PlanScope Blog – Page 176
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 176
9327 articlesManure and straw storage: siting away from neighbours
Manure and straw storage rarely needs its own planning application, yet siting decides whether the farm gets complaints, an abatement notice or a refusal. The distances that matter come from three separate regimes.
Proving lawful agricultural use with a certificate
A certificate of lawfulness is the only formal confirmation that land or a building is lawfully agricultural, and on a barn conversion it is the document the deal rests on.
Water and drainage connection costs on a small site
A planning drainage condition tells you what to design. The Water Industry Act 1991 decides whether you can connect, what it costs, and who owns the pipes afterwards.
Getting permission for a children's nursery in a house
No permitted development right takes a dwellinghouse to a day nursery. The application turns on where parents stop, how loud the garden is, and the loss of a dwelling.
Coalfield referral areas and what the report must cover
In a Coal Authority referral area the local validation list will require a coal mining risk assessment. Mine entry standoffs and grouting zones change the layout, not just the budget.
Strategic noise mapping for early site appraisal
Strategic noise mapping tells you whether noise will shape a scheme. It cannot tell you a facade level, and it omits most of the sources that generate objections.
Rural exception sites and the local connection test
A rural exception site is land that would not normally be released for housing. The local connection criteria and the evidence behind them are what make the exception defensible.
CIL and residential extensions over the threshold
The minor development exemption covers under 100 m2 of new floorspace. Above that, a householder exemption exists, but it must be granted and notified before work starts.
Planning permission for a floodlit riding arena
Keeping horses for riding is not agriculture, so an arena needs permission for both the works and the change of use. Floodlighting decides most of these applications.
Second staircases above 18 metres: the current expectation
Approved Document B expects a second staircase in new residential buildings above 18 metres. It is building regulations guidance, so the risk lands at Gateway Two, not at planning.
Veteran trees: buffer zones and irreplaceable habitat
Veteran trees are irreplaceable habitat, excluded from the biodiversity metric and protected whether or not a tree preservation order exists. Design to the larger buffer.
Biodiversity net gain costs in a development appraisal
Ecology fees, habitat creation, thirty years of management, off-site units, statutory credits and lost developable land. The last of those is the line most often understated.
Piling, vibration and nearby historic buildings
The published vibration guide values are not a safe limit for lime-mortared rubble walls. Method selection, lower trigger levels and a condition survey do the real work.
Trees and green infrastructure as air quality mitigation
Trees deposit pollutants and also change how a street ventilates. In a canyon the second effect dominates, which is why planting belongs in an assessment as a co-benefit.
Shepherd huts: caravans, licences and permission
If a shepherd hut meets the statutory definition of a caravan, the planning question is the use of the land rather than the structure. Fix it to a plinth and that changes.
Outline and reserved matters fees on a phased scheme
An outline fee is charged on site area. Reserved matters are charged as if for full permission, until the cumulative total reaches the full application equivalent and a flat fee applies.
Party wall procedure alongside a basement permission
Planning permission and the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 run on separate tracks. Serve notices after the structural design is fixed, and expect dissent even from neighbours who never objected.
Getting permission for a pontoon or slipway on a river
A piled pontoon or excavated slipway is operational development out to the low water mark. Planning permission is the straightforward part, and rarely the one that shapes the design.
What the 2020 Use Classes reform did to retail policy
The 2020 amendment created Class E, inside which change of use is not development. Old conditions restricting units to Class A1 still bite, which is what most occupiers miss.
Heritage Coast and what the designation restricts
Heritage Coast is agreed between Natural England and coastal councils, with no consent regime of its own. Its force comes from national policy and undeveloped coast policies.
Transfer values for affordable units in an agreement
The transfer value is the price a registered provider pays for completed affordable units. The mechanism in the deed allocates market risk, so draft the definitions in full.
Diffusion tubes against continuous analysers
Diffusion tubes give an adjusted monthly mean for nitrogen dioxide. Analysers give hourly reference data. The question is whether tubes are adequate for the assessment you have to write.
Temporary loss of daylight during construction
Planning assesses the finished building, not the scaffold. Construction daylight loss is handled by condition and by private rights, so aim the complaint at the right regime.
The 28 day camping allowance in practice
Class B of Part 4 permits temporary use of land for 28 days a year. The allowance belongs to the land, not to the operator, and the day count is yours to prove.
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