PlanScope Blog – Page 153
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 153
9368 articlesPlace of worship noise: bells, calls and gatherings
For a place of worship the noise case is about people arriving and leaving, not plant. Here is how to assess congregation movement, handle amplified sound and bells, and agree conditions the use can live with.
Insulating solid walls in a listed building
Solid wall insulation is the costliest heritage retrofit measure and the most likely to cause decay. Here is the consent position, the condensation risk, and the evidence a conservation officer will expect.
Finding existing borehole records before you commission a survey
Existing borehole logs and neighbouring planning applications can tell you most of what a first round of boreholes would. Here is how to find them, read them critically and use them to scope a targeted investigation.
Walkthrough: flat conversion of a large Victorian house
Subdividing a house into flats always needs permission, and the application is decided on unit sizes, sound insulation, storage and parking. An illustrative walkthrough of a four flat conversion.
Basement Impact Assessment or a Flood Risk Assessment
A Flood Risk Assessment asks whether water will reach the property. A Basement Impact Assessment asks what your excavation does to groundwater and ground stability. Here is what each covers and which to commission first.
Deemed discharge and the cost of a stalled condition
When a council fails to decide an application to discharge a condition, section 74A lets you treat it as approved. Here is the procedure, the excluded categories, and when the arithmetic favours serving a notice.
Receptor sensitivity in an air quality assessment
A receptor is a place where relevant exposure occurs, and relevance depends on the averaging period being tested. Here is how to build and justify the receptor list that the rest of the assessment is measured against.
Identifying the planning unit in a change of use case
Materiality is judged against the character of the planning unit, so drawing the unit wrongly produces the wrong answer. Here are the Burdle tests, the evidence that splits a unit, and how to present the analysis.
Reliance letters and collateral warranties for planning reports
A technical report addressed to a previous owner is worth little to a funder or purchaser. Here is how reliance is granted, what the liability caps actually mean, and the diligence checklist to run before you price a site.
Standby generator testing and the noise it creates
A standby generator is assessed on its routine test regime, not on emergency operation. Here is how BS 4142 applies, what attenuation is worth specifying, and how to get the emergency carve out into the condition.
Biosecurity measures for tree works on a development site
Chippers, soil, arisings and imported nursery stock all move tree pests around a site. Here is what a council expects in the biosecurity section of an arboricultural method statement, and wording a condition can actually secure.
Damp in listed buildings: breathable repair and consent
Injected damp proof courses and cement tanking need listed building consent and often make a solid wall worse. Here is how moisture moves, how to diagnose the cause properly, and how to present a breathable repair.
Checking coal mining risk before you design foundations
A free ten minute check tells you whether your plot is in a Development High Risk Area. Here is how to read the mining map, what the risk assessment has to conclude, and how shafts and shallow workings change the foundation design.
Walkthrough: extending a school within its own grounds
An illustrative walkthrough of a four classroom extension inside existing school grounds, from the Class M permitted development limits to the Sport England playing field consultation that most often changes the scheme.
Noise or odour assessment for a restaurant: which you need
Plant noise and cooking odour are assessed by different methods against different standards, even though they leave the building through the same duct. Here is what each report tests and which one your council will ask for.
Budgeting a habitats recreational disturbance contribution
If your site sits inside the zone of influence of a European designated site, a per dwelling mitigation payment is the usual route to a lawful permission. Here is how to price it, when it falls due and why viability will not move it.
Collision analysis in a transport assessment, section by section
The collision chapter of a Transport Assessment has to show whether a safety problem exists and whether the development worsens it. Here is how to obtain the data, define the study area and read severity figures without tripping over the 2016 reporting change.
Reports for a scheme with a crane oversailing a neighbour
A tower crane jib crossing adjoining airspace is controlled by private law, not by planning. Here is what the GPDO permits, what an oversail licence covers, and the document set a constrained urban site needs.
The survey limitations section of an ecology report
A limitations section should tell the officer how much weight the findings carry and what to do about the gaps. Here is how to write one that works rather than one that reads as a disclaimer.
Reports for a scheme served by a private treatment plant
An unsewered site needs evidence that mains connection is impracticable, a percolation test done at the right time of year, and a layout that respects the separation distances.
ARB registration against RIBA membership: what differs
One is a statutory register that protects a title, the other a voluntary membership body. Here is what each actually gives you, and why neither is required to submit an application.
Clean Air Zones and what they mean for a development
A Clean Air Zone will not refuse your application, but it will price your muck-away lorries and change your fleet assumptions. Here is where it belongs in a submission.
Monitoring structural movement before repairing a listed building
Repair a historic building before you know whether the movement has stopped and you will repair it twice. Here is how monitoring answers the question, and what it changes about consent.
Using the Heritage Gateway to find historic environment records
The Heritage Gateway is a screening tool, not a substitute for a formal record search. Here is what it covers, what it misses, and how to use the results in a desk-based assessment.
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