PlanScope Blog – Page 228
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 228
9200 articlesChecking a site for constraints before you make an offer
A pre-acquisition constraints check costs two days and nothing else. Run the designations that remove the principle of development first, then the ones that add cost, then the ones that move your programme.
Reading emission factors in a planning energy statement
Grid electricity now carries a far lower carbon factor than mains gas, which changed every percentage in an energy statement. How the baseline is set and which arithmetic errors officers spot.
Odour and noise conditions for a micro-brewery
Boil odour, glycol chillers and the taproom nobody declared are what sink small brewery applications. How to handle each separately and avoid a condition that caps your output.
Crown lifting, reduction and thinning explained
Cut back, tidy up and reduce by 30 per cent all mean different things to different people. The recognised pruning terms, what each one does to a tree, and how to write a specification that gets approved.
Foul drainage with no mains sewer: what to show
Applications for package treatment plants fail on the first question rather than the last. How to evidence that mains connection is impractical, test the ground properly and identify the right regulatory route.
Restrictive covenants compared with planning rules
A council can grant permission for works your title deeds prohibit. How the two systems differ, where covenants are recorded, and the order to deal with them in.
Why AI tools cite the wrong NPPF paragraph numbers
Most planning commentary in circulation was written against superseded editions, so drafted reports cite paragraph numbers that no longer exist. How the renumbering happened and how to check a citation.
CIL indexation and the January rate change
The levy you pay is the adopted rate adjusted by an index that changes each January and keys to the year permission was granted. How the formula works and where the savings usually sit.
Railway vibration and residential layout decisions
Ground-borne vibration and re-radiated noise from a railway are unaffected by facade insulation. How to measure the baseline before the masterplan, and why distance beats isolation bearings every time.
Establishment maintenance periods in landscape conditions
Most developers price the planting and not the five years that follow it. What the establishment obligation covers, how long it runs, and how the duty passes when the site is sold.
Schedule 3 SuDS approval: what is in force and what is not
SuDS approving bodies operate in Wales and not in England, where drainage remains a planning matter secured by condition. What Schedule 3 would introduce and how to design so a change would not break the scheme.
Green corridors and connectivity policy in local plans
A scheme can retain every hedgerow and still sever a green corridor. How connectivity is assessed by species group, what the statutory metric rewards, and the evidence a case officer needs.
Checking policy citations in an AI drafted report
Policy citations are the errors a drafted report is most likely to carry. How to find the adopted plan, check a policy number against the text, catch saved and superseded policies, and show the check in the document.
Planning fee indexation and the annual April check
Application fees move on 1 April, and the rate applying is the one in force when the application is received. Where the current schedule lives, which exemptions exist, and how to programme submissions around the change.
Entertainment noise and sound limiters as a condition
A sound limiter set on a poorly insulated building just makes the venue unviable. How amplified music is assessed in the low frequency bands, how a limiter is set, and what the three standard conditions do.
Tree species selection for development sites
Species choice on a development site is governed by soil, rooting volume and exposure long before appearance. Here is how to specify stock, provenance and diversity so the planting is still there in year ten.
Daylight mitigation conditions and how they discharge
A daylight condition works when it fixes a specification an officer can verify. Here is what can be conditioned, how the wording should read, and what happens when the scheme moves at technical design.
Sizing attenuation storage for the 100 year event
Attenuation volume is decided by the design events, the permitted discharge rate and the half drain down requirement. Here are the inputs to fix first and the results a lead local flood authority expects to see.
Protected verges and roadside nature reserves
A protected road verge carries no separate consent regime and still blocks plenty of single plot accesses. Where the records sit, when the botanical survey can run, and why the net gain arithmetic gets expensive.
Clearing the to be confirmed flags in an AI draft
Placeholder flags in a drafted planning report mark the boundary between what drafting can reason about and what has to come from your drawings, the council and a primary source. Here is the routine for closing them.
Groundwater monitoring periods for basement schemes
Groundwater monitoring is usually the longest lead item on a basement scheme. What councils expect the record to cover, why the seasonal high arrives in late winter, and how to programme standpipes early enough.
Noise from outdoor seating and beer gardens
Patron noise sits outside the standard most acousticians use, so an external seating case is won on context, hours, layout and a management plan an officer can check. Here is how to build one.
Tree works in the curtilage of a listed building
Trees are not buildings, so listed building consent is not the control that applies to them. Tree Preservation Orders, conservation area notice, planning conditions and the setting duty are. Here is the order to check them in.
Presenting a daylight and sunlight case at appeal
Daylight appeals are decided by the inputs the parties agree before proofs are exchanged. How to fix the model, isolate the genuine disagreements and give the planning witness harm they can weigh.
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