Data Tools How-To – Page 6
How to use the public datasets and maps that planning applications rely on.
Data Tools How-To articles – page 6
159 articlesFinding the local plan policies that apply to your site
Section 38(6) makes the development plan the starting point for every decision, so the first job on any site is assembling it accurately. Here is the order to work in and what weight each document carries.
Reading a council validation list properly
Most entries on a local validation list only apply when a trigger is met. Reading the triggers is what stops you commissioning work you did not need and missing the one document that mattered.
Working out the planning fee for an application
The fee follows from the application category, so the category is what to settle first. Householder is narrower than it sounds, and an underpaid fee moves the valid date rather than just the paperwork.
Searching appeal decisions for a planning argument
Appeal decisions are material considerations, not binding precedent. Finding the right one takes a structured search; using it takes an honest view of comparability.
Checking air quality management areas and monitoring data
The declaration order names the pollutant and the boundary. The annual status report carries the monitoring data. Both decide what a change of use application has to include.
Checking an off-site unit on the biodiversity gain sites register
The register records the land, the habitat values, the securing mechanism and every allocation already made. Reading it properly is the due diligence most off-site unit buyers skip.
What the statutory biodiversity metric needs before you start
The metric is only as good as the baseline survey behind it. Here are the inputs it needs, the timing that governs them and the errors that fail a review.
How to check a tree preservation order before you buy
A protected tree changes what you can build and what you can do in the garden. Here is how to establish whether a specific tree is protected, before you commit.
How to find your lead local flood authority and its standards
The county or unitary authority sets the surface water standards your scheme is judged against. Here is how to find the right body, its published rates and its adoption expectations.
Applying Environment Agency climate change allowances
Three separate sets of allowances do three different jobs. Here is how to match them to the development lifetime and document the selection properly.
Checking whether an Article 4 direction applies to a property
A map layer is not enough. The direction document decides which rights have gone, and the confirmation date decides whether they had gone when you acted.
Searching the National Heritage List for a listed building
The List tells you that a building is designated and at what grade. It does not tell you which parts are protected, and that gap causes most unauthorised works on listed sites.
Finding designated sites on MAGIC before you design
A practical run through the MAGIC layers that decide a planning report schedule, what the impact risk zones trigger, and how far to trust the priority habitat inventory.
Using the Flood Map for Planning to establish a flood zone
The flood map gives you a zone and a dated extract. Here is how to read it, what it leaves out, and how to request the modelled data an assessment is actually built on.
Checking National Park and National Landscape boundaries
National Park and National Landscape boundaries are published datasets you can check in minutes. What the designation changes, who determines the application, and how to evidence the position.
Finding appeal decisions on the Inspectorate casework service
Appeal decision letters are free, searchable and full of reusable reasoning. They are also not binding precedent, and citing them as though they were is the quickest way to lose the point.
Using the planning register to find comparable decisions
Search the development, not the address. How to build a testable proposition, filter by decision and date, read officer reports properly, and handle comparables that hurt your case.
Checking a Tree Preservation Order against the council map
The council map shows where a TPO applies. Only the order and its schedule show which trees are protected. Here is how to read both, and what to do when they disagree.
Finding a site allocation in the local plan document set
Site allocations are often split across strategic policies, an allocations document, an area action plan or a neighbourhood plan. Here is how to find the right policy, trace the evidence behind it and structure a planning statement around it.
Reading a council's adopted policies map online
The adopted policies map illustrates where each local plan policy applies to your site. Here is how to find the version currently in force, read overlapping designations, handle saved and neighbourhood plan policies, and cite them properly.
Finding nutrient neutrality catchment boundaries
Nutrient neutrality catchments are published by Natural England and cover far more land than the protected sites themselves. Here is how to check a site, find the right calculator, and understand who carries out the habitats regulations assessment.
Using LIDAR terrain data for a levels and drainage check
Open terrain data answers the levels question at desk-study stage. Used properly it tells you where water goes across a site, and it never replaces a measured survey.
Finding the Historic Environment Record for your site
Every archaeological desk-based assessment starts with a records search. Knowing who holds the record, what to ask for and how long it takes keeps the study off the critical path.
Mapping public rights of way for a visual assessment
Online path layers are convenient and not authoritative. The definitive map and statement is the legal record, and a visual assessment that ignores it will be picked apart by the rights of way officer.
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