Professionals and Qualifications – Page 2
Who is competent to prepare or sign off each report, and how to brief and check them.
Professionals and Qualifications articles – page 2
372 articlesIndependent audit of a technical report and who pays
An independent audit is commissioned by the authority, carried out by its appointed consultant and paid for by you. Here is how the process and the costs work.
Competence for a site waste management plan
Site waste management plans stopped being statutory in 2013, so the competence test is practical: waste hierarchy, duty of care and real contractor input.
Species licence returns and a consultant's track record
A mitigation licence ends when the returns and monitoring are complete, not when the works finish. Here is what the conditions require, why a consultant's compliance record is a programme risk, and the questions to ask before appointing.
What a chartered title does not cover
Chartered membership shows assessed competence in a broad field and a code of conduct. It does not show that someone has produced your document before. Here is what actually decides competence, report type by report type.
When junior staff are the right people for the work
Most of a planning evidence base is data collection and policy assembly, which supervised junior staff do well. Here is where professional judgement cannot be delegated, and how to check the supervision is real.
Who can act as agent on a planning application
Planning consultant is not a protected title, so anyone can submit your application. What the agent takes on, why ownership certificates carry criminal liability, and what to ask before instructing.
Outdated technical reports and the CPD behind them
Three Framework editions in under three years broke the citations in a lot of reports. The tells that a report is working from old guidance, and how to specify currency in the appointment.
Telecommunications declarations and who signs them
The ICNIRP declaration is an operator liability, not a consultant opinion. What it certifies, the radio frequency competence behind it, and why shared masts need a cumulative assessment.
Planning solicitor or planning consultant: who to instruct
Consultants work on the merits, solicitors on the documents and the statutory powers. The tasks that belong to each, the ones that overlap, and four ways to stop them duplicating.
Reusing a report on another site or scheme
Paying for a report buys a licence, not ownership. Where that licence stops, what happens when fees are unpaid, and why resubmitting a previous applicant's documents carries three risks at once.
Reliance letters on a technical report for a funder
A report creates a duty only to the party who commissioned it. How reliance letters, duty of care deeds and collateral warranties extend that to a funder, and what the limits usually are.
Who signs a declaration on a prescribed planning form
The certificates on a planning form are separate statements with criminal consequences attached. An agent who ticks certificate A without enquiry is exposed under section 65(6).
Bird survey competence and recognised field methods
There is no licence to carry out a breeding bird survey, but disturbing a Schedule 1 species at the nest needs one, and it is personal to the surveyor.
Who can carry out a parking survey to the recognised method
A parking stress survey stands or falls on method, not credentials. The overnight window, the walking catchment and the kerb measurement conventions are what authorities test.
Who can produce accurate visual representations
A verified view is a survey product as much as a rendering. The camera coordinate, the lens, the control points and the printed size are what make an image checkable by the other side.
Writing a consultant brief you can hold someone to
Asked to assess noise, a careful acoustician prices a full survey and an aggressive one prices a desk review. Both are honest answers to the same words, and neither is comparable.
Peer review of a technical report: scope and value
A reviewer can tell you whether the method followed the standard. A reviewer cannot tell you whether the sound meter was calibrated or whether the survey happened at all.
Whole life carbon assessment: who is competent to do it
There is no register and no protected title for whole life carbon assessment. What exists is a professional standard, a London reporting template that exposes weak work, and a handful of judgement calls that go wrong predictably.
Energy assessor roles: who produces which calculation
The person who runs the compliance calculation and the person who designs the energy strategy are usually different people, and planning conditions are often drafted as though they were one.
What a licensed BREEAM assessor is allowed to do
A sustainability consultant can model, advise and write the strategy. Only an assessor licensed for the specific scheme and version can assess and certify, which changes how you plan the appointment.
Who should write a heritage statement, and what IHBC means
There is no rule about who writes a heritage statement, only a consequence. How to match the author's accreditation to the harm the works could cause.
Registered archaeological organisations: what it means
Organisational registration assures systems, not expertise. How it differs from individual accreditation and the five questions to ask before appointing.
CIEEM membership grades when appointing an ecologist
MCIEM says something about experience and nothing about which protected species licences the ecologist holds. Here is how to check all three before you accept the quote.
Bat class licences and which consultant can use one
A class licence removes weeks from a bat mitigation programme, but only a consultant personally registered by Natural England can use one. Here is how to check and what it covers.
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