Council Guides – Page 2
Sourced local facts for individual councils: local plans, validation lists, CIL, Article 4 and SPDs.
Council Guides articles – page 2
140 articlesReplacement dwellings in the countryside: the policy tests
Two questions decide a countryside replacement dwelling before anyone looks at the design: is the residential use lawful and still alive, and is the new house materially larger?
Outbuilding used for business or letting: the rules
Building a garden room and using it are two separate acts of development. Where the incidental use test breaks down, and how to get certainty before you commit.
Rear extension depth and the 45-degree test explained
The 45-degree test is local design guidance, not statute, and it is the first thing an officer draws on your plan. Here is how it works and how to design around it.
Dropped kerbs, driveways and front gardens: the rules
Front garden surfacing is a planning matter and the dropped kerb is a highways matter. Here is how the permeable surfacing condition works and what the highway authority checks.
Basement extensions outside London: what councils ask for
Excavating a new basement under a house normally needs permission, while converting an existing cellar usually does not. Here is what councils outside London ask for and where applications fail.
The flood exception test on a small site: passing both limbs
A single new house is not minor development, so the sequential and exception tests both bite. Here is what each limb needs and how councils condition small sites in Flood Zone 3a.
Village shop to residential: prior approval or full application
Class MA prior approval assesses listed matters only. Where it is unavailable, a policy protecting the last village shop decides the case, and marketing evidence carries it.
Solar farms and ground-mounted arrays: the policy tests
Field solar arrays are full planning applications. Land quality, landscape effect and restoration decide them, and the agricultural grade needs a site-specific soil survey.
Caravans, static homes and holiday lets: what permission needs
Siting caravans or glamping units needs planning permission and, separately, a site licence. Here is where the temporary use allowance ends and what a rural tourism application should contain.
Stables and equestrian planning permission: what councils need
Grazing horses can be lawful without an application, but stabling, schooling and a manege are a change of use. Here is what needs permission and what a small equestrian application should contain.
Rural workers' dwellings and agricultural occupancy ties
A new home in open countryside for a rural worker turns on two tests: whether the enterprise needs someone on site, and whether it can pay for them.
Employment land policies: losing a B2 or B8 site
Releasing a safeguarded industrial or storage site turns on evidence: marketing at realistic terms, the council's own employment land review, and whether homes can sit next to what remains.
Retail frontage policies and change of use in a parade
Frontage policies count non-retail units along a defined street. Class E removed the permission requirement for many of those movements, which has left some policies with very little to bite on.
Student accommodation planning policy: what councils test
Purpose-built student accommodation usually sits outside the use classes, which changes the policy test, the section 106 package and the evidence base a scheme has to carry.
Converting a house into flats: the policy tests
Using a single dwellinghouse as two or more dwellings is a material change of use with no permitted development route. The principle of subdivision fails more applications than the floor plans do.
Letting an annexe separately: the condition and the breach
Letting an annexe to an unconnected tenant breaches the ancillary occupation condition. A separate council tax band is evidence against you, not a permission, and section 73 is the route to regularise.
Nursery planning permission: use class, parking and play space
Class E(f) covers a creche or day nursery, so moving into an existing Class E unit is not development. Conditions, external works, drop-off parking and play noise are where applications are decided.
Hot food takeaways near schools: what council policy tests
A hot food takeaway sits outside Class E, so change of use always needs permission. Exclusion zones near schools, frontage clustering caps and environmental health evidence decide the outcome.
Advertisement consent: what councils test on shopfront signs
Councils can only refuse advertisement consent on amenity and public safety grounds. Here is which shopfront signs already carry deemed consent, what a shopfront design guide will ask for, and what to submit.
Council playing field and open space policies on small sites
A 15 unit scheme can trigger a Sport England consultation, an open space contribution and a play space calculation. Here is how each is assessed and what to submit.
Council brownfield land registers and permission in principle
Permission in principle settles location, land use and amount, and nothing else. Here is how it differs from outline permission and when a full application is faster.
Council garden land policies: building in a back garden
Garden plots are consented every week, but not on brownfield policy support. Here is how councils test tandem layouts, retained amenity and access, and what to submit.
Council housing mix policies: unit sizes and bedroom numbers
Adopted local plans usually set a bedroom mix by tenure and apply Part M accessibility standards by percentage. Here is how the evidence works and how to argue a departure.
Council urban design officers: what they look for in a scheme
Urban design officers are internal consultees whose memo often becomes the design paragraphs of the officer report. Here is what they read for and how to answer them.
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