PlanScope Blog – Page 233
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 233
9190 articlesEnvironment Agency standing advice and when it does not apply
Flood risk standing advice removes the consultation, not the assessment. Here is where it applies, what triggers a bespoke Environment Agency response, and how to record your reliance on it.
The sui generis list and what falls outside every class
A sui generis use has no class to move within, so every change to or from it needs permission. Here is what article 3(6) excludes and how to describe it on the form.
Car club spaces secured by planning obligation
Car club provision is secured by section 106 obligation, covering the bay, the operator arrangement and household memberships. Drafting it around a named operator is the commonest mistake.
Biodiversity net gain and permitted development
Mandatory net gain attaches to permissions granted on an application, which leaves permitted development and prior approval outside the regime. Wildlife law still applies in full.
Appointing a specialist late in the programme
When a season-dependent survey is commissioned too late, the question is what can be deferred to a condition and what cannot. Protected species is the hard line.
Benchmark land value: what it means in planning
Benchmark land value is the dividing line in every viability assessment. National guidance sets it as existing use value plus a landowner premium, based on policy-compliant development.
Pre-1948 curtilage structures and the listing date rule
Section 1(5) of the 1990 Act treats structures within the curtilage of a listed building as part of it, provided they were there before 1 July 1948. Here is how to test whether yours is caught.
Biodiversity net gain exemptions and how to claim them
De minimis, householder, self-build and gain site development are exempt from mandatory biodiversity net gain. Each test is narrow, and the claim is checked at validation.
Annual probable sunlight hours and the winter component
The annual probable sunlight hours test has a separate winter component, and a window only fails where the annual, winter and proportional tests all break together.
Grade II listing and the higher bar it sets
Grade II does not alter the section 66 duty, but it changes how much weight harm carries, who must be consulted and how much analysis an authority expects before validation.
The drainage hierarchy and justifying a departure
Surface water must go to ground unless infiltration can be shown to fail. Here is the evidence needed to move down each step of the drainage hierarchy without a holding objection.
Short-term letting and the use class question
Short-term letting a whole dwelling needs permission only where it amounts to a material change of use. London has a 90 night statutory exception; everywhere else it is fact and degree.
Switching between C3 and C4 in an Article 4 area
Class L of Part 3 permits a house to become a small HMO, unless an article 4 direction has removed the right. How to check whether one applies, and what an application needs when it does.
Site access gradients and the level landing
A vehicular access needs a level landing where it meets the highway and a controlled gradient beyond. Here is what highway authorities ask for and the drawing that settles it.
Splitting scope between an architect and a planning agent
On a small residential application the designer and the planning agent do different jobs, and the gaps between them cost money. Here is how to divide the deliverables and decide who is named as agent.
Planning appeal or statutory challenge in the High Court
An appeal to the Planning Inspectorate reconsiders the merits of a proposal. A statutory challenge under section 288 tests whether the decision was lawful, within six weeks. The two routes solve different problems.
Commuted sum: what it means in planning
A commuted sum is a one-off payment made in place of providing affordable housing, open space or maintenance on site. Here is how councils calculate one and the legal tests it has to pass.
Forward visibility on estate road curves
Forward visibility around horizontal curves is a common reason an estate road layout is sent back. This covers deriving design speed, sweeping the sight line and showing the envelope on the drawing.
Reviewing a consultant's draft before it is submitted
Specialist drafts arrive with recycled site descriptions, superseded policy references and untraceable figures. This is a practical method for reviewing one before it reaches the council.
TPO consent or a conservation area tree notice
Two different procedures protect trees, and householders regularly use the wrong one. This compares an application for consent under a tree preservation order with the six week notice for conservation area trees.
Biodiversity gain plan: what it means in planning
The biodiversity gain plan is a separate approval from planning permission. This explains what it contains, when it must be submitted, and which schemes are exempt.
Using BS EN 17037 targets alongside the BRE guidance
The illuminance based approach in BS EN 17037 and the obstruction measures in the BRE guidance answer different questions. This explains how to use both in one assessment and report them to an officer who expects one method.
Infiltration testing and when soakaways are ruled out
A soakaway cannot be designed without a proper infiltration test. This covers the BRE Digest 365 method, groundwater and contamination constraints, and how to present a failed test so the council accepts the alternative.
Reading the policies map: allocations and boundaries
The adopted policies map decides which policies apply to your plot. This covers finding the right version, reading allocations and settlement boundaries, and what to do when the map and the text disagree.
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