PlanScope Blog – Page 292
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 292
9050 articlesPre-application advice or a planning performance agreement
Both are discretionary, both are paid for, and neither commits the council to granting permission. This compares what each buys, when an agreement earns its cost, and how to record what was said.
Which reports a veterinary practice needs
A veterinary practice raises a specific set of planning questions: use class, barking at night, clinical waste storage, anaesthetic extraction and emergency cover. This sets out the reports each one calls for.
Discharge of conditions: the approval nobody plans for
A decision notice is not the finish line. This explains what discharging a condition means, which conditions need an application, how deemed discharge works and why starting early can void a permission.
Part L 2021 and what an energy statement must now show
Primary energy joined emissions as a headline metric, the grid carbon factor fell sharply, and fabric targets now constrain design early. Here is what an energy statement has to demonstrate.
When a council asks who wrote your report
Validation officers and consultees ask who prepared a report more often than self-builders expect. This sets out where competence is a legal requirement, where it is expected, and how to answer honestly.
Independent viability review and RICS standards
An independent viability review is a challenge, not a second opinion. This covers the objectivity duty, the order a reviewer tests inputs in, publication expectations and review mechanisms.
Flood risk in Scotland: SEPA maps and NPF4 policy
Scotland only. SEPA maps flood likelihood as high, medium and low, and NPF4 starts from avoidance rather than a sequential test. Here is how a Scottish flood risk assessment differs.
A worked parking stress survey using the Lambeth method
The Lambeth methodology turns kerb measurements and overnight counts into a stress percentage. This shows the deductions, the timing rules and an illustrative calculation on a four section catchment.
National park against national landscape designation
Both designations attract the highest status of protection in national policy, but they differ in who decides, how many statutory purposes apply, and how the major development test bites.
Which reports padel or tennis courts need
Ball strike noise, light spill and playing field consultation decide most court applications. This sets out the report bundle, the standards each is assessed against, and the conditions to expect.
Setting of a heritage asset: the planning definition
Setting has no fixed boundary and is not the same as curtilage or a view. This explains the definition, the five step assessment used in practice, and how much detail a heritage statement needs.
Commencement notices and what developers tell the council
Missing a Community Infrastructure Levy commencement notice can cost you a self-build exemption. This separates that duty from the newer notification provisions and sets out a pre-start sequence.
Building an internal review checklist for submissions
Red lines, area schedules and ownership certificates cause more delay than planning judgement ever does. Here is a review procedure a practice can actually use, including how to record sign off.
The geotechnical adviser role under Eurocode 7
BS EN 1997 requires geotechnical data to be interpreted by suitably qualified people and recorded in a design report. This sets out the adviser role, the categories, and what a reviewer should check.
Assessing early morning deliveries and servicing noise
Early morning deliveries wake people through individual events rather than average levels. This sets out the event based approach, the character corrections that apply, and the conditions councils impose.
Short-term let control areas and planning in Scotland
Scotland only. Inside a designated control area, letting a whole property to visitors needs planning permission as well as a licence. This explains the designation, the exceptions and the evidence an application needs.
A worked greenfield runoff rate calculation
The greenfield rate decides your discharge limit and therefore your storage volume. This shows the IH124 inputs, an illustrative calculation on a half hectare plot, and what the lead local flood authority checks.
Written representations against a hearing at appeal
Most planning appeals are decided on paper. This compares the written representations and hearing procedures, the deadlines that apply, and where oral evidence actually shifts an inspector.
Which reports a microbrewery and taproom need
Brewing is industrial and a taproom is sui generis, so a combined scheme needs evidence on both. This covers trade effluent, boil odour, plant and event noise, servicing and hours.
Tilted balance: what the presumption actually does
The tilted balance is easy to state and hard to apply. This sets out what engages it, what switches it off, and how to write the balance so it survives a finding against you.
When a structural survey needs a chartered engineer
A buyer's building survey is not an engineering appraisal. Here is what planning needs from a structural report, who can sign it and how to read the recommendations.
Building warrants and Scottish planning permission
A building warrant is a separate consent from planning permission, granted by the council as verifier. Starting work without one is an offence.
Enforcement notice against breach of condition notice
Both notices come from the 1990 Act, but only one carries a right of appeal. Here is what each covers, which a council picks and what the recipient can do.
Which reports a dog day care and kennels need
Kennels and dog day care always need planning permission. The application turns on a properly measured barking noise assessment and a workable waste and drainage strategy.
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