PlanScope Blog – Page 188
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 188
9306 articlesWhich windows and rooms to assess for daylight
The scope of a daylight report is where it gets attacked. Here is how to identify receptors, decide which rooms are protected, handle consented but unbuilt neighbours and record assumptions where access is refused.
How to check whether your site is in the Green Belt
Online constraint layers are generalised, so a site on the line cannot be settled from them. This explains how to read the adopted policies map, the inset and washed-over distinction, and how to get a written answer.
Trip generation for older persons and care housing
Older persons and care schemes generate few movements in the network peak and real parking demand on a Sunday afternoon. Here is how to select trip rates, handle shift overlaps and evidence a reduced parking provision.
Geocellular storage tanks: design life and adoption
Geocellular tanks find attenuation volume where nothing else fits, but nobody adopts them. This covers the design life argument, the silt regime, the uplift check and how to present the system so a condition is discharged.
Reserved matters checklist after an outline consent
A reserved matters submission settles the details the outline left open and cannot change what the outline fixed. Here are the time limits, the parameter checks and the document set to assemble.
Replacing shopfronts across a parade of units
Shopfront works need planning permission for the frontage and advertisement consent for the signage, judged on different tests. Here is how to structure a parade-wide scheme so both run together.
The two hours of sun test for gardens on 21 March
At least half a garden should receive two hours of sun on 21 March. Where it already receives less, the test becomes whether the sunlit area falls below 0.8 times its former size. Here is how both are assessed.
Recreational disturbance zones and how SANGs work
Inside a recreational disturbance zone, a single net additional dwelling can require mitigation. This covers the Habitats Regulations trigger, how SANG capacity works and how contributions are secured.
Where cycle schemes fail LTN 1/20 requirements
Cycle schemes submitted with applications fail LTN 1/20 in the same four places: width, junctions, continuity and shared use. Here is what the guidance asks for and how to record a departure properly.
Blue roofs as attenuation and the maintenance case
Blue roofs buy attenuation volume where there is no room for a tank. The hydraulics are the easy part. Winning the argument means showing the blocked-outlet case, the drawdown time and who maintains the flow control.
Pre-application meeting agenda and the questions to ask
Pre-application advice is worth what you take out of it in writing. Here is the pack to send, an agenda ordered so the expensive questions come first, and the eight questions that produce answers you can use.
Reopening a closed village pub: consents and evidence
A pub does not lose its planning use just because it has been shut. This covers abandonment, lawful development certificates, community value listing and the noise and parking evidence that reopening usually needs.
Target illuminance and the current daylight standard
BS EN 17037 measures daylight as illuminance achieved for a fraction of the year, not as a single ratio. Here is how the target and minimum criteria work, what the UK National Annex asks for, and how to report both methods.
Coal mining risk areas and the referral you cannot skip
In a Development High Risk Area the council will not validate your application without a coal mining risk assessment. This covers what the layer records, how zones of influence work and what has to be discharged.
Servicing management plans for a town centre unit
For a shop or restaurant with no off-street yard, the servicing plan often decides whether the highway authority objects. Here is what to count, how to show where vehicles stop, and how to propose your own hours.
Tidal and fluvial flood risk together: joint probability
On a tidal river the peak flow and the peak sea level rarely coincide, so design levels come from joint probability rather than from stacked worst cases. This sets out the method and the checks a reviewer should make.
Sequential test for flood risk: an illustrative example
The flood risk sequential test turns on evidence about alternative sites, not on the merits of the scheme. This walks through the search area, the availability judgement and a clearly labelled illustrative comparison table.
Gates, piers and boundary walls next to the highway
The permitted height for a wall, fence or gate is 1 metre where it adjoins a highway used by vehicles and 2 metres elsewhere. Here is how the limit works, and what the highway engineer will ask about visibility and gate swing.
School and nursery drop-off, taxi and coach provision
School applications are decided on fifteen minutes of the day. Here is how to quantify the drop-off peak and what provision actually satisfies a highway officer.
Flood defences and the residual breach scenario
Flood zones ignore defences, so a defended site is judged on what happens when the defence fails. This covers breach modelling, hazard rating and the design response.
Nitrate vulnerable zones and planning relevance
An NVZ is not a planning designation, but its storage duties frequently produce a planning application. Here is where the two regimes actually meet.
Drawing schedule and revision register for a submission
The approved plans condition is only as reliable as the register behind it. Here is the numbering, revision and issue discipline that keeps a permission usable.
Building a detached garage with a room above
Permitted development for outbuildings stops at a single storey, so a garage with a room above needs an application. This is how to design one that gets granted.
Radon affected areas and what the application addresses
Radon protection comes from the Building Regulations, not from planning. Here is how to check a plot, what basic and full measures involve, and when a council asks.
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