists to national decision-making requirements and says additional assessments should have a specific development-plan policy basis and be proportionate to the proposal's scale and potential impact. [2]
This does not mean an applicant can ignore a published requirement without explanation. It gives a basis for asking which policy and project characteristic justify the information requested. [2]
Read each requirement as a question
For your project, prepare a short checklist:
- Which application type does this section cover?
- What site characteristic or scale of development triggers the item?
- What must the report actually demonstrate?
- Is the information needed for validation, or to resolve an issue during assessment?
- Who will prepare it, and which drawings must it match?
Use this checklist to organise the council's requirements and avoid commissioning a report with the right title but the wrong scope.
Check that guidance is current
The statutory framework restricts reliance on additional local validation information, including requirements concerning publication within the previous two years, reasonableness and relevance. Do not assume that every historic checklist found through a search engine is the operative list. [5]
Recent national changes also need checking against older local documents. For example, biodiversity net gain exemptions changed on 6 August 2026. A previous checklist may need to be read alongside the current exemption guidance rather than copied without review. [6]
If a requested item seems unjustified
Ask the council to identify the applicable list entry, policy and missing information. Explain your reasons for considering it unnecessary or offer narrower evidence that addresses the actual issue. A formal validation-dispute procedure exists for specified local information disagreements; it is not a means of avoiding mandatory national application requirements. [7]