PlanScope Blog – Page 173
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 173
9332 articlesFinished floor levels in a flood risk assessment
The finished floor level is the main mitigation in most small-scheme Flood Risk Assessments. How to derive the design flood level, apply freeboard, state the figure against a datum, and what to do when raising the floor is impossible.
Greenfield run-off rate and how it is estimated
The greenfield run-off rate is the discharge ceiling under Defra's non-statutory technical standards. Here is how it is calculated, which inputs matter most, and how to record the method so a lead local flood authority can audit it.
Tree retention categories under BS 5837
Category A, B, C and U describe quality and estimated remaining contribution, not life expectancy and not amenity value. Here is how to read and use them.
The structural root plate and why it is protected
A root protection area is a design tool that can be offset. The structural root plate inside it is what stops the tree falling over, and it is not negotiable.
Plan making reform and what happens to emerging plans
Reform changes the machinery of plan making. The weight an emerging plan carries today still turns on stage, objections and consistency with national policy.
Rain gardens and tree pits in adopted highway
Street SuDS gets refused on maintenance and utilities, not performance. Answer those two in the authority's own format and with a detail they have adopted before.
Development beside the railway and the consultation process
The planning application is the easy half. Asset protection is negotiated with the railway, takes months and decides what you can actually build at the boundary.
Space standards and accessible housing as appraisal inputs
Developers argue the wrong side of this. The space standard costs you units, the accessibility standards cost you build rate, and the evidence differs for each.
Waste and cycle stores in the ground floor of a block
Bin stores and cycle stores want the same corner of the ground floor as the core and the entrance. Draw the containers at full size before anything else is fixed.
Farm anaerobic digestion: feedstock and traffic evidence
The feedstock table decides how a farm anaerobic digestion application is characterised, and the lane network decides whether it is acceptable. Both need real evidence.
Sound power level against sound pressure level
Manufacturer datasheets publish both, often badly labelled. Here is how to tell them apart, convert between them and build a source schedule that stands up.
Commencement notices and the CIL amendment regulations
Miss the commencement notice and instalments fall away and a surcharge follows. Since 2019 the self-build exemption survives, which is not what older guidance says.
Pond and basin safety: slopes, benches and freeboard
Design the safety into a basin at concept stage and the objection never lands. Slopes, benches, visibility, freeboard and the exceedance route explained.
Smoke control areas and appliance choice in planning
You can install a stove lawfully and still not be allowed to burn wood in it. Here is how smoke control, Building Regulations and planning divide the job.
Independent review of a viability appraisal
A council will not take your appraisal at face value. Here is how the independent review works, where the disputes actually are and how to shorten it.
Podium car parks, ventilation and the fire strategy
Ventilation openings for a podium car park have to go somewhere, and design policy wants that frontage. Settle the strategy before the elevations are fixed.
Woodland creation and the forestry EIA regulations
Afforestation falls outside the planning system and inside a separate consent regime. Here are the thresholds, the opinion process and the evidence that supports it.
A planning condition or an informative on the decision
A condition binds you and can be enforced. An informative is a note. Knowing which is which decides your programme, your fees and your appeal rights.
Background sound level and why it governs
In a BS 4142 assessment everything is measured against the background sound level. Three decibels of error moves the conclusion by a whole category.
Air source heat pumps and permitted development limits
A heat pump at a house is usually permitted development, but the 42 decibel noise condition and the designated land rules catch a lot of installations.
Treatment train design for a car park outfall
Parking and service yards carry silt, metals and hydrocarbons that roof water does not. Here is how to build and evidence a treatment train that a drainage officer will accept.
Crematoria and the two hundred yard rule
A statutory siting rule from 1902 still decides where a crematorium can go. Here is how it works alongside planning permission, emissions control and the parking case.
Highway works costs in a development appraisal
Section 278 highway works are a build cost with five hidden companions. Here is how to structure the appraisal line and evidence it for a viability review.
Timber frame and the fire questions asked at planning
Fire performance belongs to Building Regulations, yet timber frame still raises questions at planning. Three routes bring it onto the case officer's desk.
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