Templates, Checklists and Examples

Checklist for responding to planning objections

An applicant's response to objections is a sorting exercise first. Answer the material points with dimensioned evidence, acknowledge private law issues in one neutral sentence, and offer conditions where you cannot prove a point.

Templates, Checklists and Examples6 min read

Checklist for handover of planning documents at completion

The planning file handed over at completion is what a buyer's solicitor asks for years later. Here is the index, and the records that are hardest to recreate.

Checklist for a tree works application under a TPO

TPO applications are free and decided in eight weeks, but vague descriptions get them refused. Here is the evidence that gets consent granted as proposed.

Checklist for a demolition prior notification submission

A demolition prior notification is narrow by design. The authority can consider only the method of demolition and the proposed restoration of the site.

Checklist for a larger home extension prior approval

A single storey rear extension deeper than 3m on a semi, or 4m on a detached house, needs prior approval under Class A. Here are the limits, the information to supply and how the neighbour consultation timetable works.

Checklist for responding to an invalid application notice

Until an application is validated there is no determination clock. Here is how to sort each item on an invalidity notice, decline requests that are not on the published local list, and protect the validation date.

Checklist for a written representations appeal bundle

A paper appeal is read once, in order, without you there. Here is how to structure the statement of case, build a numbered core documents list and index the bundle so every assertion is checkable.

Checklist for a householder planning appeal

Twelve weeks from the decision notice, and nothing can be added once the appeal is in. How to choose between appealing and using the free resubmission, and what belongs in the grounds.

Checklist for a non-material amendment submission

Section 96A is fast because its gateway is narrow. The five questions that decide materiality, the drawing comparison schedule that persuades, and the conditions the route cannot touch.

Site photographic record: what to capture and label

An hour on site with a numbered location plan settles arguments for years. The street views, the boundary and levels shots, the naming convention and an illustrative schedule for a conversion.

Curtilage coverage for a garden outbuilding: worked example

The original dwellinghouse comes out of both sides of the sum and every later extension counts against you. A step by step coverage calculation for a garden outbuilding, with the figures set out.

Worked example: the 45 degree test on a semi-detached house

The 45 degree line from a neighbour's habitable window sets the depth of a rear extension. How to measure it, draw it, and three design changes that recover the lost area.

Drawing schedule for a major residential application

What a major drawing register carries beyond a householder set: binding parameter plans, phasing, street elevations and cross-discipline checks that keep levels and plot numbers consistent.

Templates, Checklists and Examples6 min read

Drawing schedule for a householder application

Most invalid householder applications fail on the drawings. The location plan, block plan, matched existing and proposed sets, scales, levels and numbering that pass validation first time.

Templates, Checklists and Examples8 min read

An illustrative community infrastructure levy calculation

The published levy rate is never what you pay, because indexation applies every year. Here is the method, an illustrative calculation and the forms that must come first.

A demolition and material reuse checklist before works

Demolition is usually permitted development, but only after prior approval of the method and restoration. Then record the building and audit the materials, in that order.

A scoping checklist for an air quality assessment

Most schemes need a construction dust assessment and no dispersion model. Screen the two phases separately and agree the scope with environmental health first.

Contents checklist for a noise impact assessment

A planning noise report answers two different questions, one under BS 4142 and one under the residential guidance. Here is what each section has to contain.

A pre-start condition tracker for a small site

Pre-commencement conditions can leave a permission unimplemented if work starts too early. Here is how to sort the decision notice, build a tracker and plan the lead times.

Checklist for a parking survey to the accepted method

Parking surveys are rejected on procedure, not findings. One night instead of two, a count in half term, or a capacity figure with no stated method will do it.

Transport statement outline for a change of use

A change of use transport statement is an argument about a difference. Establish the lawful existing use, the proposed use, subtract, then deal with the consequences.

A viability appraisal input schedule a reviewer can test

Viability arguments are almost never about the arithmetic. They are about fifteen inputs, their evidence and their base dates. Set those out separately and the negotiation gets shorter.

Contents checklist for an energy statement

An energy statement has a fixed logic: baseline, demand reduction, efficient supply, low carbon supply, then the reported reduction. Here is what each section needs to contain.

Outline for an arboricultural method statement

Method statements fail when they describe intentions instead of operations. This outline sets out what a tree officer expects in each section, and what the tree protection plan has to show.