PlanScope Blog – Page 23
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 23
9606 articlesCross laminated timber in a residential planning application
Above 18 metres the external walls of a relevant building cannot contain combustible material, which pushes mass timber schemes towards hybrids. Floor depth, encapsulation and the carbon case follow from that choice.
Electric vehicle charging requirements for a residential scheme
Charge point provision for new homes comes from Approved Document S and is enforced by building control, but the parking layout, substation space and local plan percentages are planning decisions.
Appeals against refusal of consent for relevant demolition
Conservation area consent no longer exists: demolition in a conservation area needs planning permission and is appealed under section 78. The offence under section 196D shapes what you can do while waiting.
Opening a children's residential care home in a house
There is no permitted development route from a dwellinghouse to a residential institution. Whether a small children's home needs permission at all turns on the single household test and the staffing schedule.
Documents for an end-of-life vehicle depollution site
Vehicle dismantling is sui generis, so a full application is almost always needed. The document list is driven by fluids, surfacing, noise character corrections and the environmental permit boundary.
Deliverable sites and why the definition is argued
The glossary definition of a deliverable site decides most five year housing land supply arguments. Here is how the two site categories differ and what evidence moves a site across the line.
Section 211 notices and tree works in a conservation area
The council cannot refuse a section 211 notice. It either makes a Tree Preservation Order or lets the six weeks run out, and the appeal right only appears later.
Converting a village pub into housing
Since 2017 there is no permitted development route out of a pub. The marketing exercise and the viability evidence decide the application, long before design matters.
Evidence for a household waste recycling centre
In two-tier areas the county decides these applications, not the district. Queue length on the approach road is what makes or breaks a household waste recycling centre.
Town or village green registration as a constraint
Registration under the Commons Act 2006 makes building on land a criminal offence. Trigger events are the shield, and the sequence of applications is what protects a site.
The Fire Safety (England) Regulations and existing blocks
The 2022 Regulations bind the responsible person for every block with two or more flats, with extra duties above 11 m and 18 m. Some compliance works need planning permission too.
Adding storeys to a block of flats under Part 20
The planning assessment under Part 20 is narrow and listed. Schemes fail on daylight to the existing flats, on structural capacity and on who owns the airspace.
Appeal costs where a condition is found unlawful
Imposing a condition that fails the tests is listed as unreasonable behaviour at appeal. The costs application has to be made before the decision, which is why so many are missed.
Converting a house into a dental or GP surgery
A house to surgery conversion is decided on parking and on whether the authority will accept the loss of a home. Clinical waste and plant noise are where applications are incomplete.
Document pack for an indoor climbing centre
Three issues decide a climbing centre application: parking at the evening peak, the internal height, and the loss of employment floorspace. The rest of the pack supports them.
Ground investigation categories under Eurocode 7
The geotechnical category classifies the design problem, not the building. Assign it from the desk study, then scope boreholes and testing to match rather than to a rule of thumb.
Diverting a public right of way under section 257
Section 257 lets the planning authority divert a footpath where that is necessary to enable permitted development. The order runs on its own timetable and should start with the application.
Gateway Two and Gateway Three after planning permission
The building safety gateways sit after planning permission and can force changes the permission does not cover. The three year implementation clock is where that hurts most.
Site huts and compounds under Part 4 Class A
Class A covers almost anything a construction site needs, with two hard edges: it depends on a permission for the operations, and it ends with a duty to reinstate.
Appeals where the highway authority refuses your access
A refused planning application and a refused vehicle crossing licence are different problems. Only one of them has an appeal, and the evidence that wins is measured rather than asserted.
Replacing a static caravan with a permanent dwelling
A lawful caravan pitch gives you no right to build a house, but it does give you a fallback argument and a better flood risk classification. Both are usually underused.
Evidence base for a film studio on a former airfield
Studios are sui generis, active at night and built on ground that holds fuel, asbestos and sometimes ordnance. The evidence base follows the activity schedule, not the floorspace.
Separating landscape and visual effects under GLVIA3
Landscape effects concern the resource. Visual effects concern people and views. Collapsing the two into a single table is the most common structural fault in submitted assessments.
Section 106 review mechanisms and clawback
A review mechanism reopens the viability position after permission is granted. The drafting, not the principle, decides how much clawback a scheme eventually pays.
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