Project Type Guides – Page 2
How to get planning permission for extensions, conversions, new builds and commercial uses.
Project Type Guides articles – page 2
267 articlesPermission to reopen a closed pub as a village shop
A pub is a sui generis use and the permitted development route to retail was removed in 2017, so a village shop conversion needs full permission. Here is how to answer the policies that protect pubs.
Permission for a livestock building and its permit
An intensive livestock unit is decided by ammonia deposition on designated habitats and the environmental permit that runs beside the planning application. Here are the thresholds, the mitigation that works and the order to do the work in.
Permission for additional storeys under Part 20
Part 20 adds homes on top of existing buildings, but the prior approval matters reach as far as external appearance and natural light. The limits, the information required and when a full application is better.
A cricket or sports pavilion on a village green
Planning permission is the easier of the two consents. Section 38 of the Commons Act 2006 prohibits works on a registered green, and starting without it is an offence.
A new vehicular access across a public right of way
A right of way across your plot survives the grant of planning permission. Either design a lawful crossing or obtain an order, and programme the groundworks around confirmation.
Dog grooming from home: when planning permission applies
A grooming table in a utility room rarely needs permission. A converted garage with three dryers and fifteen bookings a day usually does. The line is the material change of use test.
A rural estate biomass boiler house and fuel store
The plant is rarely the problem. The chimney height set by dispersion, and the heat main trench through parkland trees and buried archaeology, are what these applications turn on.
Opening a fish and chip shop in a parade of shops
A takeaway is sui generis, so permission is always needed. The decision then turns on the flue termination, the odour control train, fan noise at night and the hours offered.
A community orchard and allotments on a field
Growing on farmland rarely changes the use on its own. Sheds, parking, water tanks and deer fencing do, and they are what a community allotment application has to pin down.
A helicopter landing area at a private house
Occasional landings often fall within the 28 day temporary use right. Regular use, a built pad or a fuel store put you outside it. What the application has to show and what gets conditioned.
Putting a gym in a former retail unit on a high street
Shop to gym is normally a change within Class E and needs no application. The planning risk sits in conditions, Article 4 directions, plant and the impact noise from dropped free weights.
A new access onto a trunk road or motorway slip
National Highways can stop a decision dead with a holding direction, and there is nothing to appeal. Here is the policy position and how to get an objection lifted.
A swimming pool in the garden of a listed house
A new open-air pool is not part of the listed building, so consent often is not needed for the pool. It is needed the moment the works touch a pre-1948 wall or outbuilding.
A new farm track and hardstanding on a holding
A private way on an agricultural unit can be permitted development, subject to size, agricultural necessity and prior notification. Here is what the notification should contain.
Converting a redundant church into housing
Church conversions turn on three things councils test hard: whether community use was properly marketed, how much harm subdivision causes, and what lies under the churchyard.
A roof terrace on a Victorian terraced house
Class A excludes balconies and raised platforms, so a roof terrace always needs permission. How overlooking is assessed, which screening works, and the sightline drawing most applications omit.
A static caravan in the garden for a dependent relative
Siting a caravan is rarely operational development, so the question is whether occupation amounts to a separate dwelling. The statutory definition, the licensing exemption and the conditions councils use.
Planning permission for an artificial grass pitch
A floodlit synthetic pitch is decided on four things: the effect on playing field land, the floodlighting design, noise from play, and where the surface water goes. Here is the evidence each one needs.
Putting a mobile phone mast on a church tower
Three permissions, three bodies, three tests. How Part 16 prior approval, the ecclesiastical exemption and the faculty jurisdiction fit together on a church tower installation.
A mobile catering trailer on private land beside a road
The 28 day temporary use allowance is cumulative and rarely covers regular trading. What a roadside catering pitch needs on highway safety, odour, litter and licensing.
Siting a shipping container as a site office or store
Containers are rarely exempt from planning control because they are moveable. The permitted development routes that do cover them, and the limits that catch people out.
Turning a double garage into an annexe for a parent
Converting a garage into living accommodation for a relative usually needs permission, because sleeping accommodation is not incidental to the enjoyment of a house.
Reopening a pub that has been closed for two years
A pub is sui generis, so resuming the use needs no permission unless it has been abandoned. Two years of closure alone does not abandon a use, but the evidence file matters.
Planning permission for a children's home
A small children's home of up to six residents living as a single household falls within Class C3, so no permission is needed. Staffing patterns are usually what move it into C2.
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