PlanScope Blog – Page 225
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 225
9206 articlesAncient woodland buffers on a development site
Ancient woodland is irreplaceable habitat, and the buffer around it usually sets the developable area. Here is where the 15 metre figure comes from and what the buffer has to do.
Finding a site on MAGIC and exporting the evidence
The Defra MAGIC map is the quickest constraints check in English planning, and the easiest to cite badly. Here is how to locate a site, pick layers, measure, export and record provenance.
Ordinary watercourse consent or an environmental permit
One fact decides which regime applies: whether the channel is a designated main river. Planning permission authorises neither consent, and the sequence can trap you.
Checking a drafted flood risk assessment against the maps
Three things go wrong most often in a drafted flood risk assessment: an unsourced flood zone, an outdated climate change allowance, and Flood Zone 3 with no 3a or 3b split.
Winter ground investigation and what the season changes
Groundwater peaks between December and March, which is the condition foundations and soakaways have to be designed for. The same water makes access and trial pitting harder.
Structural condition as a reason to demolish heritage
National policy tells decision makers to disregard deterioration where there is evidence of deliberate neglect. A thin visual survey reads as exactly that.
Sun on ground studies for playgrounds and play space
A courtyard can pass the BRE amenity test on aggregate while the play area sits in permanent shade. Assess the play space polygon separately and report shade as well as sun.
Discharging a district heating connection condition
The document that discharges a heat network condition is correspondence from the operator. Where no network exists, safeguarded plant space and a low temperature design take its place.
Woodland Orders, felling licences and how they interact
Where a felling licence is required in a woodland covered by a Tree Preservation Order, the licence route takes over and the forestry authority consults the council.
Nitrogen dioxide diffusion tube surveys for planning
The annual mean objective for nitrogen dioxide is 40 micrograms per cubic metre, and a six week survey cannot be compared with it. Duration, bias adjustment and honest uncertainty decide whether the data is usable.
Planning contravention notice or requisition for information
One notice asks what you are doing on the land. The other asks only who owns it. Both carry criminal penalties for ignoring them, and neither should be answered in a hurry.
Structuring a planning statement so drafting tools help
Officers lift the site description, the policy list and the conclusion straight into the delegated report when those sections are clean. Structure the statement so they can.
Section 106 payment triggers and the financial year
A contribution payable on implementation lands before any sale completes. The same sum payable before the tenth occupation lands when money is coming in. The planning benefit is identical.
Why councils cap basement depth and extent
Single storey limits, garden coverage caps and soil depth requirements each trace back to a harm the plan's evidence base identified. Knowing which one tells you what evidence answers it.
Daylight where the neighbouring site is consented but unbuilt
The existing condition stays the baseline. A consented but unbuilt neighbouring scheme belongs in the report as a second scenario, with a view on whether it will ever be built.
BREEAM at planning: scheme version, rating and condition
A pre-assessment estimates credits; only registration and certification deliver a rating. The version in force at registration is the one you are assessed against.
Discharging a tree protection condition without delay
A tree protection condition is satisfied by evidence that the exclusion zone existed before work started. Submit the package in the order the tree officer reads it.
Plant noise from commercial kitchens: assessment and fixes
Kitchen plant noise is assessed under BS 4142 by comparing the rating level with measured background. Character corrections for tonality and cycling often decide the case.
Section 96A amendment or a section 73 application
A non-material amendment adjusts an existing permission. A variation of conditions creates a fresh permission that may fall outside the original section 106 agreement.
Audit trails and version control for AI assisted documents
Inconsistency between the submitted document, the officer report and the appeal bundle is a self-inflicted wound. Six fields in a revision table prevent most of it.
Discharging pre-start conditions in time for a spring start
Eight weeks for determination, plus consultant time, plus a consultee who is slower than the council. Working back from a spring start puts the submission in autumn.
Construction method statements for basement excavation
A basement impact assessment predicts the effects. The method statement says how the work will be done so those predictions hold, in numbered stages with figures attached.
Daylight for an infill extension on a terraced house
Filling a side return puts a new flank wall beside one neighbouring window at close range. Two measurements tell you whether you have a problem before you commission anything.
Renewables on a listed building and the section 16 duty
Section 16 of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 decides a renewables application on a designated asset. Reversibility, siting order and quantified generation are what move a conservation officer.
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