PlanScope Blog – Page 270
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 270
9124 articlesSection 42 applications in Scotland to change conditions
Section 42 of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 is the Scottish route for varying a planning condition. It creates a new permission, and the drafting has to be exact.
Housing mix and space standards as schemes grow
Mix policies, the nationally described space standard and accessible dwelling percentages all arrive at different scheme sizes. Here is where each one starts to apply and what evidence supports it.
Extensions near trees and root protection areas
A protected tree rarely blocks an extension, but its root protection area decides where the foundations go and what the council asks for at validation.
Farm cafe and glamping together: cumulative effects
A cafe added to a farm with glamping pitches is assessed against the whole holding. Traffic on a shared access and foul drainage capacity are usually the binding constraints.
Construction management requirements as site size increases
There is no national threshold for a construction management plan. The trigger is unit count, the road outside and the neighbours, and the condition wording is negotiable before it is imposed.
Materials that match the existing house
Similar appearance is not the same as matching. Course height, mortar, tile profile and reveal depth do the work, and a sample panel is what gets the condition discharged.
What a Statement of Community Involvement should show
Two different documents share the name. This is the applicant's consultation report: what it should record, how feedback ought to change a scheme, and how to test one.
Smoke control in common corridors at planning stage
Smoke control in a block of flats decides corridor length, core size, roof plant and the elevation. The three strategies and what each one needs reserving at concept stage.
Assessing daylight to a property you cannot access
Where a neighbour refuses internal access, the external daylight metrics still work. The interior ones rely on assumed room depth and use, which have to be stated, sourced and sensitivity tested.
Affordable housing on small sites and the national threshold
The small sites threshold has two limbs: ten dwellings and 1,000 square metres of gross internal floorspace. Designated rural areas can apply a lower figure, and vacant building credit can remove the contribution.
Walkthrough: office to flats under Class MA
An illustrative Class MA prior approval turning a 1970s office into nine flats, following the natural light test, the noise case against a neighbouring pub and the full document pack.
Planning permission in principle in Scotland
Permission in principle settles whether development belongs on a site in Scotland. The second stage is approval of matters specified in conditions, and the time limits run differently from England.
Beauty salons and nail bars: extraction and hours
Nail bars and beauty salons fall within Class E, so the use rarely needs permission. Solvent extraction, duct termination, hours conditions and backflow protection are what decide the fit-out.
Mayoral referral thresholds for London residential schemes
A residential scheme of more than 150 units in Greater London must be referred to the Mayor. The two stage process, the powers that apply at each, and the documents the Greater London Authority expects.
Outbuilding height limits within two metres of a boundary
Class E caps an outbuilding at 2.5 metres overall within 2 metres of any curtilage boundary. The measurement conventions, the eaves limit and the raised platform exclusion decide compliance.
Objecting to an HMO conversion in an Article 4 area
Small HMO conversions are permitted development unless an Article 4 direction removes the right. Where an application exists, concentration policy, parking and refuse evidence are what an objection has to supply.
Dry risers, wet risers and the height that separates them
Approved Document B puts dry rising mains above 18 metres and wet mains above 50 metres. The switch brings a water store, pumps and a plant room that a core drawn for a dry main cannot absorb.
Roof terraces, privacy screens and conditions
Roof terrace objections turn on drawings rather than argument. Here is the sightline analysis, the screen height and material choice, and the condition wording that officers accept.
Section 278 works and section 38 adoption compared
A section 278 agreement pays for works to somebody else's road. A section 38 agreement hands over yours. The two carry different bonds, fees, approval routes and programme risks.
Modern methods of construction and the carbon case
Modular and offsite systems can cut waste and operational energy, but the embodied carbon answer depends on the frame material and the transport distance. What a defensible planning submission needs.
Walkthrough: barn conversion under Class Q
An illustrative Class Q prior approval for a steel portal frame barn, following the structural evidence that decides these cases and the full document pack that went with it.
Pre-application advice in Wales: the statutory service
Pre-application advice in Wales is a statutory service with prescribed content, a regulated fee and a response deadline. Here is what the answer must cover and how to frame a request that earns a useful one.
Funeral directors and the use class question
Funeral directors lost their express listing when Class E was created. The use usually falls inside Class E, though preparation facilities, extraction and service access decide what you actually have to apply for.
Highways: from a single access to an internal road network
A private drive suits a handful of houses. Past that point the highway authority expects an adoptable street, which changes geometry, drainage, lighting and the legal agreement you need.
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