PlanScope Blog – Page 220
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 220
9215 articlesChartered town planner or planning agent: what changes
Planning is not a closed profession, so the choice between a chartered town planner and an unqualified agent comes down to the case. Drawings-led householder work rarely needs chartered judgement. Green Belt, listing and appeals do.
Electric vehicle charging in enclosed car parks
Parking policy fixes how many charge points a basement needs. Fire engineering decides where they sit, how the level is ventilated and who manages the installation. Both belong on the planning drawings.
Combined heat and power and the air quality objection
The carbon argument for gas combined heat and power has narrowed as the grid decarbonised, while the local nitrogen dioxide argument has not moved. An energy statement has to face that rather than bury it.
Checking strategic noise maps before you fix a layout
Defra's strategic noise mapping under the Environmental Noise (England) Regulations 2006 is a free layout screening tool. It is modelled, averaged and four metres up, so it guides where bedrooms go and never replaces a measured survey.
Fire statement or fire safety strategy: which you need
The fire statement is a planning validation document consulted on with the Health and Safety Executive. The fire safety strategy is the engineering document behind Gateways Two and Three. Most residential blocks need both.
Searching decision data across several authorities
Comparable decisions are assembled, not found. Here is a search method that returns officer reports you can cite, and a record you can still use months later.
Section 73 against section 96A: changing an approved scheme
One route creates a fresh permission with conditions that must be read line by line. The other changes the existing permission with no consultation at all.
Section 278 and section 38 highway costs explained
The figure people budget is the construction cost. The figure they pay adds design checks, audits, bonds, commuted sums and months of agreement time.
Reading a council's housing land supply monitoring
Most of the argument about housing land supply sits in the assumptions, not the total. Here is how to test a published schedule site by site.
Why ecology survey costs vary so much between quotes
Three ecologists, three very different figures, and none of them wrong. The gap is in the assumptions about what the site will turn out to contain.
Local plan making reform: gateways and timetables
The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act reshapes plan preparation, but much of it depends on regulations. Here is how to work out which system a plan sits in.
Non-material amendments and why nobody consults you
A permission can be changed after approval without any neighbour being told. Here is what section 96A allows, where the amendments appear and what you can do.
Keeping a drafted document consistent with the drawings
Most validation queries on sound applications come from documents and drawings saying different things. Here is a fixed routine that catches them before submission.
Using a permitted development fall-back in an application
Comparing your scheme against what could lawfully be built without permission is a strong argument when it is evidenced, and an empty one when it is asserted.
Who should prepare a Transport Assessment and why it matters
A Transport Assessment rests on assumptions an officer cannot check without redoing the work, so the author's credibility does real work. Here is what to ask at appointment.
Basement car park ventilation and smoke control
Ventilation for a basement car park is a building regulations subject until you decide where the air goes. Then it becomes noise, air quality and street scene.
Biosolar roofs: energy, drainage and biodiversity together
Panels, substrate and attenuation compete for the same depth, the same structural allowance and the same access. Here is how the three requirements are reconciled.
Daylight for a single storey rear extension on a bungalow
A low extension can still fail a daylight test when the neighbouring window is at the same level. Here is the section check to run before the drawings are finished.
Using definitive map data for public rights of way
Planning permission does not authorise building across a recorded footpath. Here is how to read the definitive map and statement, and which order route applies.
Section 106 costs beyond the contribution itself
The contributions are the number everyone budgets for. Legal fees, monitoring charges, mortgagee consents and indexation are the ones that arrive later.
Retained EU law and what changed for environmental assessment
Assimilated law renamed the regime without rewriting it. Here is what actually changed for EIA and habitats assessment, and how to cite directive-derived law now.
Enforcement time limits and what they mean for neighbours
England moved to a single ten year enforcement limit for breaches occurring on or after 25 April 2024. Here is how the transition works and what a neighbour can still do.
Reviewing a drafted transport statement before submission
A transport statement lives or dies on a handful of assumptions. Here is the order to check them in, and the point at which a transport planner has to take the work on.
Temporary use of land for 28 days under Class B
Class B of Part 4 allows 28 days of temporary use a year, but only 14 for markets, and none at all within the curtilage of a building. Here is how the count really works.
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