PlanScope Blog – Page 275
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 275
9115 articlesPermitted development for larger rear extensions
The larger rear extension right doubles the standard Class A depth limits, subject to the neighbour consultation scheme. Here is how the procedure runs and what an objection can actually be about.
Using environmental information requests in planning
Most planning material held by a council falls under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, which carry a presumption in favour of disclosure. Here is how to word a request and challenge a refusal.
Applying the sequential test to offices and leisure uses
Gyms, cinemas, hotels and offices are main town centre uses, so a site outside a defined centre has to pass the sequential test. Here is how the flexibility argument works in practice.
Energy masterplanning across a phased site
An energy strategy written at outline stage will be obsolete before the last phase is built. Here is what to fix at outline, what to leave open, and how to draft conditions that survive the programme.
New agricultural buildings under Part 6
New farm buildings on holdings of five hectares or more are usually permitted development under Part 6, subject to size, siting and the prior notification procedure. Here are the limits that decide it.
Reading habitat inventories and classification data
National habitat inventories tell you where to look, not what is there. Here is how their polygons relate to a statutory metric baseline and how to use them to scope ecological survey work.
The fee for a section 73 application to vary a condition
A section 73 application to vary a condition carries a fixed, annually indexed fee. The larger costs sit in the new permission it creates, the levy recalculation and the deed of variation.
Advertisement consent: procedure and the five year term
Signage applications turn on amenity and public safety, not planning policy. Here is how deemed consent classes work, what an express consent application needs, and what happens after five years.
Class MA prior approval: the limits and conditions
Class MA allows class E premises to become dwellings through prior approval, but the qualifying conditions decide most applications. Here is what to check before you commission anything.
Complaining to the Ombudsman about a planning decision
An ombudsman complaint about a planning decision succeeds on procedural fault and injustice, not on disagreement with the outcome. Here is what to include and what the Ombudsman can actually recommend.
Competing viability appraisals at appeal
Inspectors do not split the difference between two viability appraisals. They make findings on individual inputs, so the appeal turns on benchmark land value, build costs, values and return.
Basement flood risk: sumps, valves and safe egress
A basement used for sleeping is highly vulnerable development, which rules it out in Flood Zone 3 and triggers the Exception Test in Zone 2. Here is what the assessment has to cover.
External wall insulation in a conservation area
Class A withdraws cladding rights on article 2(3) land, so solid wall insulation in a conservation area needs planning permission. Here is what the detailing, the moisture evidence and the heritage case have to show.
Counting units correctly for the major development test
The major development definition in the Development Management Procedure Order counts dwellings provided rather than the net increase. Here is how to count replacements, conversions, flats and mixed use schemes correctly.
Class Q barn conversions: the qualifying tests
Most Class Q refusals happen before the prior approval matters are ever reached. Here are the qualifying tests a barn has to pass, and when a full planning application is the better route.
Checking public rights of way on the definitive map
A recorded right of way exists whether or not anyone has walked it. Here is how to order the definitive map and statement, read the classification and width, and run a diversion order before development starts.
Section 70C and declining to determine a retrospective bid
Section 70C of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 allows a council to decline to determine an application for development already covered by an enforcement notice. There is no appeal against that choice.
Settlement boundaries in local plans
Settlement boundaries separate the built-up area from open countryside in a local plan. Here is what the line does, how inspectors test it at examination, and what an edge-of-boundary case has to prove.
Biosolar roofs: combining panels and green roof
A green roof and a solar array share one build-up, one structure and one maintenance regime, so the two specifications have to be written as one.
Using historic mapping in a contamination desk study
The map sequence is the backbone of a Phase 1 desk study, and reading the annotation properly is what turns a pretty figure into evidence.
Correcting a mistake in a decision notice
There is a statutory power to correct errors in appeal decisions. For a council decision notice there is no equivalent, which changes the options entirely.
Habitats regulations assessment
The applicant can write it, but the local planning authority must adopt it. And mitigation belongs in appropriate assessment, not in screening.
The Building Safety Act gateways explained for applicants
The planning stage definition of a relevant building and the building control definition of a higher-risk building are not the same, and that mismatch causes most of the confusion.
Objecting to tree works in a conservation area
A section 211 notice gives the council six weeks to decide whether to protect the tree. After that the works can go ahead, so timing is everything.
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