Planning
Planning permission in Barbados, step by step
If you are building, extending, subdividing or changing what a building is used for, you need permission to develop land from the Town and Country Development Planning Office. Here is what that actually involves, and where people lose months.
What needs permission
Broadly, development means building, engineering, mining or other operations on land, a material change in the use of a building or land, and the subdivision of land. If your project is any of those — and a new house, an extension and a change of use all are — you need permission from the Town and Country Development Planning Office (TCDPO).
Depending on what is proposed, the decision is taken by the Chief Town Planner or referred to the Minister responsible for town planning. Beachfront development and changes of use on larger areas of agricultural land are the sort of thing that goes to the Minister.
The Physical Development Plan decides more than your architect does
Before drawings, before builders, before an offer on a plot: the Physical Development Plan zones the island. It sets out what kind of development may be permitted where, and what is prohibited. Your plot's zoning governs whether you can build at all, what you can build, and often how big.
The single most expensive mistake in Barbados property is buying land and then finding out what you may build on it. Check the zoning first, and make any purchase agreement conditional on obtaining planning permission.
The constraints that shape most domestic applications
- Height. Residential development is generally limited in height — in practice, two storeys in most residential areas.
- Site coverage. A limit on how much of the plot the building may occupy.
- Setbacks. Minimum distances from side and rear boundaries, and from neighbouring buildings.
- Coastal setback. A substantial setback from the high water mark, and additional review for development in the coastal zone.
- Water protection zones. Groundwater zoning affects what waste treatment is acceptable, and it is taken seriously on an island that drinks its groundwater.
- Access and parking, and the effect on the road.
Exact figures change and vary by zone. Confirm what applies to your plot with the TCDPO or your architect — do not rely on a number you read in an article, including this one.
How the process runs
Establish the zoning
What the Physical Development Plan says about your land, and whether what you want is realistic there.
Get the drawings prepared
By an architect or draughtsman, with a structural engineer involved where the design requires it, and a land surveyor's plan of the plot.
Lodge the application
Application for permission to develop land, with the drawings, the site plan, proof of ownership or interest in the land, and the fee. Applications can now be made through the online planning system.
Consultation and site visit
Other agencies may be consulted — water, environmental health, highways, coastal — and a site visit may be required. Site visit appointments can be the longest single wait in the process.
Decision
Permission, permission with conditions, or refusal. Conditions are normal and can be significant — they may require changes to access, drainage, landscaping or services, and each one can carry cost.
Compliance
Conditions have to be satisfied, and a certificate of compliance is generally needed before a property sale can complete.
How long does it take?
Longer than you want, and it varies enormously with the complexity of the proposal and how complete the submission is. Plan for months rather than weeks, start it as early as possible, and do not order materials or commit to a start date on the assumption it will be quick.
Where applications lose time
- Incomplete submissions. A missing document restarts your place in somebody's queue.
- Drawings that do not respect the zoning. Coverage, height or setbacks that were never going to be approved.
- No survey plan, or boundaries that do not match the deed.
- Nobody chasing. Applications benefit from being followed up, politely and persistently.
- Ignoring the conditions when they arrive, then building something that does not comply with them.
What happens if you build without permission
It does not go away. It surfaces when you sell, when a bank values the property, when you need a certificate of compliance, and sometimes when a neighbour complains. Retrospective regularisation is possible in some cases and impossible in others, and it is always slower and more expensive than applying in the first place.
Sources: Town and Country Planning Act (Cap. 240); Planning and Development Department, Barbados; Barbados Property List, What every developer needs to know about Town Planning Law in Barbados. This is general information, not legal advice.