PlanScope Blog – Page 303
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 303
8954 articlesLate stage viability reviews and how the surplus is split
A late stage review turns a viability argument made at application stage into a payment calculated years later. The clause wording decides how much that payment is.
Strip, map and sample: when councils ask for it
Trial trenching rarely ends the archaeological story. Where features are dispersed or their character is unclear, county archaeologists ask for strip, map and sample, and the groundworks programme has to absorb it.
Irreplaceable habitats and why net gain does not apply
The statutory metric cannot value ancient woodland, so net gain does not solve an irreplaceable habitat problem. Avoidance and bespoke compensation are the only routes, and national policy sets a high bar for both.
Basements and habitable rooms in flood risk areas
A basement bedroom and a basement plant room are treated completely differently in flood risk policy. The vulnerability classification, not the construction method, decides whether the scheme is arguable.
Nesting birds and the practical tree work calendar
The offence relates to a nest in use, not to a date in the calendar. That distinction decides whether a site can be cleared in July and what evidence a contractor needs to hold.
Self storage: which use class and what councils ask for
Self storage normally falls within Class B8, yet the classification argument is rarely what decides these applications. Servicing, visual impact and how you describe the use matter more.
Listed building consent: the drawings and documents to submit
Listed building consent applications are refused validation more often for missing drawings than for anything else. Here is the pack a conservation officer expects, item by item.
Local Development Order and Neighbourhood Development Order
A local development order is made by the council. A neighbourhood development order is made by a community and needs a referendum. Both grant permission in advance.
Flood warning and evacuation plans: who writes and approves them
A flood warning and evacuation plan is an emergency planning document, not a hydraulic one. Knowing who approves it saves weeks at determination.
Checking trees for bat roost features before felling
A tree with a woodpecker hole or lifting bark may hold a roost. Assessing it properly before felling is a legal obligation, not a courtesy.
Care homes and supported housing: C2 or C3
Extra care, supported living and care homes sit somewhere between C2 and C3. The classification is a question of fact, and it changes what the scheme has to pay.
What goes in a biodiversity gain plan and when it is approved
A biodiversity gain plan is not part of the planning application. It comes after permission, before any work starts, and the council has to approve it.
Measuring gross internal area against the space standard
Gross internal area decides whether a unit passes the space standard. Stairs, sloping ceilings and built-in storage are where schemes gain and lose square metres.
Sequencing tree conditions on a development site
Tree conditions have a sequence, and most of it happens before anything is built. Getting the order wrong turns a discharge application into an enforcement conversation.
Conservation covenant: what it is and who holds it
Conservation covenants bind successors in title without needing a planning permission behind them. For habitat banks and off-site gain they are now a standard tool.
Critical drainage areas and what changes inside one
A critical drainage area lowers the threshold at which a flood risk assessment is required and tightens discharge rates. Most applicants find out at validation.
Retail to residential above a shop
Upper floors above a shop are often part of the shop's planning unit rather than separate. That single point decides which application you make.
Swift bricks, bat boxes and biodiversity conditions
Enhancement conditions ask for integral nest bricks and bat boxes on most new housing. Placement, orientation and cavity detailing decide whether they work.
Energy Statement structure using the energy hierarchy
An energy statement that follows the hierarchy reports a carbon figure at every stage. Here is the structure officers expect and the tables that go with it.
Abandonment of a planning use
A use that stops for long enough can be abandoned, and resuming it then needs planning permission. Four factors decide it, and none of them is decisive alone.
Attenuation storage, interception and half drain time
Discharge rate and storage volume are separate calculations. This is how interception, long term storage and half drain time change the volume a site has to hold.
Protected vistas and how they constrain building height
Protected vistas turn a view into geometry. Where a site sits inside a viewing corridor, the height ceiling is set by a plane rather than by policy argument.
Objecting to a new tree preservation order
A provisional tree preservation order binds you from the day it is made. Objections must arrive within the period stated in the notice, and only some arguments carry weight.
Offices to laboratories within Class E
Moving from offices to laboratory space is usually a movement within Class E and needs no planning permission. The external plant, the servicing and the containment level are the real questions.
Not sure which documents your council will ask for?
Enter your postcode and PlanScope recommends the right reports for your project, then drafts them in minutes.
Enter your postcode on PlanScope