Planning Law Updates – Page 6
Dated, sourced explainers of NPPF revisions, new legislation, permitted development changes and case law.
Planning Law Updates articles – page 6
180 articlesClass ZA demolition and rebuild: what the right covers
Class ZA allows a detached office or flat block to be demolished and rebuilt as housing. Most buildings fail one of the qualifying conditions, and the footprint limit stops the numbers working.
Compulsory purchase reform and directions on hope value
Hope value is the part of a land price that reflects the prospect of permission. For a defined set of affordable housing, education and health schemes, a direction can now remove it from the compensation.
Community Infrastructure Levy exemptions and how to claim
Self-builders rarely lose the levy exemption on the merits. They lose it by starting work before the decision arrives or by missing the commencement notice.
Hedgerow removal and the Hedgerows Regulations 1997
The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 run on a 42 day notice procedure. Removing an important hedgerow without following it is a criminal offence, and replacement planting can be required.
Rights of way on development sites and section 257 orders
Planning permission does not authorise obstructing a public right of way. The diversion order runs on its own track, with its own objection period, and it can add months to a programme.
Brownfield land registers and how a site gets on one
Every English authority keeps a brownfield land register. Part 1 records suitable previously developed land, Part 2 grants permission in principle. How to get a site considered and what follows.
Optional technical standards: M4(2), M4(3) and space
M4(2), M4(3), the nationally described space standard and the tighter water standard apply only through an adopted local plan policy. What that policy must show and how the conditions work.
First Homes: the discount, the cap and the eligibility rules
A First Home is discounted market sale at 30 per cent or more below value, capped at £250,000 outside London, with the discount held in perpetuity by a section 106 agreement and a title restriction.
Vacant building credit and how councils apply it
The vacant building credit offsets existing vacant floorspace against an affordable housing requirement. Whether you get it usually turns on abandonment and on the adopted local plan.
Second staircases in tall residential buildings
Approved Document B requires a second staircase in new residential buildings above 18 metres from 30 September 2026. Here is how height is measured, how the transitional arrangements work and what a second core does to a consented scheme.
Water neutrality and what it asks of an applicant
In affected water resource zones a development must not increase total abstraction, so demand has to be designed down and the remainder offset. Here is how the water balance works, what retrofit offsetting involves and what a council expects to see.
Nutrient neutrality: where the legal duty actually sits
The requirement is not a policy the council chose. It flows from regulation 63 of the Habitats Regulations, and that is why it cannot be traded away in the planning balance.
Article 4 directions: the test, the procedure and compensation
An Article 4 direction takes away rights the GPDO grants. The procedure, the twelve month notice habit and the compensation rules explain why councils draw them narrowly.
Class MA prior approval after the qualifying conditions changed
The two year Class E use requirement survived the 2024 changes and it is now the qualifying condition landlords most often fail to evidence properly.
The biodiversity gain sites register and unit allocation
Buying off-site biodiversity units is not the same as having them allocated. The register, the spatial multiplier and the thirty year securing mechanism all bite.
The biodiversity gain condition and who is exempt from it
Schedule 7A of the 1990 Act attaches a biodiversity gain condition to most permissions. Householder work, self-build and the 25 square metre de minimis test are the usual ways out.
Enforcement warning notices and how to respond to one
A warning notice invites a retrospective application rather than ordering anything. The decision it forces is whether your breach is already immune from enforcement.
The Hillside judgment and overlapping planning permissions
If building out a later permission makes an earlier one impossible to complete, the earlier permission cannot lawfully be finished. What that means for phased schemes and drop-in applications.
Electric vehicle charge points and permitted development
Wall boxes and car park upstands are covered by Part 2, subject to height and siting limits. The harder consents are the highway licence, Part S and accessible charging design.
Solar panels on commercial roofs: the permitted development limits
Commercial rooftop solar is permitted development under Class J of Part 14, subject to prior approval of design and external appearance. The limits, the exclusions and what actually sets the programme.
Great crested newt district level licensing explained
District level licensing removes the spring survey window from the critical path by replacing individual mitigation licences with a payment into a district-wide pond scheme.
Nutrient neutrality and the Habitats Regulations assessment
In affected catchments the Habitats Regulations stop permission unless the council can rule out harm beyond reasonable scientific doubt. The budget, the mitigation and the programme consequences.
Vacant building credit: when it applies and how to prove it
The credit subtracts the floorspace of relevant vacant buildings before the affordable housing policy is applied. The conditions, the abandonment test and the evidence councils accept.
Planning fees and annual indexation: what changes each April
Planning fees in England are set nationally and indexed each April, so a figure quoted in February can be wrong by the time you submit. The categories, the exemptions and the checks that avoid invalidation.
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