PlanScope Blog – Page 18
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 18
9614 articlesPredetermination and interests at a planning committee
Members are expected to have views. The line is a closed mind at the point of decision. How predetermination, bias and disclosable pecuniary interests actually work at a planning committee.
Pre-application advice: fees, scope and what it binds
Officer pre-application advice cannot bind the council, but it can scope your technical reports and hand you the local validation list. How fees are banded and how to get value from the meeting.
Assuming CIL liability, and what happens if nobody does
The Community Infrastructure Levy falls on the landowner by default. How the assumption of liability form works, what the surcharges cost, and why relief claims depend entirely on sequence.
When the flood risk sequential test does not apply
National guidance exempts changes of use from the flood risk sequential test, with an express exception for caravan and camping sites. The exception test, vulnerability classification and flood risk assessment still apply.
Historic shop interiors: when fittings are part of the listing
Listing covers the inside of a shop as well as its front, and section 1(5) of the 1990 Act extends it to objects fixed to the building. How to work out what is protected before a fit-out begins.
Otter resting sites and development near rivers
Otters breed year round, so a holt or couch is protected whether or not an animal is present. What a riverside scheme needs to survey, design and condition before it reaches validation.
Class B roof enlargements and the 50 cubic metre limit
The Class B volume allowance decides most loft conversions: 50 cubic metres for most houses, 40 for a terrace, measured against the original roof space. Here is how the limit and its conditions actually work.
Planning appeals in Wales: procedure, deadlines and costs
Planning and Environment Decisions Wales determines appeals on behalf of the Welsh Ministers, allocates the procedure itself, and expects your full case at the point of appeal. A guide for consultants working either side of the border.
Fire safety information London boroughs expect at planning
Fire safety in a London application runs on two tracks: London Plan policy D12 for all development, and the national fire statement at Planning Gateway One for relevant buildings. Here is what each asks for and who should write it.
Minded to approve: the gap before your decision notice
A committee resolution to grant subject to a section 106 agreement leaves the application undetermined. Here is what happens between the vote and the decision notice, and how to stop the gap running to months.
Office loss and Article 4 directions in the central zone
In the Central Activities Zone and defined office areas, Class MA has been withdrawn. How to confirm whether a building is affected, and what marketing evidence a borough expects.
Site notices, press notices and neighbour letters compared
For major, EIA and departure applications both a site notice and a newspaper advertisement are compulsory. For most householder work the council chooses one method. How to check which was used.
Consenting a mooring and residential houseboat berth
A leisure mooring becomes a residential berth at the point the use changes, and two consent regimes then apply. Flood vulnerability, foul drainage and the land-based details that decide applications.
Councillor call-in: how an application reaches committee
Call-in is a creature of the council's constitution, not planning legislation. Who can refer an application, the reasons required, and what it does to the timetable.
Reading an adopted local plan and its saved policies
Section 38(6) requires determination in accordance with the development plan, so you need to know which documents that includes. Saved policies, the policies map and how to cite policy properly.
The lead local flood authority as statutory consultee
The lead local flood authority reviews surface water drainage on major applications, not flood zones or sewer connections. What triggers consultation and how holding objections are cleared.
Inserted steelwork in a listed building
Listed building consent for inserted steelwork is decided on the loss of plan form and on the bearing detail. How to argue wall significance and specify the intervention.
Hazel dormouse surveys and their long season
The dormouse survey method weights each month of a long season, so a late appointment cannot reach adequate effort. Nut searches, nest tube effort, licensing and clearance timing.
Livestock buildings and the 400 metre separation distance
Part 6 of the GPDO excludes livestock housing and slurry storage within 400 metres of a protected building's curtilage. What counts, how to measure it, and the route when an application is unavoidable.
Northern Ireland: the development management categories
The three Northern Ireland development management categories decide who determines an application, what pre-application consultation is needed and how long it takes.
Evidencing no net loss of industrial floorspace in a SIL
No net loss in a Strategic Industrial Location is tested against capacity rather than the sheds standing today. How to measure, evidence and present the floorspace case.
Consenting a car wash on a petrol forecourt
Forecourt car wash applications turn on drainage and noise, not on the principle. Use class, queueing analysis, trade effluent consent and the plant specification to commit to.
Sequential test for a single infill dwelling
The flood sequential test applies to a single unallocated plot, and the applicant defines the area of search. What evidence an officer accepts and why the test is rejected.
Removing cement render from historic walls
Cement render traps moisture in a solid wall, but removal can take the masonry face with it. Trial panels, hand removal, lime specification and the evidence a consent application needs.
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