PlanScope Blog – Page 165
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 165
9347 articlesSection 330 notices requiring ownership information
A section 330 notice compels you to disclose interests in land. It usually means an enforcement file is open, and ignoring it is a criminal offence.
Protected lanes and historic route designations
Protected lane policies sit in local plans, not in statute, and they are usually what decides whether a rural site can get a workable access.
Ponds created for net gain and why they fail condition
Created ponds are the habitat most likely to be claimed for biodiversity net gain and the least likely to reach the condition assumed. The conflict with attenuation function is usually the cause.
Secondary glazing and insulation in a listed building
Secondary glazing usually needs listed building consent and usually gets it. Internal wall insulation is the intervention that does real damage when the detailing is wrong.
Thermal bridging detail at planning stage
Linear thermal transmittance at junctions can move a scheme from passing to failing without changing a single U-value. What to commit to at planning stage, and what to leave open.
Section 106 monitoring fees and what is reasonable
Monitoring fees in planning obligations have had a statutory footing since September 2019. Regulation 122(2A) sets the ceiling, and the calculation behind the figure is fair game.
Revocation and modification orders after a grant
Section 97 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 lets a council revoke or modify a permission it has granted. The completion cut-off and the compensation duty explain why it almost never happens.
Discharging an archaeological condition: the written scheme
The written scheme of investigation is the specification everything else is measured against. What it must cover, how long approval takes and how to avoid the archive trap.
Overheating in roof level and mansard flats
Model the top floor first. Roof solar gain, limited dormer opening area and single aspect layouts make these the units that decide whether a block passes.
Section 73 and section 96A fees compared
Section 96A amends a permission in 28 days with no publicity. Section 73 creates a new permission, reopens consultation and triggers a fresh levy calculation.
Under-enforcement and the rights it creates
Where a notice requires less than it could have, complying with it confers planning permission for the remainder under section 173(11). A gap worth reading for.
Refrigerant choice and global warming potential in planning
Refrigerant is a greenhouse gas and systems leak. Which inputs a whole life carbon assessment must state, how safety classification drives plant location, and what a condition can secure.
When an enforcement notice is a nullity
Nullity and invalidity are different things. One cannot be cured and can be raised in the magistrates' court, the other is corrected under section 176 if no injustice results.
Smoke control areas and the fuel restriction
A smoke control area declared under the Clean Air Act 1993 restricts fuels and appliances, not planning permission. What to check before buying a wood burning stove.
Lighting design for bats and the lux limits that matter
Bat lighting limits are only enforceable if the plane, the point and the maintained condition are stated. What to specify, what to model and what to verify after installation.
Geophysical survey: when it earns its place
Geophysics costs little per hectare and only saves money when the ground suits it. What magnetometry misses, when resistivity or radar is the better tool, and the four questions to ask first.
Safeguarding a future heat network connection
Authorities ask major schemes to safeguard a future heat network connection even where no network exists. The physical reservations, the hydraulic decision and the obligation wording.
Ground (a) appeals against an enforcement notice
Ground (a) under section 174(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 argues the planning merits rather than disputing the breach. Usually the only route once a notice is served.
Heritage Coast policy and what it restricts
A Heritage Coast has no separate consent regime. Its protection runs through national and local policy on special character, and through the landscape evidence an application has to carry.
Roost compensation: bat boxes against integrated features
A mitigation licence asks for compensation matching the species, roost type, thermal conditions and access being lost. That is where external boxes usually fall short.
Trial trench sampling percentages and how to justify them
There is no national standard for trial trench coverage. The curator sets it from the desk study and geophysics, which makes the sample and the layout negotiable.
Class MA vacancy and continuous use conditions
The two year continuous Class E use condition decides most Class MA applications. The separate vacancy requirement and floorspace cap were removed in 2024.
Passivhaus and what a planning condition can require
A planning condition can secure measurable Passivhaus outcomes but struggles to secure the certificate. How to draft conditions that work and where Part L and Part O still apply.
Managing runoff on a steeply sloping site
On a sloping plot the drainage problem is speed rather than volume. Energy dissipation, terraced storage, infiltration and slope stability, and the levels a reviewer will ask for.
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