PlanScope Blog – Page 179
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 179
9321 articlesThe four stages of an Energy Statement
An Energy Statement reports the same scheme four times and every figure has to reconcile with the last. Here is what each stage covers and how the residual shortfall is reported.
Rainwater harvesting and the runoff calculation
Attenuation volume has to be empty when the storm arrives and a harvesting tank is trying to stay full. Here is how the two calculations differ and how to design one tank that serves both.
Committee refusals against officer advice: appeal prospects
When a committee refuses against its officers, the authority's own report becomes your evidence. Here is how to read the reasons, test the costs position and choose between appeal and resubmission.
Survey nights and stress counts in a Parking Survey
Parking stress is the ratio of parked vehicles to usable kerb capacity, and the denominator is where surveys are challenged. Here is how to design and present one that holds up.
Reading the NPPF by policy code instead of paragraph number
Two citation changes in under three years have left most planning documents quoting paragraphs that no longer exist. Here is how to cite the Framework, and how to triage older reports.
Testing a contribution request against regulation 122
Regulation 122 is a statutory test on the decision maker, applied to each obligation separately. Here is the evidence to request, the requests that usually fail, and how to run the point at appeal.
Structural appraisal for rooftop solar on an existing roof
Part 14 permitted development says nothing about whether the roof can carry the array. Here is how to appraise an existing roof, where ballast and wind uplift bite, and what evidence to keep.
Daylight to single aspect flats and how to fix them
Single aspect units fail on plan depth, not window size. Here are the geometry changes that recover internal daylight, ranked by what they cost, and when the unit count has to come down.
Noise measurement uncertainty and how to report it
Saying the instrument was calibrated is not an uncertainty statement. Here is how to combine the contributors, report a range, and decide when the uncertainty changes the conclusion.
Metering and submetering strategies for mixed use
A metering strategy proves the energy strategy was delivered, which is why it appears in conditions. Here is how to split supplies on a mixed use scheme and what the submission should show.
Flood risk where only ordinary watercourses affect a site
National flood mapping models main rivers, so a ditch or brook can present real risk that the published zones do not show. Here is the local evidence that carries a small site.
Heritage harm refusals and the statutory balance
A heritage appeal turns on significance, the level of harm, the statutory duty and the public benefits, in that order. Here is how the balance is built and where applicants lose it.
Choosing trip rates in a Transport Assessment
Trip rates are agreed before any junction is modelled, and everything downstream inherits them. Here is how to build a site selection a highway officer can reproduce and will accept.
Biodiversity net gain: which permissions escape the rules
The biodiversity gain condition attaches by reference to when the application was made, not when it was decided. Here are the commencement dates, the section 73 position and the five exemptions.
Planning obligations on a change of use application
A change of use can carry planning obligations even with no new floorspace. Here is what triggers them, where a condition does the same job at lower cost, and how to test a contribution request.
The three building safety gateways and where planning sits
Only Gateway One sits in the planning system. Here is what each of the three building safety gateways decides, the definitions that differ between them, and how change control links planning to building control.
Local plan amenity policies and how they use BRE 209
BRE 209 is advisory until a policy adopts it. Here is how to read adopted amenity policies, SPDs and emerging plans to work out which daylight standard actually applies to your scheme.
Tonality: the reference method and the penalty applied
A tonality correction of 2 to 6 dB often decides whether plant noise reads as an adverse impact. Here is the one third octave reference method, the subjective scale and how to reconcile the two.
Heat loss from glazing ratio and design policy
Glass loses heat faster than the wall it replaces, and Part O caps how much of it you can have. Here is how to settle the glazing ratio and the shading strategy together rather than after permission.
Piling and ground works over a principal aquifer
A pile can connect contaminated made ground to clean water below, and that cannot be undone. Here is what a piling risk assessment has to cover and where the Environment Agency objects outright.
Greater London Authority referable thresholds explained
A referable application is decided by the borough, but only after the Mayor has been consulted twice. Here are the referral categories, the two stage process and the extra evidence a referable scheme needs.
Highway safety refusals and visibility splay evidence
Visibility splay requirements follow recorded vehicle speeds, not the posted limit. Here is the evidence that answers a highway safety reason for refusal on a small residential access.
The access chapter of a Design and Access Statement
The access half of a Design and Access Statement is usually reduced to a sentence about level thresholds. Here is what Article 9 of the DMPO 2015 actually asks for, and how to write it so an officer can use it.
Drainage strategy for a phased development
The permitted discharge rate belongs to the site, not to phase one. Here is how to allocate it, design interim arrangements and lock each phase to the drainage it depends on.
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