PlanScope Blog – Page 163
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 163
9350 articlesLoss of outlook and how it differs from light
There is no right to a view, but outlook from a habitable room window is a material consideration. Here is how officers assess it and how it sits against daylight measures.
Technical approval for highway structures on an estate
Retaining walls, culverts and footbridges offered for adoption go through technical approval before a section 38 agreement completes. Identify them at layout stage, not at detailed design.
Flood defence byelaw margins and works near a bank
An eight metre strip beside a main river, sixteen beside a tidal one, needs an Environment Agency permit before you build, dig, plant or store anything in it.
Shopfront security shutters in a historic street
Solid external shutters fail the conservation area test almost everywhere. Internal grilles, demountable options and open mesh are the routes that get consent, if the details are right.
Deemed discharge and the fee you do not get back
Deemed discharge treats a condition as approved when the council fails to determine the application in time. The exclusions are wide and the fee is never refunded.
Overbearing impact as a reason for refusal
Overbearing impact is about dominance and enclosure, not measured light. Here is how officers assess it, what evidence answers it and which design changes normally fix it.
Section 278 bonds and how the sum is calculated
The bond in a section 278 agreement secures completion of highway works if you fail. Here is how the sum is calculated, what sits on top of it and when it is released.
Rail safeguarding directions and their effect
A safeguarding direction makes the railway promoter a consultee on every application inside the limits and can restrict the grant of permission. Here is what it asks of your design.
Archaeology in urban cellars and basement schemes
Existing cellars both destroy and seal archaeological deposits. Deposit modelling, truncation evidence and groundwater effects decide what a council asks for on a basement scheme.
Scoping opinion requests and the spend they control
A scoping opinion under the EIA Regulations 2017 sets what the Environmental Statement must cover. The quality of your request decides whether it narrows the evidence base or widens it.
Cascade mechanisms in a section 106 agreement
A cascade sets out what happens when the agreed affordable tenure cannot be placed with a registered provider. The triggers, the evidence and the floors decide whether it still delivers homes.
Nomination rights in a section 106 agreement
Nomination rights decide who occupies the affordable homes a scheme delivers. Registered providers price the clause, so the drafting affects what the units are worth.
Visibility splays: setting the x distance at an access
The x distance is the set-back from the carriageway to the driver's eye. On residential accesses it is normally 2.4 metres, and a speed survey is what moves the y distance.
Historic Environment Record searches: what to ask for
The value of an HER search depends on how the request is worded. Monuments alone tell you little; events, findspots and grey literature tell you what has been looked at.
Building recording as mitigation for total loss
Recording preserves information, not the asset. National policy says the ability to record is not a factor in deciding whether loss should be permitted.
Screening opinion requests and what they save you
A screening opinion answers one question: is this environmental impact assessment development? The request costs days. Getting the answer wrong costs months.
Discount market sale as an affordable housing product
Discount market sale is a market home sold below open market value with the discount preserved on resale. The drafting is what decides whether it still works in 2050.
Priority habitat inventory and how far to trust it
The priority habitat inventory is a screening tool. It flags sites worth a closer look, but it records no condition and its polygons vary widely in age and accuracy.
Internal partitions and plan form in a listed building
Plan form is part of a listed building's special interest, so internal works can cause harm without removing any decorative joinery. Reading the plan comes before designing.
Reviewing another consultant's ecology report
A technical review checks survey effort against published guidance, tests whether the conclusions follow from the data, and asks whether the mitigation could be built and licensed.
Tree works applications and the absence of a fee
Works to a protected tree and a conservation area tree notice are both free to submit. The cost sits in the survey, the contractor and the replacement planting.
Severance of an unlawful planning condition
Severance strikes out an unlawful condition and leaves the permission intact. Where the condition is fundamental, the permission falls with it, which is why section 73 usually wins.
Ancient woodland inventory errors and how to test them
The ancient woodland inventory is evidence rather than designation. Where a polygon sterilises developable land, historic map sources can test whether it is right.
Sash window repair against replacement on a listed house
Repair is the policy starting point for historic sash windows. The application that succeeds shows, window by window, what is wrong and why the proposed action is the least that works.
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