PlanScope Blog – Page 28
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 28
9597 articlesMaterial operation and when development has begun
Site clearance, fencing and a site cabin do not stop the clock. Only a material operation under section 56 implements a permission, and a breached condition can undo even that.
Appeals against refusal of an existing lawful use certificate
Your own evidence can be enough if nothing contradicts it. Certificate appeals are won on a complete, dated bundle and lost on an unexplained gap in the middle.
A dropped kerb refused on visibility, then redesigned
A refusal on visibility is usually a refusal of that position, not the idea. Measuring the splay honestly tells you whether moving the access three metres solves it.
Taking a commercial lease before planning is settled
An agreement for lease conditional on planning only works if the drafting defines an acceptable permission and the timetable allows for an extension of time and an appeal.
Enforcement appeals and the existence of a planning unit
Pick the wrong area and the same activity is either an ancillary use or a breach. The planning unit sits upstream of every other argument in an enforcement appeal.
Conditions that restrict occupancy and how they work
An occupancy condition runs with the land until it is formally removed. Section 73 and a lawfulness certificate are the only routes, and each needs different evidence.
Water neutrality in Sussex North and its legal basis
Water neutrality follows from regulation 63 of the Habitats Regulations, because abstraction in the zone affects the Arun Valley sites. Offsetting has to be additional, secured and measured.
Part 6 Class B: agricultural holdings under 5 hectares
On a holding under 5 hectares there is no permitted development right to erect a new agricultural building. Class B covers extensions, plant, tracks and surfaces only.
Daylight specialist or rights of light surveyor
One report tells you whether the council will grant permission. The other tells you whether a neighbour can stop the building. On a constrained site you need both, early.
Protected lobbies in a large house converted to flats
The common stair decides how many flats a house will take. Each protected lobby costs two to four square metres per floor, and that is where the fifth unit goes.
Energy hierarchy for a commercial fit-out after change of use
An energy statement can only commit to what the applicant controls. Where a landlord delivers shell and core and a tenant fits out, the scope split has to be written down first.
Office to residential under prior approval, floor by floor
A three storey office of 980 square metres produced seven flats, not eleven. Daylight on the deep ground floor and noise from the workshop next door removed the other four.
Security fencing and gates around a commercial yard
Two numbers decide most yard fencing schemes: 2 metres generally, 1 metre beside a highway used by vehicles. Everything above that is a planning application.
Costs awards against objectors and parish councils
Objecting and losing is not unreasonable behaviour. The costs risk for a neighbour or parish council starts with rule 6 status, unevidenced allegations and requesting a hearing then not attending.
Applications for development by statutory undertakers
Utilities do most of their work without a planning application. Which Part of the Order applies decides whether anyone gets consulted, and whether objection is possible at all.
Infrastructure funding statements and what they report
The annual infrastructure funding statement is the only published document that shows what a council collected from developers and what it spent. Here is how to read one.
Part 6 Class A: farm buildings on 5 hectares or more
Class A of Part 6 gives generous rights on holdings of 5 hectares or more. A classified road 20 metres away, or a cottage 380 metres from a livestock shed, removes them.
Who may prepare a contaminated land report
Authorities judge the competence of a contaminated land report from what it shows about its author. Chartered status, site experience in the right contaminant group, and a named sign-off.
External escape stairs and the rear elevation
The fire case for an external escape stair is usually settled before planning. What remains is a steel structure on a rear elevation with landings that look into other gardens.
Rooftop solar on a flat roof in a conservation area
In a conservation area a flat roof array usually turns on whether it breaks the parapet line. Tilt, setback and panel colour decide more applications than the carbon case does.
Five houses on a paddock behind a village street
Five dwellings behind a village street is a minor application with eleven documents behind it. This illustrative walkthrough follows the pack from the settlement boundary argument to the gain condition.
Changing a betting shop or takeaway to a cafe
Betting offices and hot food takeaways sit outside the use classes, so turning one into a cafe is a full change of use application. The baseline evidence and the extraction case decide it.
Preparing for a planning hearing without cross examination
The hearing procedure gives you a round-table discussion rather than a contest between advocates. The preparation that wins it is policy analysis, printed properly, and short answers on the day.
Varying a planning condition by agreement, not application
Officers sometimes say a condition no longer matters. That view is useful evidence and no substitute for a formal application, and the difference shows up on the first sale.
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