Glossary – Page 2
Substantive definitions of planning terms with their policy source and a worked example.
Glossary articles – page 2
479 articlesLiability notice and demand notice under the levy
A levy liability notice sets the chargeable amount and a demand notice sets the payment dates. Here is what to check on each, how instalment policies work, and where the review and appeal routes lead.
Assumption of liability for the levy
Assuming liability on the levy's Form 2 fixes who the council will pursue for the Community Infrastructure Levy. It has to be done before work starts, and before any relief claim, or liability falls back on the landowners.
Heads of terms for a planning obligation
Heads of terms are the schedule members vote on and the solicitors draft from. Here is what belongs in them, how to set triggers and indices, and which omissions hold up the deed after resolution.
Section 70A and declining a repeat application
Section 70A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 lets a council decline to determine a similar application made within two years of a dismissed appeal or two refusals. Here are the conditions, the similarity test and what to change.
The enforcement warning notice and how to respond
The notice is an invitation to apply, not something to comply with, and it records the authority view that permission would probably be granted. How to use that.
Revocation or modification of a planning permission
Implementation defeats revocation, and compensation for depreciation in land value is why authorities rarely make these orders. The confirmation procedure, the objection route and the sequence to follow.
Tree replacement notice after unlawful removal
The duty to replace a protected tree runs with the land and applies even where felling was exempt. How the notice works, the 28 day appeal window, and the records that prevent the dispute.
Vacant building credit and affordable housing contributions
Where the credit applies, affordable housing is calculated on the uplift rather than the whole scheme. What counts as vacant, what counts as abandoned, and why a long vacancy can cost you the levy offset.
Established use and lawful use in planning explained
Immunity from enforcement is not the same as planning permission. What makes a use lawful, how the time limits now work in England, and the evidence a section 191 certificate application needs.
Openness of the Green Belt: spatial and visual
Openness is about the absence of built development, not visual amenity. The metrics that make an openness assessment persuasive, and the comparison traps in the Green Belt exceptions.
Primary shopping area: why the boundary matters
One line on the policies map decides whether a site is in centre, edge of centre or out of centre, and whether a sequential test and an impact assessment are needed.
Non-designated heritage asset: how weight is given
No statutory duty, no separate consent, but a policy test that weighs harm against significance. How local lists work, what evidence to produce and when recording is required.
Deliverable site: the housing land supply definition
Deliverable means available now, suitable now and achievable with a realistic prospect of delivery in five years. The glossary splits sites into two groups with very different evidential burdens.
Critical drainage area: what the designation changes
Critical drainage areas are notified by the Environment Agency and mapped by lead local flood authorities. Inside one, a Zone 1 infill plot needs the same drainage evidence as a riverside site.
Child yield: calculating play space requirements
Child yield turns a schedule of accommodation into an expected child population, then into square metres of playable space. Affordable family housing drives the number more than scheme size does.
Trip rate: where transport numbers come from
Every vehicle number in a transport assessment traces back to a trip rate taken from surveys of comparable sites. The selection of those sites, not the arithmetic, is where disputes happen.
Zone of theoretical visibility: setting a study area
A zone of theoretical visibility sets the study area for a landscape assessment. Because bare earth modelling ignores buildings and vegetation, it is a worst case rather than a finding.
Veteran tree: what makes a tree irreplaceable
Veteran status is judged from decay features rather than age, and it brings a buffer far larger than a BS 5837 root protection area. Here is how the classification is made and what it does to a rural layout.
Characteristic situation: classifying ground gas risk
Ground gas behaviour is driven by pressure, so a single dry day reading proves very little. The classification combines the worst concentration with the worst flow rate.
Total solar energy transmittance in glazing
Total solar energy transmittance is the single largest lever in an overheating model. What it measures, typical ranges, the daylight trade-off and how to write it into a submission.
Operative temperature in overheating assessment
Overheating criteria for homes are written in operative temperature, not air temperature. What the metric combines, how models report it and what a report must state.
Equivalent area in background ventilation
Approved Document F sizes background ventilators by equivalent area, a tested figure rather than a geometric one. Why acoustic units change the arithmetic and how to present a schedule.
Principal elevation and why it matters
Several householder permitted development rights switch off in front of the principal elevation. Here is how the technical guidance defines it, how to identify it on a corner plot, and how to confirm the position before building.
Flood hazard rating and what the numbers mean
Flood zones say how likely flooding is. The hazard rating says what the water would do to someone walking out through it, which is why access routes are judged on it.
Not sure which documents your council will ask for?
Enter your postcode and PlanScope recommends the right reports for your project, then drafts them in minutes.
Enter your postcode on PlanScope