Comparisons
Side-by-side explanations of reports, consents and application types that people confuse.
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263 articlesResubmit or appeal after a planning refusal
A fresh application lets you change the scheme and may be fee exempt. An appeal defends the scheme as refused. The refusal reasons tell you which route fits.
Unilateral undertaking against a bilateral section 106 deed
Both instruments are made under section 106 and both bind the land. The difference is that a unilateral undertaking cannot contain any obligation on the authority.
Householder application against a full application
The householder category is defined by what you are proposing, not chosen. It carries a different fee, lighter validation and the 12 week expedited appeal route.
Prior approval against permitted development without it
Schedule 2 to the GPDO 2015 splits permitted development into rights you can simply exercise and rights suspended until prior approval. The difference governs certainty, fees and conditions.
Extension of time agreement or renewing a permission
Two things that get confused. Extending the determination period is routine; extending the life of a permission is impossible, and section 73 cannot do it either.
Deed of variation or a section 106A application
Two routes to change a planning obligation, with very different tests. Why section 106A is not a viability hearing, and when a fresh application beats both.
Building notice or full plans application to building control
Two routes to building control approval under the Building Regulations 2010. What each involves, where a building notice is unavailable, and how completion certificates and regularisation work.
Dropped kerb approval or permission for a front hardstanding
The crossover is licensed under the Highways Act 1980. The driveway behind it is permitted development only if it is porous or drains inside your boundary. Most people need both approvals.
Strategic Environmental Assessment or Sustainability Appraisal
A local plan appraisal discharges two duties at once: strategic environmental assessment under the 2004 Regulations and sustainability appraisal under section 19(5). Only one has sharp legal teeth.
Environmental permit or planning permission for a waste use
The Environment Agency permits the operation. The waste planning authority decides whether the use belongs there. Both are needed, and a registered exemption is not a planning permission.
Felling licence or consent for works to a protected tree
A felling licence regulates timber volume under the Forestry Act 1967. Consent under a Tree Preservation Order protects amenity. Woodland can need both, and the exemptions do not carry across.
Class AA upward extension or a full application
Prior approval is attractive where the building fits the class cleanly, and a trap where it nearly fits. Squeezing inside the caps tends to produce flats that fail on natural light.
Ownership certificate A or B on a planning application
Owner means the freeholder and any lessee with at least seven years left to run. A monthly tenant is not an owner. A tenant with twelve years remaining is.
Foul Sewage Assessment or Utilities Assessment
Foul drainage is a question on the application form, so a weak answer delays validation. Utilities capacity bites later, when the network operator quotes for a reinforcement nobody budgeted for.
Land contamination Phase 1 or Phase 2 investigation
The difference is not depth of detail. It is whether anyone put a hole in the ground, and the two reports answer different questions at different points.
Prior notification or prior approval: the difference
A Part 6 agricultural notification runs on 28 days and asks whether the council wants a say. Prior approval applications run on 56 days and carry a deemed grant.
Local plan representation or a planning application objection
A plan representation can remove an allocation or rewrite a policy. An objection can refuse or condition a scheme. Once a site is allocated, arguing the principle is wasted effort.
Hazardous substances consent or planning permission
A site handling a notifiable substance usually needs both consents. They are granted under different legislation, and a change in control of part of the land can revoke the hazardous substances consent.
Technical approval or a road safety audit stage
Technical approval and road safety audit are separate gates inside a section 278 or section 38 agreement. They have different approvers, different standards and different programme risks.
Flood resilience condition or Flood Re cover
Flood resilient construction secured by a planning condition and the Flood Re reinsurance scheme are often confused. One limits the damage, the other limits the premium, and a new build in a flood zone usually gets only the first.
Extension of time or refusal and resubmission
An agreed extension keeps the case with the officer who knows it. A refusal and resubmission buys a clean start and a fresh case officer. The right answer depends on what the objection actually is.
Section 106 monitoring fee or an infrastructure contribution
A monitoring fee and an infrastructure contribution both appear in a section 106 agreement and arrive in the same demand. They rest on different powers, meet different tests, and only one of them is capped by the cost of the work.
Dropped kerb application or planning permission: which one
A dropped kerb and the planning permission for a driveway are two different consents from two different parts of the council. This explains which one you need, in what order, and what each costs you in time.
Biodiversity gain plan or a BNG assessment: what differs
The metric assessment you commission to design a scheme and the biodiversity gain plan you submit to discharge the deemed condition are different documents with different deadlines. Mixing them up stops a site from starting lawfully.
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