Seasonal Calendar
Time-bound planning content: survey seasons, fee changes, anniversaries and council closures.
Latest in Seasonal Calendar
65 articlesArchaeological evaluation and winter ground conditions
Saturated ground flattens the soil differences evaluation depends on. Here is what still works in winter, what does not, and how to programme around it.
Air quality baseline monitoring and the twelve month year
Annual mean objectives need annual data. Here is how bias adjustment, annualisation and the council's published monitoring fit into a realistic programme.
The annual five year housing land supply position
A published five year housing land supply is a snapshot at a base date, usually 1 April. Testing it means working site by site through the schedule rather than arguing about optimism in general.
Housing Delivery Test publication and what it triggers
The Housing Delivery Test measurement triggers an action plan below 95 per cent, a 20 per cent supply buffer below 85 per cent and the presumption in favour of sustainable development below 75 per cent.
Timing a submission around the planning committee cycle
The date that matters is the agenda publication deadline, and the officer report deadline before that. Work backwards from the committee meeting you want and the submission date falls out of it.
CIL indexation and the figure that applies to your scheme
The rate in the charging schedule is not the rate you pay. Indexation runs from the year relevant to the permission, and the commencement notice is the deadline that costs the most to miss.
Daylight modelling dates: 21 March, June and December
Daylight is modelled under an overcast sky with no sun, so it has no date. Sunlight uses 21 March. Here is which test takes which date, and how to present it.
Choosing the week for a baseline noise survey
A background sound survey in the wrong week gets rejected. Here are the weeks and days to avoid, the reference time intervals that govern the measurement, and the disclosures an officer expects.
Badger surveys, sett activity and the closed season
Badger sett closure is normally licensed only in the summer and autumn, so the window controls the programme. Here is how setts are classified, when to survey, and what the 1992 Act prohibits on site.
Habitat survey season and the biodiversity baseline date
The statutory biodiversity metric needs a condition assessment that can only be done in the botanical season. Here is how the baseline date works, what happens if a site was cleared, and how to programme around it.
Clearing vegetation outside the breeding bird season
The Wildlife and Countryside Act protects a nest while it is in use, whatever the date, so the March to August season manages risk rather than removing it. Here is the check regime, the clearance method and the conditions to expect.
Bat emergence survey season and how to plan around it
Emergence surveys depend on bats leaving a roost, which limits them to May to September. Here is what can be done in winter, how survey effort scales with roost suitability, and how to work a submission date backwards.
Financial year end and section 106 monitoring budgets
Indexation base dates and trigger events are often worth more than the headline contribution figures. Monitoring fees fall due when outgoings are heaviest and nothing has sold.
Archaeological geophysics and trenching seasons
Magnetometry needs short vegetation, earth resistance needs a moisture contrast, and trenching needs firm dry ground. The post-harvest window is short and books out early.
Tree survey timing: leaf cover and winter inspections
Stem diameters and root protection areas can be recorded on any dry day. Crown density, branch spread and fruiting bodies each have their own window, and a survey should say which it used.
Timing an application around local plan adoption
Two identical applications either side of adoption can lawfully get different answers. How much weight emerging policy carries at each stage, and how to read the examination timetable.
Planning committee cycles and choosing a submission date
Section 100B of the Local Government Act 1972 requires agendas five clear days before a meeting, and the officer report deadline sits weeks before that. Work the programme backwards.
Daylight modelling dates and the benchmark days
Sunlight tests run on fixed dates while daylight tests do not. What the equinox criterion asks for, how the annual and winter sunlight periods are defined, and which plots an officer needs.
Noise survey timing and the periods to avoid
The background you measure becomes the yardstick for the whole assessment, so the dates matter. Which periods to avoid, what weather invalidates data, and how to agree the method first.
Parking survey timing and the nights that count
A parking stress survey measures the kerb when everyone is home, so the nights chosen decide whether it stands up. The count window, the periods to avoid and how to present the arithmetic.
Habitat survey timing for the biodiversity metric
Condition assessment for the statutory biodiversity metric depends on species composition, so it needs the growing season. The options when a submission lands in winter, and what each costs.
Dormouse survey seasons and nest tube programmes
Dormouse survey effort is scored rather than counted, and the months are weighted. Start late in the season and the arithmetic forces you into a second year.
Badger survey timing across the year
Badger setts can be surveyed at any time of year, which lulls people into leaving it late. The constraint that actually decides the programme is the licensing season.
Wintering bird surveys and when they have to start
Miss the October start and the data cannot be made up until the following winter. This explains which sites need wintering bird surveys and how the habitats regulations drive the programme.
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