PlanScope Blog – Page 251
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 251
9158 articlesRegulated and unregulated energy: why the split matters
Planning carbon targets are calculated on regulated energy alone, which is why a strong percentage reduction can sit alongside high real consumption. Here is how to report both figures honestly.
Luminance limits for illuminated signs and displays
Advertisement consent is decided on amenity and public safety alone, and brightness sits inside both. Here is how luminance limits, environmental zones and digital display conditions work.
Transport statement or transport assessment: the thresholds
National guidance sets no numerical threshold for a transport assessment. Here are the figures authorities apply in practice, and how to fix the scope in writing before commissioning anything.
Tree protection bonds and guarantees on construction sites
A tree protection bond cannot be imposed by condition, so it comes through a section 106 obligation and must meet the regulation 122 tests. Here is how the sums are set and negotiated.
Neighbourhood plan designations and the weight they carry
A made neighbourhood plan is part of the statutory development plan, so its Local Green Spaces, views and settlement boundaries bind decisions. Here is how much weight each stage carries.
Using planning.data.gov.uk to check site constraints
The national planning data service shows most designations affecting a site in about a minute. Here is how to search it, download the geometry and record the gaps so your constraints plan stands up.
Planning permission for a farm reservoir or irrigation pond
Most irrigation reservoirs need full planning permission because excavating a basin is an engineering operation. Here is how the permitted development limits, reservoir safety thresholds and abstraction licensing fit together.
Appointing an arboricultural clerk of works
Tree protection conditions are discharged on paper and breached on site. A supervisor with defined hold points and contractual authority is how that gets fixed.
Construction worker parking and its effect on neighbours
Worker parking is the construction issue residents notice most, and the one most often left to the contractor. Here is how to plan and condition it properly.
Local plan allocations as constraint and opportunity
Allocation policies come with requirement schedules that are development plan policy in their own right. Here is how to read them before you buy or draw anything.
Finding designations on the MAGIC map
MAGIC answers the ecology and landscape half of a constraint check quickly, but it holds no flood, tree order or conservation area data. Here is how to use it properly.
Energy efficiency standards and commercial conversions
The letting standard and the planning system run on separate tracks, and they meet at the exemption stage. Here is how to sequence upgrade works around consent.
Light spill onto bat commuting and foraging routes
Lighting near bat roosts and commuting routes sits inside protected species law, not amenity policy. Here is how the constraint is set and how a lighting design meets it.
Wildlife checks before felling a tree
A valid felling consent does not protect you from a wildlife offence. Here are the checks, the seasonal windows and the supervision that keep tree works lawful.
Refuse collection: drag distances and layout geometry
Waste objections are hard to argue away because the council has to deliver the service weekly for decades. Here is the geometry that keeps a layout collectable.
Designations that trigger a statutory consultee
Nearly every statutory consultation trigger is geographic. Work them against your constraint layers before submission and you can predict who will be consulted and what they will want.
Council development and regulation 3 applications
A regulation 3 application is made and decided by the same authority. Here are the safeguards that apply, how conditions are enforced and what an objector can realistically do.
Retrofitting a listed building: fabric and consent
Most measures that cut a heating bill in an old house are the ones conservation officers least object to. Here is what needs consent, what does not, and how to build the case.
When dynamic olfactometry is needed for an odour case
Olfactometry produces the only measured odour concentration, but it is rarely proportionate. Here is what the method involves and which planning cases actually need it.
Retaining a category A tree on a small infill plot
A category A tree on a tight infill plot usually decides the layout. Here is how to work the constraint first and build a case the tree officer can support.
Bus stop relocation and public transport contributions
Public transport contributions are often applied by formula rather than evidence. Here is how the statutory tests apply to bus stop works and service subsidy, and where to negotiate.
The biodiversity duty and how councils must apply it
Section 40 of the NERC Act 2006, strengthened by the Environment Act 2021, requires councils to consider what they can do for biodiversity and then act. Here is how that works in practice.
Pre-redevelopment audits and demolition sequencing
A pre-redevelopment audit is a materials and hazards inventory, not a structural appraisal. Commission it early enough to change the demolition method rather than confirm it.
Historic landfill records and how to find them
Published landfill datasets miss most pre-1970s tips. Here is how to search them, cross-check with historical mapping, and work out what the findings mean for monitoring.
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