PlanScope Blog – Page 22
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 22
9607 articlesA change of appeal inspector and what fairness requires
A replacement inspector can read the transcript, or the inquiry can be reopened. Where a witness's credibility decided a ground of appeal, reading the papers is rarely enough.
Curtilage listing and the 1 July 1948 test
Section 1(5) of the Listed Buildings Act treats structures in the curtilage as part of the listed building if they formed part of the land before 1 July 1948. Here is how to work out where you stand.
What a biodiversity gain plan must contain
The biodiversity gain plan releases the deemed condition imposed by Schedule 7A before development may begin. Its contents are prescribed, and most rejections are administrative rather than ecological.
Part 7 permitted development for commercial extensions
A shop can usually add the lesser of 50 square metres or 25 per cent of its original floor space under Part 7, and an industrial building far more. Here are the limits, the exclusions and the traps.
Planning permission for a heat pump on a listed building
Class G of the GPDO excludes listed buildings, so a heat pump retrofit needs listed building consent and often planning permission. Here is how to site the unit and assemble the application.
Supporting documents for residential moorings
Changing moorings from leisure to residential use is a material change of use. Here is the document set councils ask for, from foul drainage afloat to flood evacuation and navigation authority consent.
Who can lawfully carry out a bat emergence survey
External emergence surveys need no licence; entering a roost or handling bats does. Competence is evidenced by licence registration, professional membership and survey effort matched to the guidelines.
Class G flues in a smoke control area
A flue must not exceed the highest part of the roof by 1 metre or more under Class G, and on article 2(3) land it cannot go on an elevation fronting a highway. Smoke control rules are separate.
Appeals where the appellant is not the applicant
Buying a site with a refused application does not buy the appeal. The right of appeal is the applicant's, so a new owner needs written authority or a substitution supported by evidence.
Planning permission for a small hydro scheme on a river
Planning permission is rarely what stops a small hydro scheme. The hands-off flow in the abstraction licence and the fish passage requirement decide whether it generates enough to work.
Extending a cemetery onto adjoining land
A cemetery extension turns on burial capacity need and groundwater risk. Winter water table monitoring takes a season, so start it a year before the application.
Evidence for a rural broadband mast on high ground
A hilltop mast is assessed on siting and appearance alone. The alternatives evidence, the photomontages and the access track details decide it inside the 56 day period.
Build out and the transparency duties on developers
The 2023 Act framework asks developers to notify commencement, report progress and accept that implementation history counts. The detail sits in regulations, so check what has taken effect.
Breaching one condition and losing the whole right
Permitted development is granted subject to the limitations and conditions in Schedule 2. Fail one and the whole development needs planning permission, with no partial lawfulness available.
Works in default and recovering the authority's costs
Section 178 lets a local planning authority do the work an enforcement notice required and recover its expenses from whoever owns the land at the time. There is no appeal against the bill.
Planning permission for a private helipad or airstrip
Occasional landings can sit within the 28 day temporary use right. Regular movements, a constructed pad and a fuel store do not, and the application turns on noise tracks and movement caps.
Documents for a modular classroom block at an existing school
The permitted development right for school buildings is capped at the lesser of 25 per cent or 100 square metres, so most modular blocks need an application. Playing fields and trees set the programme.
Nutrient mitigation schemes and credit purchase
A nutrient credit has to be matched to the catchment and nutrient, be additional, be secured in law and last for the lifetime of the development. Here is the evidence an authority needs.
Measuring height and ground level under the GPDO
Height under Part 1 is measured from the highest part of the ground adjacent to the building. On a sloping plot that rule decides whether an extension is permitted development or a breach.
Appeals where the obligation was never completed
Where a resolution to grant collapsed because the section 106 was never signed, the appeal route is a unilateral undertaking under section 106(9). The drafting matters more than the policy argument.
Creating new residential moorings on a canal
Permanent residential use of a mooring is a material change of use of the land. Planning permission, navigation authority consent and works permits are three separate hurdles.
Supporting documents for a delivery-only kitchen hub
A delivery-only kitchen hub is assessed on rider movements, moped noise and multiple flue routes rather than customer impacts. Here is the document set and the order to prepare it in.
Hope value and its place in land value assessment
Hope value is the premium paid for the prospect of future planning permission. It counts in a market sale, is disregarded in viability appraisals, and is treated differently again in compulsory purchase.
Drainage and sewerage management plans in planning terms
Section 94A of the Water Industry Act 1991 requires undertakers to publish long-term drainage and sewerage management plans. Their catchment capacity findings now drive phasing conditions on housing schemes.
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