PlanScope Blog – Page 157
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 157
9361 articlesWinter inspection limits on a tree survey
A leaf off survey fixes stem diameters, root protection areas and categories perfectly well. Crown condition, decay fungi and species confirmation are weaker, and the report has to say so.
Archaeological watching briefs and when they fit
A watching brief suits sites with real but low potential and limited groundworks. On a site with known remains it is the wrong instrument, and the escalation lands on your programme.
Village pub extension with an outdoor terrace
Pubs sit in sui generis, so an extension and a new terrace need permission for the operation as well as the building. This illustrative walkthrough follows the noise, odour, parking and heritage arguments.
Waste storage and collection as unit numbers rise
Bin storage has to satisfy the collection authority and the ground floor plan at the same time. Work out the volume, the carry distances and the vehicle tracking before the layout is fixed.
Reports for a padel or tennis court with floodlighting
A court surface can be permitted development; the floodlights and a padel enclosure usually are not. Here is the document set, from obtrusive light limits to the noise of evening play.
Reporting consultation responses in an SCI
A Statement of Community Involvement submitted with an application is an evidence document, not advocacy. Record who was consulted, report responses unedited, and show where the scheme changed and where it did not.
Structural limits on a terraced house loft conversion
Removing purlins and struts means new steels into the party walls, a new floor structure and a hard look at headroom under the ridge. Resolve the structure before fixing the planning drawings.
A restaurant flue in a conservation area
Kitchen extraction guidance pushes the discharge point up, and conservation duties push it out of sight. Work through internal routes, duct design, termination height and abatement in that order.
Scaffolding and site access within a root protection area
Temporary works cause most construction damage to trees. Here is how scaffold loads, access routes and crane outriggers are handled inside a construction exclusion zone, and how to agree an incursion before it happens.
Certificates of lawfulness for works to a listed building
Section 26H of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 lets you establish formally that described works need no listed building consent. The application turns on the precision of the schedule.
Equestrian arena and stables in a National Landscape
Keeping horses for recreation is not agriculture, so an arena and stable block need full permission. This illustrative walkthrough covers siting on a slope, arena drainage, lighting in a dark landscape and the documents submitted.
Child yield and when play space becomes a requirement
Child yield comes from the unit schedule, not from judgement. Work it out before the layout is fixed, because finding several hundred square metres of playable space afterwards usually costs a plot.
Reports for a dropped kerb and off-street parking space
A domestic crossover involves two approvals: a section 184 highway application and, where the front garden surfacing falls outside Class F, a householder planning application. The document list is shorter than most people expect.
Working hours, wheel washing and complaints in a CMP
The operational controls in a Construction Management Plan decide whether a pre-commencement condition can be discharged first time. Here is how to write hours, wheel washing, dust and liaison so an officer can sign them off.
Outbuildings with a shower room or kitchenette
A WC and basin usually stay inside Class E. A shower, kitchen and bed space do not. Where the incidental use test bites, and what the Building Regulations add.
The two hour sun on ground test in an overshadowing study
Half the amenity area receiving two hours of sun on 21 March is the benchmark. How to define the area, model the context honestly, and report the before and after figures.
Removing a chimney stack in a conservation area
Chimney stacks are usually named as positive features in conservation area appraisals. How to check whether permission is needed, and why keeping the stack while losing the breast often works.
Presenting arboricultural evidence at a planning committee
Members are not reading your BS 5837 survey. How to reduce it to three drawings, answer the replacement planting question honestly, and handle a contrary tree officer recommendation.
Sash window details and dating a terrace
Bar width, box position, horns and the way the glass distorts a reflection will date the sashes on a terrace in an afternoon, and that survey shapes the whole consent strategy.
Walkthrough: section 73 to amend an approved housing scheme
An illustrative walkthrough of a section 73 application varying approved plans on a six house permission, from the scope question to the original time limit.
Scale and the shift from delegated to committee decision
Crossing into committee adds six to twelve weeks and changes who you are persuading. Where delegation schemes draw the line, and how to programme backwards from a committee date.
Reporting VSC and NSL results in a daylight assessment
VSC and no sky line answer different questions. How to report both with absolute values alongside ratios, handle rooms already below target, and state your assumptions.
Raising the ridge height on a bungalow
Class B stops any part of a house rising above its existing ridge, so a bungalow roof lift always needs permission. What decides it: the street roofline, the eaves line and the windows.
Building over or near buried infrastructure
Planning permission does not authorise building over a sewer or a tunnel. How to find the assets, deal with each owner's protection regime, and sequence the consents.
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