Council Guides
Sourced local facts for individual councils: local plans, validation lists, CIL, Article 4 and SPDs.
Latest in Council Guides
140 articlesA council's statement of community involvement explained
Section 18 of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires every authority to publish a statement of community involvement. The statutory publicity minimum is a separate duty.
Local nature recovery strategies in planning decisions
A strategy changes the unit value of habitat through the metric and is a material consideration in its own right. It is not a designation and not development plan policy.
Self-build registers: eligibility, fees and what they achieve
Registration gives no right to a plot. It adds to a demand figure authorities must have regard to, and that figure is what shapes plan policies on self-build plots.
Council housing land supply positions and where to find them
The authority's supply statement, its monitoring report and the latest appeal decision rarely agree. Where to find each, what the delivery test thresholds do, and the five lines of attack on a site schedule.
Tree Preservation Order registers and how to check them
Checking a TPO needs the order and its sealed map, not just the council's GIS layer. Individual, group, woodland and area classifications each behave differently, and the exemptions are riskier than they read.
Searching a council planning register properly
The council portal is a search front end to the statutory planning register, not the register itself. How to search by map rather than address, trace pre-1996 records, and request files that were never scanned.
Schemes of delegation: when a decision goes to committee
Most planning applications are decided by officers under delegated powers. The scheme of delegation sets out which ones are not, and that changes your timetable.
Adopted parking standards: maximum, minimum and where they bind
A maximum caps provision, a minimum sets a floor, and whoever departs from either carries the evidence. This covers where standards sit in the plan, how accessibility zones work and what a departure needs.
Supplementary planning documents and how far they bind
SPDs elaborate adopted policy and cannot create new requirements. This sets out the procedural basis for their weight, where design guides and parking standards are contestable, and how to cite one properly.
Emerging local plans and the weight they carry
Weight attaches to individual emerging policies, not to plans. This sets out the three national tests, how weight moves through examination, and how to use main modifications in a planning case.
Housing land supply and what it changes for applicants
The supply position is an arithmetic exercise with a great deal of judgement inside it. Where it falls short, the decision-making test changes, which is why both sides fight over the trajectory.
Infrastructure funding statements and where money went
Every charging authority publishes what developers paid and what happened to it. How to read the levy report, the obligations report and the infrastructure list.
Section 106 monitoring fees and what they cover
Monitoring fees fund the checking of planning obligations, not the infrastructure itself. Where the power to charge comes from, how fees are calculated, and what to ask before agreeing one.
Checking surface water and critical drainage areas locally
Flood Zone 1 does not mean no flood risk assessment. How to check surface water risk and critical drainage areas, and where lead local flood authority standards sit.
Neighbourhood plans: checking whether one covers your site
A made neighbourhood plan is part of the development plan. Here is how to check whether one covers your site and what weight it carries at each stage.
Council enforcement priorities and how complaints work
Enforcement is a discretionary power, not a duty. What to put in a complaint, how councils prioritise, what the formal tools are and when the ombudsman can help.
Local plan examination and what it means for your site
The stage a plan has reached decides how much weight it carries against your application. Here is the sequence, the soundness tests and where a site promoter can still influence the outcome.
Tracking a planning application on the public register
Article 40 of the Development Management Procedure Order sets out what every council must keep on its planning register. Knowing that tells you what to ask for when the website falls short.
Conservation area appraisals and how to use one
The council's own description of what makes your area special is free and decisive. How to find it, read it and quote it in a householder application.
Parking standards: minimum, maximum and accessibility zones
Minimum and maximum parking standards pull in opposite directions, and an accessibility zone map decides which applies. Here is how to read them and argue a departure.
Article 4 directions: finding the ones covering your street
Only the direction document tells you reliably which permitted development rights have been removed. How to find it, how to read it, and what to do when the dataset, the council map and the search disagree.
Finding the adopted local plan and its policies map
Section 38(6) makes the development plan the starting point for every decision, but the plan is usually several documents, the policies map is not one of them, and some adopted policies have been superseded.
Scheme of delegation: committee or officer decision
The constitution decides whether your application is a desk decision or a public meeting. Referral triggers, call-in periods, objection counting and speaking rules.
Finding and reading a CIL charging schedule
The published rate is never the rate you pay. Indexation, deductions for existing floorspace and the forms you file before starting all change the final demand.
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