PlanScope Blog – Page 205
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 205
9242 articlesLoft conversion escape windows and what makes a room habitable
The escape window is the easy part. In a two storey house, a loft conversion normally needs a protected stair, and the headroom over that stair is what decides whether the roof stays within permitted development.
Painting and external alterations under Part 2
Repainting a shop needs nothing. Painting it in house colours so the brand is recognised is arguable, and an Article 4 direction changes the position entirely.
A solar array on agricultural land and the classification
An illustrative walkthrough where a site specific soil survey split a field between subgrades, changed the layout and removed the objectors' strongest point.
Designing an extension next to a neighbour's extension
An existing neighbour extension lowers the harm to them and raises the cumulative effect on the street. How officers weigh the pair, and how to draw it.
Prior approval applications and EIA screening
A prior approval granted for unscreened Schedule 2 development may be worth nothing. The restriction in article 3, sensitive areas, and how to sequence the two.
When a tree is both in a conservation area and protected
Only one regime applies where both could. Apply for consent under the Order and skip the six week notice, because a notice for a protected tree achieves nothing.
Verified views and photomontage specialist competence
A rendered image that cannot be reproduced from survey data is an illustration. How to specify verified views so they survive an inquiry.
A conversion where contamination was found mid build
Deferring intrusive investigation to a condition saved nothing. What the unexpected contamination clause required, and what an earlier Phase 2 would have avoided.
Extending a barn conversion where rights were removed
Find the permission that created the dwelling and read every condition before assuming Class A is available. Curtilage, countryside policy and design that succeeds.
Overheating in single aspect flats and the design responses
Bedrooms fail the night criterion before living rooms fail the daytime one. Which design moves close the gap, and which conflicts cannot be specified away.
Damage cost calculations for emissions mitigation
The arithmetic is simple. Whether the resulting payment is lawful as a planning obligation is the argument worth having, and design can remove most of the figure.
Street trees, highway works and who gives consent
A permission showing a verge tree removed does not authorise its removal. Who owns highway trees, which consents apply, and where section 278 agreements bite.
The role of an ecological clerk of works
Supervising ecological mitigation on site only works when the condition, the construction management plan and the building contract line up. What to specify.
Development contrary to a condition and article 3(4)
A condition on a decades-old permission can defeat a Class A extension today. What article 3(4) excludes, how the courts read use conditions, and the routes back.
Health impact assessment thresholds and content
Establish whether an assessment is required, at what depth, and what the public health team expects, before writing anything. Thresholds, determinants and securing mitigation.
A school expansion and the transport evidence
Floorspace does not trigger the transport work at a school. Arrivals compressed into two twenty minute windows do. How the evidence was scoped, surveyed and secured.
Building over a public sewer during a rear extension
A build over agreement is a Building Regulations matter, not planning. How to find the pipe, what the undertaker will ask for and why manholes indoors are trouble.
Heat network connection safeguarding on an allocated site
Answering a heat network policy takes a drawing, not a paragraph. Plant space, safeguarded routes, easements and the conditions and obligations that secure them.
Section 60 notices and construction working hours
Section 60 of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 lets environmental health fix hours, plant and noise limits on a construction site. Breach is a criminal offence.
Designing a housing layout around tree shade
BS 5837 expects shade and future felling pressure to be assessed at layout stage. Shadow plots, garden orientation, window positions and the conditions that hold.
How long a preliminary ecological appraisal stays valid
Habitat data outlives species data, and site changes reset the clock regardless of date. How to programme ecology surveys against a long permission.
Historic building recording levels and recorder competence
A Level 3 condition is a specification, not a formality. What separates the four Historic England recording levels, and the competence each one assumes.
Enforcement time limits for permitted development breaches
Immunity runs from the date of the breach, not the date of the complaint. What starts the clock for building work and changes of use, and how to prove the period.
Phasing a large scheme without gaming thresholds
Splitting a site into parcels that each sit below a threshold invites cumulative screening and retrospective obligations. How to phase a scheme so the sequence survives scrutiny.
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