PlanScope Blog – Page 102
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 102
9463 articlesUnits per hectare: how density is measured and used
Density is an output of the design, not an input. What counts in net developable area, how plans use dwellings per hectare, and how to present a capacity calculation an officer can check.
Rule 6 party or interested person at a planning inquiry
Rule 6 status makes a group a main party at an inquiry, with deadlines, proofs of evidence and the right to cross-examine. Interested persons speak briefly and carry no costs risk. How to choose.
What appeal statements of case and proofs of evidence cost
There is no fee to appeal, so the budget is drafting, evidence and advocacy. How the document requirements and effort differ between householder, written representations, hearing and inquiry.
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.
Mitigation schedules that become planning conditions
A mitigation schedule with one row per commitment, each naming the wording, trigger, responsible party and securing mechanism, is what lets a case officer draft conditions that match the design team's intention.
Fabric energy efficiency standard in an energy statement
The fabric energy efficiency standard measures space heating and cooling demand from the building shell alone. Here is how the Part L target is set, which design moves shift it, and what an energy statement should report.
Documents for a site with a protected tree on the frontage
A protected tree on the front boundary brings a BS 5837 survey, a constraints plan, an impact assessment and a method statement into the application, plus a separate consent for works to the tree itself.
The cost of re-consultation after a design change
Amending a live application can add six to fourteen weeks and a missed committee. Which changes trigger re-notification, and when withdrawal is the better route.
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.
Reporting a bat survey done outside the emergence season
Emergence surveys run May to September. What a preliminary roost assessment can and cannot conclude outside that window, and how councils respond to each suitability category.
Document bundle for a site in Flood Zone 3a
Flood Zone 3a puts a new dwelling into the exception test, and the sequential test comes first. The evidence each document needs, and the conditions that follow consent.
Overheating criteria under CIBSE TM59
TM59 has two criteria and both must pass. The bedroom test of 26 degrees for no more than 32 hours is the one that usually fails, and the one that drives the design.
Reliance letters and who can rely on a survey report
Reading a technical report in a data room creates no rights against its author. How reliance letters, assignment and collateral warranties differ, and what to agree at appointment.
Garden land and windfall sites at infill scale
A garden plot gets no help from brownfield policy and cannot be counted in a windfall allowance. Character, amenity, access and trees decide the application.
Pavement licence or planning permission for outdoor seating
The pavement licence regime only reaches highway land. Where your seating crosses onto private forecourt, or anything is fixed, planning permission is still needed.
Independent design review: who pays and what it delivers
A design review report is expert advice, not a decision, and it becomes public once an application is submitted. What panels look for and when a review is worth the programme time.
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.
Photograph schedules in a historic building record
The register and location plan are what make a building record usable twenty years later. Fields to include, scale and lighting conventions, and the deposit requirements.
Document bundle for a house to small HMO conversion
Where an Article 4 direction has withdrawn the C3 to C4 right, a small HMO needs a full application. The drawings, amenity evidence and parking survey that go with it.
Internal noise guideline values in BS 8233
The BS 8233 internal ambient noise values are easy to quote and easy to misapply. The open window assumption underneath them is where most assessments are challenged.
Checking a consultant's professional indemnity cover
The policy that answers a claim is the one in force when the claim is made, not when the report was written. How to check limits, run-off cover and exclusions before appointing.
Class A rear extension depth on a detached house
Class A allows a 4 metre single-storey rear extension on a detached house, measured from the original rear wall, and up to 8 metres through the prior approval route.
Section 106 or CIL: which dominates at each scale
Below the major threshold the Community Infrastructure Levy is usually the larger and less negotiable cost. Above it, affordable housing makes section 106 dominant. How to model both.
Section 215 notice or an enforcement notice
Untidy land and unauthorised development are handled by different powers, with different appeal routes and different time limits. How to tell which applies.
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