PlanScope Blog – Page 117
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 117
9435 articlesAir conditioning condensers on commercial buildings
The permitted development right for plant applies to industrial and warehouse premises. On a high street unit, assume an application and a BS 4142 assessment.
Tall buildings in London: definition, location and impacts
Whether a building is tall is a borough decision, and whether the location is identified in the development plan is the gate the policy puts first.
The Part L uplift: three targets for a new dwelling
A new dwelling now has to pass three separate targets, not one. Primary energy is the target that catches schemes designed around a gas boiler.
Roof terrace noise: assessing people rather than plant
There is no standard for terrace noise, because BS 4142 excludes people. That leaves prediction, baseline character and design mitigation to do the work.
Shade and leaf fall from a neighbour's tree: your options
Shade, leaf fall and overhanging branches from an existing tree are not planning matters. Three other routes exist, and only one of them is statutory.
Abnormal costs in a viability appraisal: what survives review
Abnormal costs are challenged less for being unreal than for being counted twice. The benchmark land value is where that argument is won or lost.
Archaeological priority areas and what they require
A mapped archaeological priority area is a local designation, not a statutory one. It triggers assessment at validation and usually a written scheme of investigation by condition.
Permeable paving: sub-base storage, limits and maintenance
The paving is not the storage, the sub-base is. Here is how to size it, when infiltration is off the table, and what the front garden permitted development condition actually says.
Creating a pond for biodiversity net gain, and keeping it
Ponds reach target condition faster than almost any other created habitat, which is why they appear in so many gain plans. Meeting the condition criteria for 30 years is the harder part.
Soft play centres: use class, noise and parking in planning
Soft play normally falls in Class E(d), which makes a move into a former shop or office straightforward and a move into a warehouse a full application. The noise case decides the rest.
CCTV and security cameras: the permitted development limits
Most security cameras on a commercial building need no planning permission, provided they stay inside the Class F size limit. The floodlight beside them is a different matter.
Responding to a GLA stage one report on a London scheme
A stage one report gives you a dated list of London Plan objections and a window to answer them before the borough decides. Here is how to use that window, and what the Mayor can do at stage two.
Mayoral levy bands and how they apply to a London scheme
Mayoral CIL is charged across every London borough on top of the borough's own levy, collected by the borough and indexed annually. How the bands work and which deadlines lose you an exemption.
Job density and GVA assumptions in an economic case
An economic impact assessment rests on the floorspace per job ratio and the gross value added figure behind it. Where those assumptions break, and how to present net additional effects an officer can rely on.
Lighting conditions in dark landscapes and reserves
National Parks, National Landscapes and dark sky reserves push lighting design towards task lighting, warm spectrum sources and switch-off rather than dimming. What the submission needs to show.
Designing car park lighting to avoid light trespass
Design the boundary condition before lighting the car park. Environmental zones, column height, backlight shielding, curfew dimming and the drawings an officer needs to assess the scheme.
Flexibility and disaggregation in the sequential test
Main town centre uses outside a centre need a sequential test whatever their size. What flexibility on format, scale and parking really requires, and where disaggregation stops being a reasonable ask.
Agreeing pre-commencement conditions for tree protection
Pre-commencement conditions need your written agreement, unless the council serves notice and you fail to respond in ten working days. What to accept, what to renegotiate and how to discharge it cleanly.
Replacement tree conditions and the duty to replant
Removing a protected tree creates an automatic duty to replant, even where the felling was lawful because the tree was dead or dangerous. How the notice, appeal and dispensation routes work.
The four heritage values in a significance statement
Conservation Principles uses four heritage values while the Framework uses four interests. How to run both vocabularies in one statement, grade contribution by element and keep the harm section short.
What archaeological geophysical survey finds and misses
Geophysics is a screening tool that makes trial trenching smarter rather than unnecessary. Which method suits which ground, what interference masks, and why a negative survey proves less than clients hope.
Fire statement content at Planning Gateway One
A Gateway One fire statement is a prescribed form, not a bespoke report. What belongs in each section, from appliance access and water supplies to the evacuation strategy and the author declaration.
Reptile population size class assessment and consequences
The population band assigned to each reptile species sets the mitigation scale and often the project programme. How the count is derived, where it is disputed and what follows.
Otter holts, survey timing and licensing on river sites
Otter resting places are protected in their own right, and otters can breed at any time of year. What a field sign survey records, how the licence tests work and which conditions follow.
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