Council Guides – Page 4
Sourced local facts for individual councils: local plans, validation lists, CIL, Article 4 and SPDs.
Council Guides articles – page 4
140 articlesInvalid planning application: how to fix it and resubmit
An invalid application has not been refused, it has not been registered. Here is what the validation notice means, which local list requests are enforceable, and how to get the scheme registered without losing weeks.
Window and door replacement in a conservation area
Replacing windows in a conservation area may be permitted development, may need permission under an Article 4 direction, or may need listed building consent. Check which before ordering.
Council design policy for a new house in a garden plot
A new house in a garden plot is judged against design policy written specifically for backland and infill sites. Most refusals come down to plot width, separation or access.
Council pre-app for a nine-unit site: what to send
Pre-application advice on a nine-unit site is worth having, provided you send enough for the officer to give a real answer and ask questions they can actually answer.
Environmental health objections on noise from plant
A holding objection from environmental health stops an application dead. Understanding how the rating level is built, and what the officer is comparing it against, is how you answer it.
Air Quality Management Areas: what councils ask for
If your site sits in an Air Quality Management Area, the council will ask for more than a paragraph. Here is how the designation works and what evidence answers it.
Bin storage requirements for flat conversions
Refuse storage is one of the most common reasons a flat conversion is refused or held up at validation. The standards sit in the council's waste guidance, not the local plan.
Parking stress surveys: the Lambeth methodology explained
Councils asking for parking stress evidence usually mean an overnight beat survey run to the Lambeth methodology. Here is how the survey is set up, counted and presented.
Council highway standards: access widths and visibility splays
A new access stands or falls on visibility. The X and Y dimensions come from measured speeds and local design guidance, and the splay land has to be within your control.
Lead local flood authority comments on your drainage
Most holding objections from a lead local flood authority come from missing evidence, not unworkable engineering. Infiltration testing, calculations and exceedance routing clear the majority.
Council ecologists and who checks your BNG submission
Biodiversity net gain submissions are reviewed by in-house or shared-service ecologists. The gain plan is approved after permission and before commencement, which is where programmes slip.
Conservation officers: what they check and when
Conservation officers apply the statutory duties in sections 66 and 72 of the 1990 Act. Their consultation response usually sets the recommendation, and you can read what they said about your neighbours first.
Local government reorganisation and your planning application
A new unitary authority inherits several local plans, several validation lists and several design guides. The plan for your site is the one adopted by the predecessor district containing the land.
Joint local plans: which policies apply to your application
A joint local plan does not merge the councils. The authority containing your red line still decides, and the development plan is usually the joint plan plus saved district policies plus any neighbourhood plan.
How to read your council's local plan policies map
The policies map is the geographic half of the development plan. Here is how to find the adopted version, read the notation, and work out which designations drive your report bundle.
Statement of community involvement: when councils demand one
The applicant's statement of community involvement is a validation requirement, not a national one. Here is what officers expect the record to show.
Officer delegation reports: what a case officer writes about you
Delegated reports follow a predictable skeleton. Write your statement to match it and the officer can lift your reasoning rather than paraphrasing it.
Planning conditions councils repeat: reading the standard set
Councils work from a standard condition library. Knowing what is in it lets you design to it and fix the wording before the decision notice is issued.
Council planning registers: searching decisions and precedent
The statutory planning register shows how your council actually decides cases like yours. Here is how to search it, read it and use it in a submission.
Development corporations as your planning authority
Inside a designated area the corporation, not the council, may decide your application. Here is how to confirm the determining body, the plan in force and the levies.
National Park authorities: how they differ as your council
In an English National Park the authority is your local planning authority, but building control and highways stay with the council. Here is how the split works in practice.
Green Belt councils: what counts as a proportionate addition
A Green Belt extension is judged against the volume of the original dwelling as it stood in 1948. Here is how councils measure it and what evidence wins the argument.
Listed building consent: applying to your council step by step
Listed building consent is a separate permission with no application fee and criminal penalties for breach. Here is what to submit and in what order.
Conservation area tree notices and the six-week rule
A conservation area protects trees as well as buildings. Here is how the section 211 notice works, what is exempt, and what the council can do in six weeks.
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