Comparisons – Page 4
Side-by-side explanations of reports, consents and application types that people confuse.
Comparisons articles – page 4
263 articlesSolar panels under permitted development or an application
Most domestic roof solar is permitted development under Part 14 of the GPDO 2015. The limits that push a scheme into a planning application are narrower than people expect.
Heat pump permitted development or a planning application
Most air source heat pumps go in without an application. The ones that need permission usually fail on the noise calculation or on where the unit has to sit.
Injunction under section 187B or an enforcement notice
An injunction takes the breach out of the planning system and into the courts, where there is no appeal on the merits and non-compliance is contempt.
Appeal against non-determination or wait for a decision
An appeal against non-determination hands your application to an inspector and takes it out of the council's hands. Sometimes that is the right call at week eight. Often it is not.
Planning Performance Agreement or an extension of time
An extension of time postpones the decision date and your right to appeal non-determination. A performance agreement buys sequencing and named officer time. Here is when each is worth it.
Section 106A modification or a fresh planning agreement
A deed of variation is available at any time with no statutory test. A section 106A application waits five years but carries an appeal. Here is how the two compare in practice.
Environmental Statement or preliminary environmental information
Schedule 4 sets what an Environmental Statement must contain and requires competent experts. Preliminary environmental information has no content list and a different job. Here is how to use each.
Neighbourhood plan policy or local plan policy in a decision
A made neighbourhood plan sits in the development plan alongside the local plan. Where the two conflict the later document prevails, and most apparent conflicts are not conflicts at all.
Scheduled monument consent or listed building consent
Scheduled monument consent is decided nationally with no appeal and no materiality threshold. Listed building consent is local and appealable. Here is which regime governs when an asset carries both designations.
Hedgerow removal notice or felling licence: which applies
A field hedge with standard trees can engage two separate consent regimes at once. Here is what each covers, the important hedgerow criteria, the felling exemptions and the timescales for both.
Demolition prior notification or a full planning application
Prior notification of demolition gives the council control over method and restoration only. Here is when the right applies, when conservation area rules take over, and which parallel notices run alongside.
Basement Impact Assessment or a Flood Risk Assessment
A Flood Risk Assessment asks whether water will reach the property. A Basement Impact Assessment asks what your excavation does to groundwater and ground stability. Here is what each covers and which to commission first.
Noise or odour assessment for a restaurant: which you need
Plant noise and cooking odour are assessed by different methods against different standards, even though they leave the building through the same duct. Here is what each report tests and which one your council will ask for.
Prior approval or permission for a large rear extension
A 6 or 8 metre rear extension can avoid a planning application, but only through the prior approval procedure. Here is how that route compares with a householder application.
Lawful development certificate or retrospective application
After unauthorised work there are two routes. One tests dates and evidence, the other tests planning merits and ends in conditions. Here is how the choice actually works.
Parking survey or the adopted parking standard: which wins
Adopted parking standards apply an authority-wide number to every site. An overnight beat survey measures what one street actually holds. Here is when the survey wins and when it will not help.
Water Supply Assessment or Utilities Assessment: which you need
A Water Supply Assessment answers one question about potable water capacity. A Utilities Assessment scopes electricity, gas, water, foul, telecoms and lead times. Here is which one a council asks for and when.
Pre-redevelopment audit or structural survey
One document answers what the building is made of, the other whether it can carry your scheme. Here is what each involves and why the structural work has the earlier deadline.
Vacant building credit or a viability case for fewer homes
The credit is arithmetic, viability is argument. This compares what each achieves, how vacancy and abandonment are tested, what councils challenge, and which to run first.
Design code or a design guide supplementary document
A design code in the development plan engages the section 38(6) presumption. A design guide SPD is only a material consideration. That difference in status decides how each behaves in a decision and at appeal.
Scheduled monument consent or planning permission
Scheduled monument consent comes from the Secretary of State under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. Planning permission comes from the council. Neither authorises what the other controls.
BS 4142 rating level or BS 8233 internal guideline values
BS 4142 produces a relative answer about an industrial or commercial source. BS 8233 sets absolute internal targets for dwellings. Most schemes beside a commercial neighbour need both, for different parts of the report.
Committee determination or a delegated decision
Whether an application is decided by an officer or by elected members turns on one published document, the council's scheme of delegation. Here is how to read it, and how the call-in and speaking deadlines work.
Asset of community value or local heritage listing
Community value listing buys time to bid when a building is sold. Local heritage listing gives it weight when an application arrives. Different tests, different teams, and no conflict in doing both.
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