PlanScope Blog – Page 164
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 164
9349 articlesStage payments and cash flow on a small development
Planning costs arrive in four bursts, not evenly. Mapping each one against the programme is what keeps a small development's cash flow from failing at discharge stage.
Conditions precedent and why the wording matters
A condition precedent stops development until something is approved. The wording creates it, and the fortnight before determination is when it can still be changed.
Special Protection Area citations and qualifying features
The qualifying features named in an SPA citation define what a habitats regulations assessment is about. The conservation objectives define what integrity means.
Render removal on historic walls and the breathability case
Removing render from a listed or historic solid wall turns on two questions: is the render part of the special interest, and is it doing measurable harm?
Soil translocation and habitat creation on stripped ground
Grassland creation usually fails on soil, not seed. Nutrient stripping, careful translocation and a specification a contractor can price are what make the units deliverable.
Planning fee indexation and budgeting across a year
Planning fees in England are indexed annually from 1 April and fixed by the date of a valid application. That single date shapes how a practice packages its submissions.
The Whitley principle and conditions discharged late
Under the Whitley principle, work carried out in breach of a condition precedent does not implement the permission. Here is how the rule works, and how to avoid it.
Professional review fees and when sign-off is required
Some planning reports must be authored by a licensed or competent person; most only need a specialist read and sign-off. The difference decides what a review costs and when to book it.
Reading an SSSI citation and the notified features
Damage to an SSSI is measured against the features it was notified for. The citation, the map, the consent list and the management statement set the scope of every assessment.
Heritage statement for a rear extension on a listed cottage
A rear extension on a listed cottage needs consent and a statement that ranks what is special, explains the junction with the old fabric, and is honest about harm.
Hedgerow units and the Hedgerows Regulations overlap
The biodiversity metric asks what a hedge is worth in units. The Hedgerows Regulations 1997 ask whether it may be removed at all. The two regimes often give different answers.
Material operation under section 56: what counts as a start
Section 56 fixes the date development begins. Here is the closed list of material operations, the works that do not count, and the records that prove the start years later.
Laser scanning and photogrammetry before demolition
Scanning captures geometry, photogrammetry captures surface. Neither is a record on its own, because a recording condition asks for an analytical document.
Nutrient neutrality mitigation and how it is budgeted
Nutrient neutrality is a catchment-wide constraint that has to be priced into the land bid. The delay risk usually costs more than the mitigation.
The Newbury tests and when a condition is unlawful
A planning condition can satisfy every policy test in guidance and still be unlawful. The Newbury tests are the three that decide validity.
Scheduled monument boundaries and the setting
The red line on a scheduled monument entry answers where consent is needed, not where the remains are. Setting is assessed under planning policy, not the 1979 Act.
Otter surveys and working windows on a watercourse
Otter resting places are protected whether the animal is present or not, so a holt in the working corridor is a constraint from day one rather than a site issue.
Lime mortar specification in a consent application
Repoint in lime mortar to match existing tells a conservation officer nothing. What the specification, the analysis and the joint detail need to cover.
Biomass boilers in a smoke control area
A biomass boiler in a smoke control area is lawful only where the appliance is exempt or the fuel is authorised, and the exemption conditions are where schemes fail.
VAT on conversions and new builds in planning terms
A condition prohibiting separate use or disposal removes zero rating from a new dwelling. Sort the wording at application stage, not after the decision notice.
Section 288 challenges to a planning decision
Section 288 is the only route to challenge an inspector's appeal decision, and the six week limit runs from the date the decision was taken, not received.
Common land and consent for works
Restricted works on registered common land need consent from the Secretary of State under section 38 of the Commons Act 2006, separate from any planning permission.
Green roofs in the metric: substrate depth and scoring
A green roof earns biodiversity units only if it is built as habitat. Substrate depth and variation decide the condition score, and the structure has to carry it.
Replacing a historic shopfront: the consents involved
A shopfront scheme on a historic building usually needs three consents assessed on three different tests. Signage and security shutters cause most of the refusals.
Not sure which documents your council will ask for?
Enter your postcode and PlanScope recommends the right reports for your project, then drafts them in minutes.
Enter your postcode on PlanScope