PlanScope Blog – Page 253
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 253
9154 articlesDaylight and sunlight for schools, nurseries and care homes
BRE guidance is written around dwellings, but classrooms, care home lounges and nursery play space all count as receptors where occupants reasonably expect daylight. The tests are the same and the arguments are different.
Buffer distances in planning and where they come from
Some separation distances are fixed by law, some are advisory minimums from national standing advice and some appear in a local document with no evidence behind them. Knowing which is which changes the argument.
Car showrooms, garages and motor trade planning rules
Most motor trade uses sit outside the Use Classes Order altogether. That single fact drives the consent route, the evidence a council asks for and the conditions that follow.
Livery yards and the point horses become a business
Grazing horses on farmland can be agriculture. Keeping them, stabling them and charging other people for the privilege is a different planning use. Here is where the line sits and what evidence settles it.
National development management policies: what they change
The Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023 created a category of national policy that sits inside the statutory decision test and beats a conflicting local plan policy. Here is how the machinery works and what to check before you cite it.
Farm diversification into workshops and offices
Test the permitted development route first. Prior approval avoids biodiversity net gain and a full consultation, but the floorspace cap applies across the whole agricultural unit.
Windfall allowances in housing land supply
The windfall allowance is the only part of a five year supply resting on prediction. The policy test needs a clean historic series and a mechanism that still works.
Overhanging branches, roots and protected trees
The common law right to cut back to the boundary is settled. Tree preservation orders and conservation area notice requirements sit on top of it and take precedence.
Using collision data in a transport assessment
Collision analysis is the part of a transport assessment read most closely by objectors. Classify by mechanism rather than by location, and state the limitations.
Hazel dormouse surveys: nest tubes, effort and indices
A dormouse survey is complete when the accumulated index of probability reaches the published threshold, not when the tubes come down. The high-scoring months sit late in the season.
Structural appraisal for converting a former mill
On a mill conversion the structural appraisal sets the layout, not the other way round. Cast iron, beam ends and diaphragm action decide what the plan can be.
Room use assumptions in a daylight assessment
Daylight guidance weights living rooms above bedrooms, so the assumed use behind each window can move a result from material harm to minor effect.
Rainwater harvesting and whether it counts as attenuation
A harvesting tank is designed to be full and an attenuation tank has to be empty. Splitting the vessel is the design that survives a planning condition.
What a commercial constraints search misses
A search report answers what national datasets can answer. Site allocations, minerals safeguarding, local wildlife sites and nutrient neutrality are not among them.
Live music venues and the agent of change principle
Venues for live music performance were left out of Class E in 2020. That classification is what makes agent of change work, and it decides who pays for the acoustic mitigation.
Camping and caravan use under the 60 day right
The general temporary use right and the recreational campsite right are separate allowances with separate day counts. Records decide enforcement cases, so keep them as you go.
Vehicle crossovers and section 184 consent
Section 184 of the Highways Act 1980 governs every vehicle crossing. Whether you also need planning permission turns on whether the road is classified.
Specifying crown reduction and pruning works properly
Reduce by 30 per cent cannot be drawn or checked. Specify crown reduction by branch length or final crown dimensions, and give the reason for every operation.
The severe test: when highway impact justifies refusal
Capacity objections are qualified by the word severe. Safety objections are not. Building a highway case means keeping the two apart and making the residual impact concrete.
Bat class licence or individual licence: which route applies
The roost decides the licence route, not the programme. Small day roosts of common species can go through the class licence; maternity roosts and hibernacula cannot.
Geotechnical assessment and Eurocode 7 expectations
Ground investigation at planning stage answers whether the site suits the proposal. Eurocode 7 sets the categories, the design approach and the two reports councils confuse.
Amenity impact of a rear extension on a terraced house
On a mid-terrace, the projection and height of the extension at the party boundary decide the application. Here is how councils test it and what reduces the impact.
Drainage evidence for a single new dwelling
One new house needs a short drainage statement, not a modelled design. Work down the surface water hierarchy with a reason at each step, and include a dated percolation test.
Checking site constraints on the national planning data service
The national planning data service answers a constraints check in minutes, but local layers such as Article 4 directions are published unevenly. A blank map is not a clear site.
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