PlanScope Blog – Page 316
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 316
8850 articlesFarm shop: Class E, F2 or sui generis
A farm shop can be ancillary to farming, Class E retail, Class F2 or partly sui generis. The proportion of goods from the holding usually decides which, and conditions police it.
The 56 day prior approval deadline and deemed consent
If the council does not notify you within 56 days, you may build in accordance with the details submitted. What makes the clock start, what deemed consent carries and how to prove it.
Delegated decisions versus planning committee
Most applications are decided by officers under a scheme of delegation. What sends one to committee instead, how councillor call-in works, and how to prepare for a members' decision.
Construction Management Plan or Construction Traffic Plan
A traffic plan answers the highway authority, a management plan answers environmental health. What goes in each, and the four checks that stop them contradicting each other.
Eaves, ridge heights and the 2 metre boundary rule
Three height limits govern most permitted development rear extensions, and all of them turn on where you measure from. Sloping ground, flat roof build-ups and made-up levels explained.
Average daylight factor and where it still applies
The 1, 1.5 and 2 per cent daylight factor targets came from a withdrawn standard, yet ADF still appears in adopted policies and prior approval assessments. What it measures and when to use it.
Reports needed for a hot food takeaway
Hot food takeaways sit outside every use class. The extraction and odour scheme, plant noise assessment, refuse arrangements and highway evidence that a submission needs.
The energy hierarchy sections of an Energy Statement
An Energy Statement is four calculations reported in sequence. What each hierarchy stage must demonstrate, how to report emissions at each step, and what the monitoring stage commits you to.
Electric vehicle charge points and permitted development
Wall boxes and car park upstands are covered by Part 2, subject to height and siting limits. The harder consents are the highway licence, Part S and accessible charging design.
Places of worship in Class F1: the change of use route
Public worship sits in Class F1 alongside schools and public halls. What that means when the building you have found is a shop or a warehouse, and how the application is assessed.
Ground and water source heat pumps under Part 14
The planning rights for ground and water source heat pumps are the easy part. Abstraction licences, environmental permits, designated land and ground disturbance are what actually hold a rural scheme up.
The 21 day consultation period and who is notified
Publicity on a planning application runs for at least 21 days. Which method applies to which application, who gets a letter, what happens to late comments and how to hear about the next one.
Whole Life Carbon or Circular Economy Statement
A whole life carbon assessment counts emissions by module. A circular economy statement tracks material flows and diversion. Where they share a bill of materials and where they diverge.
Larger home extensions: the neighbour consultation scheme
The larger home extension route allows 6 or 8 metre single storey rear extensions subject to neighbour consultation. What to notify, what the council may consider, and how to handle an objection.
Reports needed for an office to residential conversion
Under Class MA the prior approval matters set the evidence list. What the council can and cannot consider, the reports each matter needs, and what you still have to do after approval.
Survey design in a Parking Survey
A parking survey answers one question: is there spare kerb space when demand peaks? How to set the survey area, time the counts and measure capacity so the highway authority accepts it.
Solar panels on commercial roofs: the permitted development limits
Commercial rooftop solar is permitted development under Class J of Part 14, subject to prior approval of design and external appearance. The limits, the exclusions and what actually sets the programme.
Sun on ground: testing a garden at the equinox
The sun on ground test asks whether half an amenity area still gets two hours of sun on 21 March. How to define the area, build the model and present the result.
Retail to gym under Class E: what the council still controls
Retail and indoor fitness both sit in Class E, so the use change is free. The plant, extraction, noise, shopfront and old conditions on the unit are a different matter.
Part 11 demolition: prior approval of method and restoration
Part 11 permits demolition subject to prior approval of the method and the restoration of the site. What to submit, how the 28 day period works, and the Building Act notice that runs alongside.
What happens in the eight weeks after validation
The eight week clock starts at validation, not submission. What the case officer is doing each week, when your input still helps, and why applications slip past the target date.
Energy Statement or Sustainability Statement: which is which
An Energy Statement proves a number against the Part L baseline. A Sustainability Statement answers adopted policy. Where the line falls and how to keep one set of figures across the pack.
Garden offices and the incidental use test
A garden office is permitted development only while its use stays incidental to the house. Where the line falls, what tips a home business over it, and how to get the position confirmed.
Reports needed for development in Flood Zone 3
Flood Zone 3 decides your report list before you design anything. What the flood risk assessment, sequential test and exception test each have to prove, and the conditions to expect.
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