PlanScope Blog – Page 194
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 194
9295 articlesThe standard method for housing need after December 2024
From 12 December 2024 the standard method starts from existing housing stock rather than household projections, with a stronger affordability uplift and no cap.
Drive-through units and their use class position
A drive-through lane exists so food leaves the site, which takes it outside Class E(b). That makes the unit sui generis, with no permitted change in or out of it.
Conservation accreditation for architects and surveyors
No law requires a conservation accredited architect on a listed building, but grant funders often do, and conservation officers read an accredited application differently.
Air Quality Assessment outline for residential in an AQMA
Inside an Air Quality Management Area the exposure of new occupiers decides the application. Here is the structure of the assessment and the inputs a reviewer checks.
Charges for planning history searches and document copies
Register inspection is free by law. Charges begin with copies, archive retrieval and staff time, so the order you search in decides what the history costs you.
Adding storeys to a block of flats: the two routes
Upward extension of a block of flats runs through Class A of Part 20 or a full planning application. The dimensional limits, structural capacity and the 18 metre fire threshold decide which.
Evidence base for a place of worship in an industrial unit
Worship use in an industrial unit is a full planning application. Peak-hour parking evidence and the employment floorspace policy decide it, with noise and escape capacity close behind.
Class ZA demolition and rebuild prior approval explained
Class ZA permits demolition of a detached block of flats or commercial building and a residential replacement within the same footprint. The limits explain why it is used so rarely.
Glamping and camping: what needs planning permission
Temporary use rights cover a few weeks of tents a year. Pods, huts on plinths and safari tents on decks are development, and a caravan site licence is a separate consent from planning permission.
Who prepares and supervises an arboricultural method statement
The person who writes an arboricultural method statement and the person who supervises the works need different strengths. Here is what each role requires and what the council checks at discharge.
Preliminary Ecological Appraisal outline and survey schedule
The further survey schedule is the part of a preliminary ecological appraisal that governs your programme. Here is the structure of the report and the seasonal windows behind each recommendation.
Publicity costs: site notices, press notices and who pays
Statutory publicity is the local planning authority duty under Article 15 of the 2015 procedure order, paid for out of the application fee. Here is when an applicant can properly be asked to contribute.
A new house in the grounds of a listed building
A new dwelling in a listed curtilage turns on section 66(1) of the 1990 Act, the extent of the curtilage and a setting assessment that drives the design rather than following it.
Evidence base for a padel or tennis facility on open land
Outdoor racket sports on open land turn on four pieces of evidence: impulsive noise, obtrusive light, peak-hour parking and the open space or playing field test.
Planning permission to split a house into two flats
There is no permitted development route for splitting a house into flats. Unit size, outdoor amenity space and where the bins and bicycles go are what decide the application.
Evidence base for a data centre on an employment allocation
The allocation's job numbers came from offices or light industry, and a data centre cannot match them. That gap, plus generator testing, shapes the whole evidence base.
Registered building inspector classes and what each covers
The Building Safety Act put building control competence on a statutory footing. Class alone does not tell you what an inspector may work on, because categories limit it further.
Arboricultural Impact Assessment outline to BS 5837
BS 5837 keeps the survey, the constraints, the impact and the protection method apart. A report that merges them cannot be checked against the drawings.
Deemed discharge or waiting for a condition decision
Deemed discharge is a statutory backstop, not a shortcut. The conditions most likely to be slow are often the ones excluded from the procedure.
Demolition prior notification and the cost of getting it wrong
Demolition prior approval is quick and inexpensive. A conservation area offence, a late building control counter-notice and a lost levy offset are not.
Evidence base for a battery energy storage site
Battery storage is consented by the local authority at any capacity in England. Fire and rescue engagement and night-time tonal plant noise are what decide the application.
Class MA: what the prior approval actually tests
Class MA is not a planning application. The council decides a closed list of prescribed matters, and most refusals turn on qualification, natural light or an incomplete submission.
Breach of condition notices and what they achieve
Serve a breach of condition notice and there is no appeal to the Planning Inspectorate and no suspension. What it can and cannot require, and how to ask for one.
Co-living schemes and the standards applied
Co-living falls outside Classes C3 and C4, so the standards come from local policy or from nowhere at all. That uncertainty is the main planning risk on the scheme.
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