PlanScope Blog – Page 318
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 318
8829 articlesClass G flues for biomass and heat network systems
A flue on a house is usually permitted development if it stays within a metre of the highest part of the roof. The limits, the protected land exclusions and the Building Regulations that run alongside.
IAQM membership grades and air quality report authorship
No statutory licence governs who writes an air quality assessment. Here is what IAQM grades signal, the verification and dust competence to test at appointment, and how environmental health officers read the result.
High hedges complaints and the loss of light procedure
A high hedge complaint is a statutory remedy separate from planning. What the two metre and evergreen tests mean, the steps you must take first, and how the council calculates an action hedge height.
Listed building consent or conservation area rules
Listing protects one building inside and out. A conservation area protects the appearance of a whole area through the planning system. The two controls, the consents they need and the offences they create.
The policy compliance section of a Planning Statement
The policy section of a Planning Statement exists to answer section 38(6). Here is how to identify the development plan, select the policies that are genuinely engaged, and write a conclusion officers will copy.
Which reports a drive-through restaurant needs
The evidence base for a drive-through unit is led by transport, noise and air quality. Here is what each document has to show, and the use class trap that catches operators at validation.
Class F hard surfaces and front garden drainage
The front garden condition, not the area, is what decides whether a driveway needs permission. Falls towards the pavement are the usual failure.
Structural engineer competence for conversion and basement work
For a loft conversion, chartered status is usually enough. For a basement, the council appoints its own auditor and checks the method line by line.
Daylight for a rear extension in a Victorian terrace
One window usually decides these disputes. Here is how the 45 and 25 degree tests work and which design changes actually help the neighbour.
Walkthrough: a shop to residential conversion under Class MA
An illustrative two flat Class MA conversion, showing the evidence that establishes eligibility and the daylight analysis that should have come first.
Retail sequential test or retail impact assessment
Both tests apply to out of centre retail and both can refuse a scheme. Here is what each asks, what evidence it needs and where they diverge.
Dark kitchens and delivery only food: the use class
A delivery-only kitchen fits no use class cleanly. Here is why Class E arguments usually fail and what evidence actually decides these applications.
The report pack for converting a pub to housing
Pubs lost their permitted development rights in 2017, so every conversion needs permission. The marketing and viability evidence carries the application.
The harm and public benefit balance in a Heritage Statement
Identify significance, grade the harm, apply great weight, evidence the benefits, then state which way the balance falls. Most statements skip a step.
Pre-commencement conditions and your right to refuse them
Section 100ZA gives applicants a say in pre-commencement conditions. Silence during the notice period counts as agreement, which is where most of the value is lost.
Class E outbuildings and the 50 per cent curtilage rule
Class E permits incidental outbuildings, but every structure other than the original house counts towards the 50 per cent limit. Here is how to calculate it.
Qualifications councils accept for daylight and sunlight work
Anyone may write a daylight and sunlight report. Here is how councils test competence in the absence of a register, and what to ask before appointing.
Winter sunlight and the 21 December benchmark
Annual sunlight hours hide the winter problem. Here is how the solstice benchmark works, what it does to massing, and the modelling errors that recur.
Walkthrough: an outline application and reserved matters
An illustrative 84 home outline scheme, and the two parameter plans drawn too tightly that constrained the detailed design two years later.
Sequential Test or Exception Test for flood risk
Two flood tests, in a fixed order. Here is what triggers the exception test, what its two limbs require, and why each test usually fails.
Which reports an extra care housing scheme needs
Extra care sits between Class C2 and Class C3, and that answer drives the whole document pack. Here is what each element has to prove.
Hot food takeaway or restaurant: where the line falls
The test is whether consumption is mostly on the premises. Get it wrong and a unit loses Class E flexibility permanently and becomes sui generis.
The sequential test section inside a Flood Risk Assessment
The sequential test asks whether reasonably available lower risk sites exist. The area of search, and the evidence behind it, decide whether it holds up.
Statutory biodiversity credits and when to use them
Credits close a net gain shortfall when on-site and off-site delivery are exhausted. The evidence that they were exhausted is what authorities actually test.
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