PlanScope Blog – Page 140
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 140
9392 articlesTree planting that counts towards biodiversity net gain
Planting trees is a weaker generator of biodiversity units than most schemes assume. This explains how the statutory metric accounts for trees and what has to be secured for 30 years.
Bus infrastructure contributions and their triggers
Public transport contributions are among the least scrutinised heads of terms in a section 106 agreement. Here is what is usually sought, what the regulations require and where the drafting should be tightened.
Structural condition and the case against retention
Councils refuse demolition cases built on assertion rather than measurement. This sets out the condition evidence, the cost schedule and the independent scrutiny a structural argument has to survive.
Energy evidence for a refurbishment or retrofit application
Retrofit energy evidence sits across two regimes that ask for different things. This sets out what a planning case officer can require, where the Building Regulations take over and how to sequence the consents.
Overland flow from farmland onto a new development site
Water arriving from higher agricultural land is a separate problem from on-site attenuation, and it is the one most often missed until the layout is fixed. Here is how to find the flow path and design for it.
Holiday lets in rural buildings: which use class applies
The Use Classes Order has no category for self-catering holiday accommodation, so the answer depends on the lawful previous use and how the letting actually operates. Here is how councils approach it in rural England.
Tall building fire strategy at planning committee
Planning Gateway One brings a defined slice of fire safety into the planning decision. Drawing the boundary before the meeting is what keeps the decision and its conditions defensible.
Silt management and pre-treatment before infiltration
Construction phase sediment is the main reason soakaways and infiltration basins fail. Catch silt upstream in features that can be cleaned, and protect the infiltration surface until the site is finished.
Upfront embodied carbon and how to report it
Upfront embodied carbon covers modules A1 to A5 and nothing else. State the boundary, name the benchmark the decision maker uses, and quantify every reduction against a stated baseline.
Why agricultural use is not in the Use Classes Order
Agriculture sits outside the Use Classes Order entirely, defined instead by statute. That means no internal flexibility, narrow permitted exits, and a change of use even when reverting to farming.
Pop-up shop planning: what temporary use rights allow
A material change of use is development whether it lasts six weeks or six years, and the 28 day rule applies to land rather than buildings. Class E is what actually makes a pop-up lawful.
Pond and basin design: slopes, safety and maintenance
Hydraulic sizing is arithmetic. Side slopes, depths, access routes and the absence of a vertical drop into water are what the flood authority and the future management company actually judge.
Equestrian use: agriculture, recreation or something else
Section 336 of the 1990 Act excludes riding horses from livestock, so keeping horses is a change of use. Grazing land stays agricultural, and the infrastructure is what gives the game away.
Laundrettes and dry cleaners: solvents and extraction
A unit can often become a dry cleaner without an application and cannot become a launderette without one. After that, the flue, the machines and the flats above decide everything.
Reptile survey timing and the months that actually work
A reptile survey run in July can record nothing on a site full of slow worms. The season gives two usable blocks, spring and late summer, and the programme has to be built around them.
Felling licences and the volume threshold that triggers one
Five cubic metres a quarter, of which two may be sold, is the whole allowance under the Forestry Act 1967. The exemptions matter as much as the threshold, and restocking conditions run with the land.
Manual for Streets geometry for a small cul-de-sac
Start from the speed you want and work back to width, radii and visibility. Then check the refuse vehicle can turn, the footway stays usable and the levels work.
Basement light wells in conservation areas
The excavation is handled by other consents. The planning decision turns on a hole in a front garden, a set of railings and whether the street still reads as it did.
Plant space and risers for a communal heat pump scheme
Plant rooms, condenser arrays, thermal stores and wider risers all appear on the drawings you submit, and they all come out of net internal area. Settle the plant strategy before the unit layouts.
Drainage evidence for a change of use with no new build
The test is not whether you are building, but whether the new use puts more or something different into the sewer. Most no-build changes of use need two to four pages, not a drainage strategy.
Live music venues, cinemas and concert halls: use class
Since September 2020 cinemas, concert halls, bingo halls and live music venues have belonged to no use class at all. That removes all flexibility and puts the agent of change principle at the centre of every case.
Part 4 temporary uses: the 28 day rule and event exemptions
The 28 day rule is an annual ceiling attached to the land, not the operator, with a 14 day sub-limit for markets and motor racing. Build and break days usually count.
Recording studios and rehearsal rooms: noise design
Bass energy travels through the building structure and bypasses the party wall entirely. A studio application has to show the isolation system, band by band, plus hours and load-out management.
Sequencing ecology surveys for a spring start on site
Survey windows, licence lead times and condition discharge all sit between you and a start on site. Draw the programme backwards from the date the digger arrives, not forwards from today.
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