PlanScope Blog – Page 151
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 151
9372 articlesFinding appeal decisions that are actually relevant
Most appeal decisions you find will not help. Here is how to filter by authority, type and date, read for the reasoning rather than the outcome, and cite without overstating.
Evidence pack checklist for a Class MA prior approval
Class MA fails on facts, not argument. Here is the use history evidence, the measurement work and the technical reports to assemble before you apply.
Section 106A modification or a fresh planning agreement
A deed of variation is available at any time with no statutory test. A section 106A application waits five years but carries an appeal. Here is how the two compare in practice.
Lawson comfort criteria tables in a wind microclimate report
Lawson categories pair an activity with a threshold speed and a frequency of exceedance. Here is what each one means, why distress is absolute, and the six checks to run on the plots.
Co-living and large scale shared living proposals
Large-scale shared living is sui generis, so every change needs permission and the standards come from local policy. Here is what councils look for and what to submit.
Recording levels one to four and who is qualified
Level 2 is a description, Level 3 is an analysis, and the difference decides who can do the work. How to agree the level, brief the recorder and get the record accepted.
Conservation rooflights and openings in historic roofslopes
A rooflight in a historic roofslope is assessed twice, for the appearance of the slope and for the timbers cut underneath. Here is what to draw and what to expect.
Checking SSSI impact risk zones before you apply
An impact risk zone is a consultation trigger, not a designation. Here is how to check whether your site sits in one, read the tagged development categories and plan for what follows.
Document checklist for replacing windows in a listed house
Listed building consent for windows turns on why repair is not viable. Here is the schedule, the drawings, the photographic coverage and the heritage material that answer that question.
Environmental Statement or preliminary environmental information
Schedule 4 sets what an Environmental Statement must contain and requires competent experts. Preliminary environmental information has no content list and a different job. Here is how to use each.
Validation refusal and the cost of a rejected application
Invalidation is not refusal, it is delay, and the statutory period restarts from scratch. Here is what the national and local lists require, what it costs to get it wrong and how to check before you submit.
Characteristic situations in a ground gas assessment
The gas screening value decides the characteristic situation, and the characteristic situation decides the protection. Here is what has to sit behind that number for a reviewer to accept it.
Micro-breweries and taprooms and their use class
A brewery with a taproom is two planning uses, and the drinking establishment element has been sui generis since 2020. Here is how the proportions, conditions and technical evidence work.
Choosing a contaminated land specialist and checking status
Councils ask for a suitably qualified and experienced author. Here are the registers that let you check that in ten minutes, and the six questions to ask before you appoint.
Air source heat pumps in heritage settings
Permitted development rights never removed the need for listed building consent. What an air source heat pump application on a historic building has to cover, inside and out.
Finding car availability data for a parking argument
Census car availability is published down to output area, small enough to describe your street. Here is how to pick the geography, pair it with a stress survey and present it as an annex.
Worked biodiversity baseline for a grazed paddock
Modified grassland in poor condition is the usual starting point on a small site. This illustrative walk-through covers parcel mapping, condition scoring and how the baseline units are calculated.
Neighbourhood plan policy or local plan policy in a decision
A made neighbourhood plan sits in the development plan alongside the local plan. Where the two conflict the later document prevails, and most apparent conflicts are not conflicts at all.
Pre-commencement conditions and the cash-flow they cost
A permission with pre-commencement conditions is not a buildable permission. Here is what the discharge period costs a small scheme, and the asks that work while the condition text is still negotiable.
Reading the results tables in a daylight and sunlight report
Vertical sky component, no sky line, annual probable sunlight hours and target illuminance measure different things. Here is how to read each column, and where a summary table can flatter a scheme.
Highway authority charges beyond sections 278 and 38
Section 278 and section 38 agreements are the highway costs everyone budgets for. These are the charges around them, and the sequence in which they arrive.
Selecting trip rates inside a Transport Assessment
Trip rates set the outcome of a Transport Assessment before any junction is modelled. Here is how to filter the database, choose between person and vehicle rates, pick the peaks and record the selection.
Vibration dose values and construction vibration limits
The vibration dose value measures cumulative human exposure, while peak particle velocity measures damage risk to buildings. Here is how each is used and what a construction submission should commit to.
Scheduled monument consent or listed building consent
Scheduled monument consent is decided nationally with no appeal and no materiality threshold. Listed building consent is local and appealable. Here is which regime governs when an asset carries both designations.
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