PlanScope Blog – Page 115
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 115
9439 articlesThe degradation rule and your biodiversity net gain baseline
Schedule 7A to the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 reverts the pre-development biodiversity value to its pre-clearance level where habitat was degraded after 30 January 2020.
SuDS adoption and the management company question
No body is obliged to adopt a surface SuDS feature in England, so most end up with a management company. Settle the component-by-component position before the layout is fixed.
Listed barn to a dwelling: a full application walkthrough
An illustrative walkthrough of a listed threshing barn converted to one dwelling, where curtilage listing closed off Class Q and bat licensing set the programme.
Thresholds that trigger a viability review mechanism
A review mechanism follows a shortfall justified by a viability assessment rather than a unit count. The drafting of the implementation definition, the trigger proportion and the fixed inputs decides the eventual payment.
Industrial capacity in London: measuring no net loss
A London scheme can add industrial floorspace and still lose capacity once clear height, yard depth, vehicle access and permitted hours are counted. Here is how to measure and evidence all five.
Chargeable development under the Community Infrastructure Levy
Chargeable development is the net new floorspace the levy actually bites on. The in-use test for existing buildings and the order in which notices are served decide most liabilities.
Making the retrofit first case in a planning statement
No national policy presumes against demolition, but a planning statement proposing it needs a consistent option appraisal with structural evidence, honest carbon boundaries and a deliverability case.
Statutory nuisance and why a condition is not a substitute
Statutory nuisance and planning conditions are separate regimes run by separate teams. Permission is no defence to a nuisance, and a clear numerical condition is usually faster to enforce.
How a hedgerow unit is counted for biodiversity net gain
The hedgerow module of the statutory metric works in kilometres, needs its own 10 per cent gain, and treats a line of three trees differently from a single tree in a lawn.
Phasing a scheme to manage section 106 triggers
Phasing moves when obligations fall due rather than how much they total. Define phases by land parcel, build in a revised phasing plan mechanism, and tie affordable delivery to occupation within each phase.
Solar panels and heat pumps on a listed building
Solar panels and heat pumps on a listed building need consent whenever they affect special interest, even where permitted development covers the planning side. Position, fixings and reversibility decide most cases.
Biodiversity net gain unit types: three separate tests
The statutory biodiversity metric reports area habitat, hedgerow and watercourse units separately, and each module present in the baseline needs its own 10 per cent gain. Pooled figures get gain plans rejected.
Exceedance flow routing when the drainage system fills
Above the 1 in 100 year event, water runs overland. Designing where it goes is a layout and levels exercise, and lead local flood authorities expect to see it drawn rather than described.
Daylight and sunlight in a dense London context
BRE 209 targets were derived from suburban layouts. On a dense London site you need alternative targets with a stated derivation, full room-by-room results and an options appraisal that shows the massing was tested.
Rating level in a BS 4142 noise assessment
The rating level is the specific sound level of your plant plus a correction for tonality, impulsivity or intermittency, compared against the background sound level to give the excess that drives the conclusion.
Garage court infill: a four unit application walkthrough
An illustrative walkthrough of a four unit infill on a redundant garage court, where refuse vehicle access, 21 metre separation distances, boundary trees and a failed infiltration pit each reshaped the layout.
Planning application publicity requirements by scale
Article 15 of the DMPO 2015 sets a floor for publicity that rises from a site notice or neighbour letter on a minor application to a press advert for majors and a 30 day period for EIA development.
Play space in London: child yield and the area target
London expects at least 10 square metres of playable space per child, with the child population derived from the unit mix. The distance thresholds decide the layout.
Cinemas, theatres and live music venues
Cinemas, concert halls, theatres and live music venues sit outside the use classes, so every change of use needs permission. Agent of change decides what happens when housing arrives next door.
Half a hectare: the site area route to major status
A three house scheme can be major development because of its red line. The site area limbs in the procedure order catch small schemes on large plots.
What a Healthy Streets assessment has to cover
Policy T2 of the London Plan asks applicants to show how a scheme supports the ten Healthy Streets indicators. Done early, the assessment changes the layout rather than justifying it.
Battery energy storage: the planning consent route
Standalone battery storage in England is decided by the local planning authority whatever its capacity. Fire safety and noise decide most applications, landscape decides the rest.
Mechanical ventilation, noise and overheating in conflict
Internal noise is assessed with windows shut and overheating with them open. Approved Document O makes the conflict explicit, and resolving it is a plan-stage decision.
Arboricultural site monitoring during construction
The monitoring schedule is the part of an arboricultural condition that proves the method statement was followed. Hold points, site records, incursions and close-out.
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