PlanScope Blog – Page 20
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 20
9611 articlesLand drainage consent for discharging to a watercourse
An outfall into a ditch or brook usually needs land drainage consent from the lead local flood authority, separately from planning permission. Here is what triggers it and what to submit.
Phased schemes and biodiversity gain plans per phase
Phased permissions use a modified biodiversity gain condition: the baseline is fixed once for the whole site, then each phase needs its own approved gain plan. Here is how to allocate the units.
Historic farmsteads and Class Q barn conversions
Listed status rules out Class Q entirely, and on non-designated farmsteads the heritage argument arrives as a design argument. Here is how to handle both routes.
Who can sign a structural appraisal and what chartered means
A structural appraisal should be signed by a chartered engineer registered with the Engineering Council. Here is what that proves, what a visual inspection cannot tell you, and when to seek a second opinion.
Local authority permitted development under Part 12
Part 12 of the GPDO 2015 lets councils put up small ancillary buildings and street items on their own land without an application. Here are the limits and the routes open to objectors.
Placemaking in Welsh planning policy and its outcomes
Welsh applications are judged against the national sustainable placemaking outcomes in Planning Policy Wales, with Future Wales sitting above the local development plan. Here is how to evidence it.
When the Mayor takes over an application in London
A referable London application can be taken over by the Mayor under the 2008 Order. Here are the three tests, how a representation hearing runs, and what changes for the applicant afterwards.
Consenting a floodlit artificial grass pitch
Floodlit artificial pitch applications are decided on light spill and noise. Here is the evidence councils expect, the obtrusive light zones that set the limits, and how the hours condition is usually framed.
Who can author a basement impact assessment and audit it
No single discipline covers a basement impact assessment. Here is who should lead it, what the independent audit examines, how trigger levels are set and what the appointment must say.
Agricultural tracks and excavations under Part 6 notification
Part 6 permits agricultural tracks and excavations, but the holding size decides the class and a notification on siting and construction comes first. Here is the sequence and the other consents.
Responding to a Mayoral stage one report in London
A stage one report tells you the strategic objections in writing, months before determination. Here is how to read it, structure the response, and use the window before stage two.
Outstanding design houses in open countryside: the five limbs
Meeting four of the five limbs of this design test is a refusal. Here is what each limb requires, how design review should be used, and why siting matters more than architecture.
Section 192 certificates: confirming lawfulness before you build
An officer's email is not confirmation that something is permitted development. Here is what a section 192 certificate does, when it is worth the fee, and the measurements that decide it.
Traveller site planning permission: policy, need and layout
Where an authority cannot show a five year supply of deliverable pitches, that carries substantial weight for temporary permission. Here is how to evidence need, definition, layout and flood risk.
Listed building consent: validation and drawing requirements
A consent application is judged on the fabric, not the arrangement, so general arrangement drawings get returned. Here are the national requirements, the drawing scales expected and the common local additions.
Biodiversity net gain on change of use and conversions
On a conversion the gain question is settled by the route and the red line. Here is why prior approval escapes the condition, where de minimis stops, and why a zero baseline still needs a gain plan.
Who can prepare an air quality assessment for planning
There is no protected title for air quality work, so the test is which guidance the assessor follows and whether they can defend the method. Here is how to scope and check the appointment.
The 56 day deemed approval trap in prior approval
If the council does not determine a Part 3 prior approval in 56 days, you may build. Nothing is issued, nothing is decided, and the qualifying tests remain open. Here is how to protect yourself.
Contaminated land conditions: wording, appeals and programme
Contamination conditions are rarely wrong in principle and often wrong in wording. Here is the standard four part sequence, the drafting that fails the tests, and how to protect the programme.
Park and ride planning permission: drainage drives the layout
The discharge rate the lead local flood authority sets will fix your storage volume and therefore your layout. Here is how to sequence a park and ride application so the drawings survive consultation.
Unauthorised works to a listed building and the section 9 defence
There is no four or ten year rule for listed building control. Here is who commits the offence, the narrow statutory defence, what a section 38 notice can require, and how retrospective consent helps.
Hedgerow removal: the 1997 notice and the metric units
A hedge can be lawfully removable under the 1997 Regulations and still wreck your biodiversity figures. Here is the notice procedure, the exemptions and how hedgerow units are measured.
CIEEM membership grades and the licences that matter more
Membership grades show assessed competence. A protected species licence is a legal permission held by a named individual. Here is how to check both before you appoint an ecologist.
Listed building consent still needed despite permitted development
Permitted development rights say nothing about listed building consent. Here is which internal, external and curtilage works still need consent, and why the offence has no immunity period.
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