PlanScope Blog – Page 242
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 242
9175 articlesScreening opinion: when a scheme needs an EIA
A screening opinion decides whether a proposal needs an Environmental Statement. It is free, takes three weeks and settles the largest unknown in a major application budget.
Transport statement or travel plan: which is needed
One is evidence submitted with the application, the other a commitment secured by condition or obligation and monitored for years. Most schemes above the small end need both, in the right order.
Rule 6 party status at an inquiry and what it commits you to
Rule 6 status gives an objector the right to cross examine, and imposes a statement of case, a fixed timetable and costs exposure. Here is what it takes and when to stay an interested party.
Grampian condition
A negatively worded condition stops a permission being implemented until off site works are done. Here is how the device works, how it is worded and what to check before buying a consented site.
Local plan reform and the thirty month plan making timetable
The reformed plan making process targets thirty months, introduces gateway assessments during preparation and moves generic policy into a national set. Check what is actually in force first.
RICS registered valuers and viability appraisals
Viability work is governed by a mandatory RICS professional statement requiring objectivity whoever instructs. Here is what registration means, how the council's review works and how to survive it.
Speed surveys and the 85th percentile in access design
The y distance for an access comes from the measured 85th percentile speed, by direction, at a representative location. Commission the survey before the access position is fixed.
Do section 106 obligations carry over to a section 73 permission
A section 73 grant is a new permission, and an older section 106 agreement often fails to bind it. Read the definitions clause, then budget for the supplemental deed that follows.
Structural surveys for conversions above shops
Converting upper floors over a shop is decided by headroom, floor condition and the cost of separating construction. Here is what to put in the survey brief and how to price from the answer.
Sustainability statement or energy statement: what differs
Councils ask for both because their local plans contain separate policies. The energy statement owns the carbon calculation; the sustainability statement owns everything else and cross references it.
Finding and using appeal decisions on a topic
The appeals portal finds cases by reference, not by issue. Here are four techniques that work, how to read a decision letter for its reasoning, and how to cite one without overstating it.
Wedding and events venues in rural buildings
Permission for a rural events venue turns on the event cap and the music curfew. Here is how to build the noise, traffic, parking and drainage case that makes those numbers workable.
Planning appeal or judicial review after a refusal
A section 78 appeal asks whether the scheme should be permitted. A court asks whether the decision was lawfully made. The deadlines, the costs and the remedies are entirely different.
Survey seasons and the cost of missing an ecology window
The real cost of an ecology survey window is the eleven months a scheme waits for it to reopen. Here are the windows that matter, the interim options that work, and how to sequence a year of survey work.
The householder appeal service and its 12 week deadline
Householder appeals run on a stripped back written procedure with a 12 week deadline and a single submission. Here is what qualifies, what you can send and when the standard route suits better.
Part O overheating: what the 2021 amendment introduced
Part O asks new residential buildings to limit solar gains and remove excess heat. It is a building regulations requirement, yet almost every mitigation it points to is fixed on the planning drawings.
Arboricultural competence and the BS 5837 survey author
Arboriculture is unregulated, so the credentials of a BS 5837 survey author are worth checking before you commission. Here is what the standard produces and what to look for in the report.
Trunk road accesses and when National Highways objects
On a site fronting a trunk road, National Highways can require refusal, require conditions or hold the application. Here is what it assesses and how to manage the response.
When an inspector reopens viability at appeal
Viability appeals turn on a handful of inputs, and benchmark land value is usually the biggest. Here is how inspectors test the figures and how to narrow the dispute before the hearing.
Gateway One consultation: what the regulator asks
Planning Gateway One brings the Health and Safety Executive in as a statutory consultee on relevant buildings. It reviews the fire safety matters planning can control, and it advises rather than approves.
Substation, capacity and the grid connection question
Grid capacity now sets the phasing of more schemes than drainage does. Ask the distribution network operator the capacity question before the layout is drawn, and put the substation in the application.
Finding the local validation checklist for an authority
Every English authority publishes a local list of information requirements alongside the national list in the Development Management Procedure Order. Here is where to find it, how to date it and how to argue with it.
Adult gaming centres and amusement arcades in planning
Gaming centres sit outside every use class, so a former shop needs a full change of use application. The gambling premises licence runs separately, and by statute neither authority may consider the other.
Section 73 or section 96A: choosing the right route
Section 73 creates a new planning permission; section 96A amends the one you hold. The difference decides your fee, your timescale, your appeal rights and what happens to the section 106 agreement.
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