Council Guides – Page 3
Sourced local facts for individual councils: local plans, validation lists, CIL, Article 4 and SPDs.
Council Guides articles – page 3
140 articlesReading your council's local plan policies for a new dwelling
On a one-plot scheme only a handful of development management policies matter. Here is how to find them, how settlement boundaries and plot severance policies work, and how to set out compliance so an officer can check it.
Planning Performance Agreements: when a PPA is worth signing
A PPA buys named officers, a timetable and a forum for a major application. It cannot buy a permission. Here is what the agreement should contain, how it pairs with an extension of time, and when the overhead is not worth it.
Council pre-application meetings: preparing for the officer call
A paid pre-application meeting is only as good as the material you send beforehand. Here is what to submit, what to ask, how to record the advice, and how to use it in the planning statement.
Statutory consultees your council must notify
Schedule 4 to the DMPO 2015 decides who your council must consult, and article 18 gives them 21 days to reply. Here is who gets asked, what each looks for, and how to clear a holding objection without losing weeks.
How councils publish and review local validation lists
Article 11 of the DMPO 2015 makes a local validation requirement enforceable only if it sits on a list published within the two years before the application was made. Here is how the review cycle works and how to challenge a request that fails it.
Applying through your council or the Planning Portal
Every English application arrives either through the national Planning Portal or through a council's own submission system. The choice affects your fee, your file formats and who you ring when something goes wrong.
Council monitoring fees on section 106 agreements
Monitoring fees and legal costs are the part of a section 106 nobody budgets for and everybody pays. Both are negotiable, and both have a test they have to meet.
Local plan examination: what a soundness objection needs
A representation that says a local plan is unsound but does not say what change would make it sound gives the inspector nothing to work with. The Regulation 19 window is the moment to fix that.
Article 4 direction compensation and the 12-month notice rule
Councils give a year's notice before an Article 4 direction takes effect because doing so removes their compensation liability under section 108. Here is how the notice, confirmation and objection process actually runs.
Council affordable housing policy: thresholds and sums
Above the major development threshold, local policy sets the percentage, the tenure and the mechanism. How each part works and what evidence supports a departure.
Council viability evidence: what officers publish and redact
Write the appraisal expecting publication. What can be redacted, how benchmark land value is set, and what an independent reviewer will test line by line.
Council tree officer comments and the pre-application check
Tree objections arrive in week five and are caused by decisions taken months earlier. What the tree officer looks for and how to design around root protection areas.
Archaeological Priority Areas and county archaeologist advice
Archaeology adds months to a programme when it is picked up late. How councils map sensitivity, what the county archaeologist asks for, and how to sequence the work.
Local heritage lists: non-designated assets in council policy
Local listing carries no consent regime, but it changes the decision. How the balanced judgement works and what a heritage statement for a locally listed building should say.
Heritage at risk registers and your listed building
A local heritage at risk entry is evidence you can use. What councils record, how the deliberate neglect rule limits it, and the six documents a repair-led scheme needs.
Construction working hours conditions and site controls
Construction hours are set by condition, not by national law. What the standard wording covers, which management plans sit alongside it, and how to get an unworkable restriction varied.
Water efficiency policy: 110 litres per person per day
Part G sets 125 litres per person per day, and a planning condition can tighten it to 110. Here is how the standard is adopted, calculated and discharged.
EV charging requirements for new homes in planning
Charge points for new homes come from building regulations, not planning, but local policies often ask for more. Here is what to design, condition and draw.
Space standards: which councils apply the NDSS
The space standard only applies where a council has adopted it, except on permitted development schemes where it is national. Here are the figures and how to draw them.
Flats above shops: the amenity and access tests
Councils want empty space above shops in use, then refuse schemes on access, noise and amenity. Here is what those policies ask for and how to answer them on the drawings.
Garden room and outbuilding rules beyond the GPDO
A garden office is incidental. A garden room with a bed and a kitchen is not. Here are the Class E limits, the local policies that decide applications, and how to get certainty.
Annexe planning policy: ancillary use and the condition
An annexe is either part of your house or a new dwelling. Here is the test councils apply, the condition they attach, and the design decisions that settle the answer.
Dormer and rooflight policy for loft conversions
Loft conversions that need permission are judged against the council's householder design guide, not the GPDO. Here is what those guides ask for and how to draw it.
Ownership certificates A to D on a planning application
Certificate A, B, C or D is a statutory declaration about who owned the site 21 days before submission. Here is how to choose, how to serve notice, and what evidence to keep.
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