PlanScope Blog – Page 152
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 152
9371 articlesThe SPOSH test in Part 2A contaminated land decisions
SPOSH is the statutory threshold at which land can be determined as contaminated. Here is what it means, why planning conditions handle almost every case instead, and what a desk study can and cannot conclude.
Farm shops: agricultural use, Class E or a mixed use
Selling produce from your own holding is usually agriculture. Bought-in goods create a retail use, and the tipping point decides whether you need permission, what class you end up in and what conditions follow.
Who is competent to write a BS 9991 fire safety strategy
A fire safety strategy is a fire engineering document, not a fire risk assessment. Here are the credentials that matter, when peer review is expected, and how the strategy differs from a planning Fire Statement.
Secondary glazing in listed buildings: design and consent
Secondary glazing is the intervention conservation officers accept most readily, provided it is reversible and detailed with care. Here is how to specify it and what the consent position is.
Using census travel to work data in a transport statement
Census travel to work data is the standard mode share baseline in a transport submission. Here is which table to use, what geography to choose, and how to handle the 2021 figures honestly.
A worked attenuation volume for a half hectare site
Attenuation storage is the gap between what arrives and what leaves. This illustrative calculation sizes storage for a half hectare residential plot and checks the half drain down time.
Hedgerow removal notice or felling licence: which applies
A field hedge with standard trees can engage two separate consent regimes at once. Here is what each covers, the important hedgerow criteria, the felling exemptions and the timescales for both.
Ecology survey seasons and the cost of missing one
Survey seasons cannot be negotiated with the council. Here is when each protected species survey can be done, how to build the programme backwards from your submission date, and where a precautionary approach avoids one.
Intensification: when doing more of the same becomes development
An increase in activity can amount to a material change of use, but only where the character of the use has altered. Here is the test, the indicators authorities use, and the evidence that settles it.
Class F2(a) small shops: the 280 square metre and distance tests
A shop in Class F2(a) does not carry Class E flexibility. Here are the floorspace, distance and goods tests that decide which class a small shop sits in, and the evidence that proves it.
When your report becomes evidence at a planning appeal
At an inquiry a supporting report becomes evidence and its author becomes a witness. Here is the duty that applies, what proofs and statements of common ground demand, and where costs awards come from.
Tree bonds: securing protection through a planning obligation
A tree bond is money secured by a section 106 obligation and forfeited if protected trees are damaged. Here is how the sum is set, how release works, and where a bond fails the statutory tests.
Deep urban archaeology: assessing remains under a city site
In a long-occupied city centre the question is not whether archaeology is present but how deep it sits and how much survives. Here is how to build a deposit model, stage evaluation and design foundations around the answer.
Check the receiving watercourse before you design a discharge
The water body you discharge into has a published classification and a published list of reasons for failing. Reading them first decides your treatment train, your consent route and whether a package plant is possible.
Walkthrough: a new access onto a classified road
A new vehicular access onto an A, B or C road falls outside permitted development. This illustrative walkthrough follows one application through visibility splays, a speed survey, a highway objection and the changes that cleared it.
A worked 45 degree test for a rear extension
The 45 degree line is the first test a case officer applies to a rear extension. Here is how to measure it in plan and section, with illustrative figures for a 1930s semi and the design fixes that pass it.
Demolition prior notification or a full planning application
Prior notification of demolition gives the council control over method and restoration only. Here is when the right applies, when conservation area rules take over, and which parallel notices run alongside.
Non-material amendments: what section 96A will and will not fix
A non-material amendment is decided in 28 days for a low flat fee, but carries no right of appeal and a statutory cumulative test. Here is where the saving stops and section 73 takes over.
What the BS 5837 tree schedule must record, column by column
The tree schedule sets the root protection areas and retention categories that shape a layout. Here is what each column in a BS 5837:2012 survey has to carry, and what to check before it reaches a drawing.
Heritage partnership agreements: what they cover and when
A heritage partnership agreement can pre-consent repetitive works to listed buildings for an agreed term. Here is what sections 26A to 26C allow, who has to be consulted, and where the time saving stops.
Purchase notices where land cannot be reasonably used
A purchase notice can force a council to buy land left incapable of reasonably beneficial use by a refusal. Here is the statutory test, the deadline, the authority's options and why most notices fail.
Section 73 or a fresh application: cost and risk
A section 73 application costs a flat fee, but it cannot change the description of development or extend the time limit, and it triggers a levy recalculation. Here is how to choose on risk rather than fee.
Viewpoint methodology in a townscape assessment
Viewpoint methodology is the part of a townscape assessment an objector can check by standing at your camera position. Here is how to select, survey, represent and record views so the work holds up.
Planning fee exemptions and when you pay nothing
Listed building consent, tree works and disabled adaptations carry no planning fee, and a resubmission within twelve months of a refusal is often free. Here is how each exemption is tested and how to claim it.
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