Report Deep Dives – Page 16
Section-by-section anatomy of each of the 66 planning report types, beyond the basics.
Report Deep Dives articles – page 16
377 articlesWriting the design evolution section of a DAS
Design evolution is an argument, not a diary. Here is how to build it from constraints, present options that were actually tested, and answer the access limb the Order asks for.
Residual risk and finished floor levels in an FRA
The finished floor levels section has to state the design flood level, the freeboard and what happens in the event beyond the design case. Most assessments skip the third, and consultees keep asking.
Odour assessment for a takeaway: what the report contains
Councils refuse hot food applications on odour more than on anything else, usually because a supplier quotation was submitted instead of an assessment. Here is what the report has to establish and in what order.
LVIA or TVIA: choosing the right visual assessment
Landscape and townscape assessments share a method but not a receptor. Here is how to choose between them, how GLVIA3 sensitivity and magnitude judgements are built, and what a verified view has to prove.
PEA or protected species survey: reading the ecology scope
The appraisal can be done any time of year and tells you which surveys you need. The species surveys are locked to seasons. Here is how the two documents differ and how to programme around them.
Historic Building Recording: Level 2 versus Level 3
A Level 2 record describes the building. A Level 3 record explains how it came to be that way, with measured drawings and a phasing argument behind it.
Fire Statement or Fire Safety Strategy: which one you need
One is a planning form, the other a fire engineering document, and they sit at different gateways. Here is the Article 9A trigger, what each document contains, and the validation failures to avoid.
Mode share targets in a Travel Plan and how to evidence them
Most travel plan targets fail review because they have no baseline and no consequence. Four elements make a target a highway officer will accept.
Flood Risk Assessment or Drainage Strategy: what goes where
The flood risk assessment covers risk to the site, the drainage strategy covers what leaves it. Here is how to split the scope, avoid contradictions and anticipate the conditions each consultee asks for.
Modules A1 to A5 in a Whole Life Carbon Assessment
Upfront carbon is the part of the assessment a planning decision can still influence. Here is what each module covers and where reviewers find weak assumptions.
Sequential and exception tests: what each one must prove
Two separate documents answering two separate questions. Here is how to define the search area, evidence reasonably available sites, and address both limbs of the exception test.
VSC, NSL and ADF in a Daylight and Sunlight Assessment
VSC answers the blocked-window objection, no sky line answers the dark-back-room objection, and internal illuminance answers whether your own flats will be liveable.
Writing the archaeological desk-based assessment baseline
The baseline decides whether a desk-based assessment survives review by the county archaeologist. Here are the sources, the search radius, how to read disturbance, and how to turn data into a testable statement of potential.
Sun-on-ground and transient overshadowing methods compared
One method has a threshold, the other has a story. Choosing between sun-on-ground testing and a transient shadow sequence depends on the objection you are answering.
ProPG and BS 8233 sections of a residential noise assessment
ProPG sets the method and BS 8233 supplies the numbers for new homes near roads, railways and flight paths. This walks through each section of a competent report and the checks an environmental health officer runs first.
Tree categorisation A to U in a BS 5837 survey
BS 5837:2012 sorts every tree on and near your site into U, A, B or C based on quality and how long it will keep contributing. That grade decides which trees your layout has to work around and which the council will let you lose.
Child yield and playable space in a Play Space Assessment
Child yield drives the whole playable space requirement on a residential scheme. Here is how the calculation works, how the 10 m2 per child standard splits across age bands, and what a defensible shortfall case looks like.
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