Glossary – Page 14
Substantive definitions of planning terms with their policy source and a worked example.
Glossary articles – page 14
484 articlesImmunity from enforcement: when a breach becomes lawful
Section 171B sets the clock on planning enforcement, and the 2023 Act moved England to a single ten year period from 25 April 2024. This explains the periods, concealment and the evidence a certificate needs.
Discharge of conditions: the approval nobody plans for
A decision notice is not the finish line. This explains what discharging a condition means, which conditions need an application, how deemed discharge works and why starting early can void a permission.
Setting of a heritage asset: the planning definition
Setting has no fixed boundary and is not the same as curtilage or a view. This explains the definition, the five step assessment used in practice, and how much detail a heritage statement needs.
Tilted balance: what the presumption actually does
The tilted balance is easy to state and hard to apply. This sets out what engages it, what switches it off, and how to write the balance so it survives a finding against you.
Certificate B: serving notice on a landowner
If anyone else owns part of your application site, Certificate A is wrong. Here is what Certificate B requires, how notice is served and what a false certificate risks.
Root protection area: how the zone is calculated
The root protection area is a circle of 12 times the stem diameter, capped at 707 square metres. Here is how it is measured, when it can be reshaped and what it does to a layout.
Windfall sites: what they are and why the figure matters
A windfall site is one the development plan never identified. The allowance built on top of them is where the arguments happen, and it is usually the softest number in a supply calculation.
Local Development Order and Neighbourhood Development Order
A local development order is made by the council. A neighbourhood development order is made by a community and needs a referendum. Both grant permission in advance.
Conservation covenant: what it is and who holds it
Conservation covenants bind successors in title without needing a planning permission behind them. For habitat banks and off-site gain they are now a standard tool.
Abandonment of a planning use
A use that stops for long enough can be abandoned, and resuming it then needs planning permission. Four factors decide it, and none of them is decisive alone.
Ancillary use: where it ends and a new use begins
An ancillary use is subordinate to the main use of a building or land and needs no separate permission. The difficulty is knowing when it has stopped being subordinate.
Temporary stop notices and stop notices explained
A temporary stop notice can halt work the day it appears on the fence. A stop notice needs an enforcement notice behind it. The difference decides what a landlord should do next.
The tilted balance and when it actually applies
The tilted balance is not a shortcut to permission. It changes who has to prove what, and a surprising number of appeals turn on whether it was engaged at all.
The planning unit: the baseline for any change of use
The planning unit fixes the baseline against which any material change of use is measured. Get it wrong and the whole assessment collapses, whichever way it was argued.
Scheduled monument consent: a separate consent regime
Scheduled monument consent runs entirely separately from planning permission and is decided by the Secretary of State. This sets out which works are caught, what the class consents cover and what an application needs.
How far an application can be amended before redetermination
Revised drawings during determination are governed by a prejudice test rather than a statutory procedure. This sets out what can be amended, what triggers re-consultation, and when a fresh application is the better route.
Material start: what counts as beginning development
A material operation under section 56 of the 1990 Act is what keeps a planning permission alive. This sets out the statutory list, the effect of conditions precedent, and the evidence to record on the day.
Building preservation notice: emergency cover for a building
When an unlisted building of real interest is about to be demolished, a council can serve a building preservation notice and treat it as listed for six months. Here is the test, the procedure and the compensation risk that makes authorities cautious.
Root protection area: how the BS 5837 figure is derived
The root protection area is a calculated minimum, not a measured rooting zone. Knowing how the figure is derived tells you where there is room to argue and where there is not.
Nutrient neutrality: what it requires of a housing scheme
Nutrient neutrality is a Habitats Regulations problem dressed up as an arithmetic exercise. The budget is straightforward; securing mitigation for the lifetime of the development is where schemes stall.
Appropriate assessment: the Habitats Regulations stage explained
The competent authority carries out the appropriate assessment, but the applicant supplies the evidence it rests on. Here is what the 2017 Regulations require at each stage and where schemes come unstuck.
The 45 degree rule: how councils test loss of light
The 45 degree rule is a council rule of thumb for loss of light to a neighbour's window. Here is how it is measured, what weight it carries and how to design around it.
Previously developed land: what counts as brownfield
Agricultural buildings, gardens in built up areas and blended remnants are all excluded from previously developed land. Here is how to evidence the status properly.
Deed of variation: changing a section 106 agreement
Most section 106 changes happen by agreement, not by statute. Here is how a deed of variation works, when section 106A applies and who has to be a party.
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