PlanScope Blog – Page 278
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 278
9107 articlesOutline or full permission for a small residential site
Outline suits a landowner selling with consent. A self-builder who intends to build usually gains more from a single full application. The fees, timing and risk compared.
Prematurity as a reason for refusing planning permission
Refusal on prematurity grounds is rare and hard to sustain. The two conditions in national policy, the plan stages that matter, and how to rebut the objection.
Abnormal costs in a planning viability appraisal
Abnormal cost schedules are reduced for want of evidence, not because the costs are unreasonable. What to claim, what to document and how to avoid double counting.
Basement works and householder permitted development
Class A can cover an underground enlargement, but the excavation and underpinning are often separate engineering operations. What that means for a house basement.
Overheating assessments on a constrained urban site
TM59 and Approved Document O assume a free running strategy that constrained urban sites cannot deliver. The design moves that pass, and the ones that only look like they do.
Designing a dark corridor for bats across a site
Bat corridors fail on lighting spill, not on lighting standards. How the ecologist sets the target illuminance and how the lighting design is tested against it.
Shared surface streets: what highway officers want to see
Manual for Streets supports shared surfaces on low flow streets, but highway authorities object on accessibility, adoption and parking. How to answer each on the drawings.
Checking surface water and reservoir flood risk online
Two national flood services answer different questions. How to read the surface water bands, what the reservoir layer is really for, and where groundwater risk hides.
BS 4142 or ProPG: choosing the right noise method
BS 4142 and ProPG answer opposite questions. A practical guide to which method applies, how background sound differs between them, and the errors that trigger a resubmission.
Intensification of use: when more of the same needs consent
Growing an existing use can itself need planning permission. How the character test works, what the planning unit changes, and how a lawful development certificate settles the question.
Build to rent and the affordable private rent discount
Affordable private rent is let and managed by the build to rent operator rather than transferred to a registered provider, and it is held in place by a covenant on the whole scheme.
Party wall matters that are not planning matters
Party wall obligations and planning permission are separate regimes. What the 1996 Act covers, why the council cannot enforce it, and when to serve notices.
Enurement and personal planning permissions explained
Section 75 makes planning permission run with the land, so a personal permission is the exception. When councils grant one, what the condition should say, and how to remove it.
Embodied carbon benchmarks and how to present them
The same building produces very different embodied carbon figures depending on modules counted and floor area used. How to normalise, compare fairly and report it.
Sky glow, light trespass and luminaire intensity limits
Upward light ratio, vertical illuminance at windows, luminous intensity towards an observer and surface luminance are separate controls. An assessment reporting one lux figure fails three of them.
Trip thresholds that trigger a Transport Assessment
National policy sets no transport assessment threshold, so the level of work is agreed locally. How to scope it, which locations lower the bar, and what a statement covers.
Energy Statement or Whole Life Carbon Assessment
The two documents answer different policy questions, and design moves that improve operational carbon can worsen embodied carbon. Which applies, when, and how to report both.
Circular 01/2022 and access onto the strategic road network
Access to the strategic road network is resisted under Circular 01/2022, and National Highways can direct a council not to grant permission. What the evidence has to show.
CIL commencement notices and the surcharge for missing one
Regulation 67 requires a commencement notice before work starts. Missing it triggers a surcharge and cancels instalment rights, making the full levy payable in one sum.
Movement monitoring during basement construction
A monitoring condition rarely says what to measure or how accurately. Baseline readings, instrument selection and trigger levels tied to predicted movement are what make the scheme work.
Drafting carbon conditions that can actually be discharged
Most carbon conditions fail at discharge because the metric was never pinned down or the evidence does not exist for that building. Fix the wording before the decision notice is issued.
Choosing the right ILP environmental zone for a site
Zone selection decides every numeric limit in a lighting assessment. The E1 to E2 boundary, over-classification in towns, and how to handle a site that straddles two zones.
Class E or sui generis for a food and drink business
A restaurant is Class E(b) and a hot food takeaway is sui generis, so the same premises can need no application or a full change of use. The primary use test decides which.
Section 62A applications: applying direct to the Inspectorate
Where a council is designated as underperforming, section 62A allows an application to go straight to the Planning Inspectorate. The route is category specific and costs you the right of appeal.
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