Comparisons – Page 8
Side-by-side explanations of reports, consents and application types that people confuse.
Comparisons articles – page 8
264 articlesEIA screening or scoping: two different questions
Screening and scoping are separate procedures under the EIA Regulations 2017. Screen first, scope only if the answer is positive, and never assume a negative screening ends the survey work.
Discharging a condition or varying it under section 73
Discharging a condition satisfies it as written. Section 73 grants a new permission without it. The difference decides your fee, your timetable and whether obligations still bind.
Social Infrastructure Assessment or Health Impact Assessment
A social infrastructure assessment quantifies demand on schools, health and open space. A health impact assessment appraises wider determinants of health. They answer different policy questions.
Pre-redevelopment audit or site waste management plan
The audit records what exists in the building before demolition. The waste plan forecasts and controls what the build produces. Most demolition schemes need both, in that order.
BREEAM pre-assessment or Sustainability Statement
One scores against a published manual, the other argues against adopted policy. Several credits are decided before submission, so run the pre-assessment with the design.
Overheating Risk Assessment or Energy Statement
Energy statements reduce carbon. Overheating assessments protect comfort. Run them from one thermal model, with the facade assumptions agreed before either is written.
Employment Land Assessment or Economic Impact Assessment
An Employment Land Assessment answers a land supply question. An Economic Impact Assessment answers an effect question. Submitting the wrong one delays validation.
Structural survey or basement impact assessment
A structural survey answers what the existing building can take. A basement impact assessment answers what the excavation will do to the ground, the water and next door.
Health impact assessment or equalities assessment
A health impact assessment looks at population health, an equalities impact assessment at protected characteristics and a statutory duty on the council. The scope, triggers and evidence differ.
Transport statement or travel plan: which is needed
One is evidence submitted with the application, the other a commitment secured by condition or obligation and monitored for years. Most schemes above the small end need both, in the right order.
Planning appeal or judicial review after a refusal
A section 78 appeal asks whether the scheme should be permitted. A court asks whether the decision was lawfully made. The deadlines, the costs and the remedies are entirely different.
Section 73 or section 96A: choosing the right route
Section 73 creates a new planning permission; section 96A amends the one you hold. The difference decides your fee, your timescale, your appeal rights and what happens to the section 106 agreement.
Tree survey or TPO application: two different processes
One informs a design, the other asks permission to cut. A practical comparison of BS 5837 surveys, TPO consent applications and conservation area tree notices.
Householder application or full application for a dwelling
Choosing the wrong application type costs weeks rather than the decision. Here is what counts as householder development, and where flats, annexes and garden land fall.
Viability assessment or affordable housing statement
An affordable housing statement records the offer. A viability assessment argues for less, and invites scrutiny you may not have needed. How to tell which your scheme requires.
Air quality assessment or odour assessment: which is needed
Air quality assessment is triggered by Air Quality Management Area designation, traffic and combustion plant. Odour assessment is triggered by the process. How to scope both for a commercial unit.
Biodiversity net gain or ecological impact assessment
The statutory metric and ecological impact assessment answer different questions and are secured by different mechanisms. What each covers, what the metric is silent on, and how to run one survey programme for both.
Sequential test or exception test: order and evidence
Why the sequential test comes first, how the area of search decides the outcome, what makes a site reasonably available, and the two limbs of the exception test.
Foul sewage assessment or drainage strategy: which you need
Two flows, two regulators, two documents. How the right to connect works, when a package treatment plant is acceptable, and what councils ask for at each scale.
Open space assessment or play space assessment
The two assessments overlap on the site plan and diverge in method. Child yield, age band walking distances and maintenance liability decide which one your scheme needs.
Archaeological desk assessment or field evaluation
The desk study collates existing records and decides where trenches go. The evaluation puts holes in the ground. Most sites with potential need both, in sequence.
Discharging conditions or amending a permission
A discharge application supplies details a condition asks for. An amendment changes what the permission authorises. Picking the wrong one costs a determination period.
Section 106 obligations or the levy: which applies
The levy is a fixed charge per square metre with no negotiation. A section 106 obligation is site specific and has to pass three statutory tests. Most major schemes carry both.
Viability Assessment or Economic Impact Assessment
One is an appraisal governed by a professional standard and scrutinised line by line. The other is a benefits case with no equivalent standard behind it.
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