PlanScope Blog – Page 234
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 234
9189 articlesAnnexes and why they fail the incidental test
Garden annexes rarely qualify as permitted development, whatever their size. This explains the incidental test in Class E of Part 1, the planning unit question, and how to apply for an annexe properly.
When a development has to provide a pedestrian crossing
Whether a scheme has to fund a pedestrian crossing depends on the highway authority's assessment of flows, desire lines and severance. This covers the evidence, the crossing types and how the works get delivered.
Writing a scope of works for a specialist report
Most disputes with specialist consultants trace back to a vague instruction. This sets out what a written scope of works should contain, from the standard named to the number of revisions included.
Householder or full application: which to submit
Choosing the wrong application type costs weeks. This sets out what the householder route covers, what falls outside it, and why the appeal deadlines differ so sharply.
Habitats Regulations Assessment: what it means in planning
Habitats Regulations Assessment is a statutory test carried out by the council, not the applicant. This explains the stages, the sites it protects, and why it derails schemes far from any designated land.
Vertical sky component and when a departure is justified
Vertical sky component is the most quoted and least understood daylight measure in English planning. This covers what it records, the proportional test, and how to justify a value below the reference figure.
Surface water flood risk and critical drainage areas
Flood Zone 1 does not mean low risk from every source. This explains what the national surface water map shows, how critical drainage areas are defined, and the extra evidence they require.
Aerodrome safeguarding and when an airport objects
Safeguarding maps oblige councils to consult aerodrome operators on specified development. This covers height, bird strike, lighting and radar issues, and the mitigation that usually resolves an objection.
C2 residential institutions or C3 dwellings: care schemes
Extra care and assisted living schemes sit on the boundary between Class C2 and Class C3. This sets out how councils decide, what evidence they want, and what follows from the answer.
Who can design and certify SuDS on a small site
Sustainable drainage design is not a licensed activity, which leaves self-builders guessing who is qualified. This sets out the competence councils look for, the role of the lead local flood authority, and who maintains the system afterwards.
Curtilage and how its extent is decided
The curtilage of a dwellinghouse controls where householder permitted development can be used. This explains the three factors courts apply, how paddocks and garden extensions are treated, and how to evidence the boundary.
Tandem and stacked parking against local standards
Tandem driveways and mechanical stackers are treated inconsistently by councils. This looks at when they count towards parking standards, the dimensions that make them usable, and the evidence that supports a layout.
Whole Life Carbon Assessment or BREEAM Pre-Assessment
A carbon assessment and a BREEAM pre-assessment answer different policy questions. This compares what each measures, who is qualified to prepare it, and how councils secure them by condition.
Sequential test: what it means in planning
A plain explanation of the sequential test in English planning, covering the flood risk version and the main town centre uses version, what evidence each needs and where people get them confused.
LVIA or TVIA: landscape and townscape compared
Both follow the same guidelines and assess visual effects the same way. The difference is the character baseline, and edge of settlement sites usually need both.
Reading a detailed Environment Agency flood data set
The flood zones are indicative. Modelled levels come from a detailed data request, and the lead time is the commonest reason assessments are written on thin data.
Certificate of immunity: what it means in planning
Five years of certainty that a building will not be listed, granted under section 6 of the 1990 Act. What it does not protect against, and why applying is a decision in itself.
Finding SSSI boundaries, citations and condition data
The citation tells you what a designated site is for, the condition data tells you what is wrong with it, and the impact risk zones tell you who gets consulted.
Building recording or archaeological field evaluation
One records what you are about to lose, the other tells you what is buried before the council decides. The triggers, the timing and who is competent to do each.
The flood sequential test at application stage
The sequential test is a gateway, not a balance. Most failures trace back to an area of search the council never agreed, or a schedule with no dates.
National Park authorities as the planning authority
The park authority is your local planning authority, with its own plan, its own design expectations and permitted development rights that are sharply narrowed.
Medical and health services in Class E: what counts
A clinic in a shop unit is a change within Class E. A treatment room attached to the practitioner's house is not. The exception that decides most cases.
Balconies, verandas and decking above 300mm
Decking at 250mm can be permitted development. At 400mm it is a raised platform and needs planning permission, and so does any balcony or roof terrace.
What a highway authority requires to adopt a street
Planning permission does not make a street adoptable. The section 38 agreement, design standards, inspections, bonds and commuted sums that stand between you and adoption.
Not sure which documents your council will ask for?
Enter your postcode and PlanScope recommends the right reports for your project, then drafts them in minutes.
Enter your postcode on PlanScope