A minor change to a building plan: where is the line drawn? 

If a building plan has been submitted to the municipality, minor changes can often still be made at a later date. It is important that these changes be of a minor nature. In other words, the entire design is not intended to be altered.

This often leads to a discussion about when an adjustment can still be considered minor, and when the adjustment results in a fundamental change to the building plan.

This debate also arose in the ruling of the Gelderland District Court on April 15, 2026. The applicant submitted an application in late 2023 to construct four chalets on a recreational lot in the municipality of Nijkerk. Because the construction plan conflicted with the zoning plan, the municipal executive intended to reject the application. However, in October 2024, a revised building plan was submitted. In that plan, the position of the chalets had been changed and the layout of the plot had been modified. According to the municipal executive, the changes made meant that the applicant no longer needed an environmental permit to carry out the construction plan. Local residents disagreed. They took the matter to court.

What was important in this case is that the original application was submitted at the end of 2023—before the Environmental Act came into effect—and the amendment to the building plan was made in October 2024, when the Environmental Act was already in effect. The question that needed to be answered was which legislation should apply: the old law or the Environment Act, which has been in effect since January 1, 2024.

As a general rule, the old law remains applicable as long as the amendments to the building plan are of a minor nature. In the case of more substantial changes, the amended building plan must be regarded as a new application, and the Environment Act applies.

According to established case law, whether a change is minor must be assessed on a case-by-case basis. The decisive factor in this regard is whether the plan can still be considered the same building plan.

In this case, the court ruled that the changes made to the building plan—including the relocation of the chalets and the layout of the lot—could not be considered minor. These changes altered the spatial character of the plan, meaning it is no longer the same building plan. The municipal executive therefore wrongly applied the old law. In this case, this made no difference, as the assessment framework remained the same under both the old and new laws. However, this ruling does establish a clear framework for making changes to a building plan. 

Do you have questions about amending a building plan that has already been submitted, or are you unsure whether your building plan complies with laws and regulations? Please contact Gerard van der Wende or me. 

You can read the ruling here.