PlanScope Blog – Page 2
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 2
8377 articlesWhen a daylight assessment is required on the validation list
No national rule requires a daylight assessment. The requirement comes from the authority's own local validation list, and the trigger is usually set by storeys, separation distance or whether new flats are proposed.
Budgeting a transport evidence base by scheme size
The transport evidence base scales in steps. Work out which document the authority requires before commissioning surveys, and order the low cost work so it de-risks the expensive work.
Bat roost found during a bungalow loft conversion
An illustrative walkthrough of a bungalow loft conversion where a bat roost was confirmed, showing how the May to September survey season and the licensing route reshaped the programme.
Prior approval against permitted development without it
Schedule 2 to the GPDO 2015 splits permitted development into rights you can simply exercise and rights suspended until prior approval. The difference governs certainty, fees and conditions.
Planning permission for a riding school and indoor arena
Keeping horses commercially falls outside the agricultural exemption, so a riding school and its covered arena need express permission. Access visibility, arena scale and manure storage usually decide the case.
Reports for a parcel locker and courier hub
A last mile courier hub needs transport, noise, drainage and utilities evidence shaped around pre-dawn van departures and fleet charging load, not warehouse trip rates.
Budgeting an ecology package across the survey seasons
Ecology cost is driven by which month you start, not by day rates. Commission the appraisal in autumn, book spring survey slots, and price a second season as a named line.
Getting permission to rebuild a scout hut or community hall
The principle of rebuilding a hall is usually accepted. What gets argued about is the increase in size, the trees in the grounds, evening parking and how long the permission lasts.
Reports for a film studio on an industrial estate
There is no use class for a film studio, and standard industrial trip rates do not describe one. The evidence base is noise, lighting, grid capacity and transport, with a fire strategy for undivided stages.
Rooftop extension on a block of flats under Part 20
An illustrative Part 20 Class A scheme adding eight flats to a 1968 block. The three things that nearly stopped it were daylight to the facing block, the lift overrun and the airspace lease.
What an appeal actually costs beyond the Inspectorate
No fee is payable to lodge an appeal in England, so the budget is professional time, expert evidence and months of delay. The step from written representations to an inquiry is not incremental.
Planning permission for floodlighting at a sports club
Two numbers decide a floodlighting application: vertical illuminance at the nearest residential window and the hour the lights go off. Taller columns usually reduce spill, and the objection is rarely only about light.
Reports for a caravan storage compound on farmland
Storing unoccupied touring caravans on a field is a material change of use. The application is decided by winter visibility of the stored units and by what the hardstanding does to runoff.
Upward extensions under Part 20 and the prior approval tests
Part 20 grants the principle of adding storeys and then gives the authority a long list of prior approval matters. Daylight, amenity and external appearance are where these applications are won or lost.
Having your say in an appeal as an interested party
Your rights in an appeal depend on the procedure. Written representations give you five weeks, an inquiry lets you apply for formal party status, and a householder appeal accepts nothing new.
Supplying planning history rather than a postcode
Article 3(4) of the GPDO means a condition on a forty-year-old permission can remove permitted development rights. That record exists only on the authority's register, so it has to be supplied.
Sales value evidence an authority will accept
A small movement in value per square metre swamps most cost arguments, which is why an authority's reviewer starts there. State the selection criteria, show every adjustment, and date the valuation.
Cumulative overshadowing from consented but unbuilt schemes
Where a neighbouring plot holds an unbuilt permission, the realistic future condition includes it. Model that, model the proposal alone, and say which scenario the conclusion rests on.
A 60 unit site crossing the transport assessment threshold
At 48 units the scheme needed a Transport Statement. At 60 it needed a full Transport Assessment, junction modelling and a monitored travel plan. An illustrative walkthrough of what changed.
How a community infrastructure levy charging schedule works
Levy liability is arithmetic rather than negotiation. The money is won or lost on the floorspace measurement, the in-use building offset and the order in which the forms are submitted.
Getting permission for a replacement beach hut
Householder permitted development rights do not reach a hut on a promenade, so a replacement needs permission, landowner consent and sometimes a marine licence. Same footprint is the easy application.
Reports for a shisha lounge in a parade of shops
A shisha lounge is usually sui generis, and its application turns on a contradiction: the smoke-free definition of substantially enclosed forces an open shelter that amenity policy resists.
Use Classes Order 2020: what a condition still restricts
The 2020 amendment revoked the old classes but removed no conditions. A permission restricting a unit to Class A1 and no other purpose still binds, and the ways out are a section 73 application or a certificate.
Judicial review for a neighbour: time limits and standing
Judicial review tests the legality of a planning decision, not whether it was a good idea, and the six-week clock runs from the decision notice. Standing is rarely the obstacle. Grounds and costs usually are.
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