PlanScope Blog – Page 320
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 320
8814 articlesClass AA: adding a storey to a house
Class AA is narrower than it looks. Construction date, height relative to neighbours and the prior approval matters rule out most houses before design begins.
Competent experts and the EIA Regulations 2017
The competent expert requirement is express in the 2017 Regulations, and so is the duty to evidence it. Most challenges come from the coordinator role rather than the topic chapters.
Foundations near trees: heave, shrinkage and design depth
On shrinkable clay, a tree 8 metres from your extension can double the foundation depth. The cost arrives at building control stage unless the evidence is gathered early.
Daylight assessment for schools, nurseries and hospitals
BRE guidance applies to non-domestic buildings where occupants reasonably expect daylight. Schools, nurseries and hospitals are the clearest examples, and the criteria shift.
Walkthrough: a solar array on farmland
Follow an illustrative ground-mounted solar application on agricultural land, from the grid connection that chose the site to the restoration condition on the decision notice.
Planning Statement or Design and Access Statement
One is required by statute for defined applications, the other is asked for by validation lists. Splitting the content properly stops the two documents contradicting each other.
Challenging an appeal decision in the High Court
A section 288 challenge tests the legality of an inspector's decision, never its merits. The six week deadline is absolute, and permission is needed before the claim is heard.
Documents for a replacement dwelling in the Green Belt
A Green Belt replacement dwelling turns on whether the new house is materially larger than the one it replaces. The pack has to prove that with measurements, not assertions.
Employment Land Assessment: the anatomy of the report
An employment land assessment argues either for retaining a site or releasing it. The sections that decide the answer are the market area definition and the site quality scoring.
Citing the NPPF after the move to policy codes
Paragraph numbers changed twice in two years and are now policy codes. A citation habit that survives the next edition is worth more than memorising any single reference.
Class A rear extension depth limits by house type
Four metres for a detached house, three for everything else, measured from the original rear wall. The other limits that catch people out are eaves height and the wrap-around.
Who can carry out a BS 4142 noise assessment
BS 4142 expects a competent assessor and leaves competence undefined. Here is what environmental health officers actually look for, and the questions to ask before instructing.
Mass timber frames at planning stage: fire and insurance
A mass timber structure is a fire, insurance and warranty decision as much as a structural one, and all three need resolving before the planning submission rather than after.
Sunlight to courtyard amenity space in a perimeter block
Courtyards in perimeter blocks fail the sunlight availability test more often than any other amenity space. Test the courtyard while the massing is still moving, not after.
Walkthrough: a basement under a Victorian terrace
Follow an illustrative basement extension application from the first look at the borough's basements policy through the independent audit to the monitoring conditions on the decision notice.
Transport Statement or Transport Assessment: which one
The difference between the two documents is depth, not subject matter. Here is how the thresholds work, what scoping with the highway authority should settle, and where budgets go wrong.
Green Belt refusals: very special circumstances on appeal
Very special circumstances appeals fail on the harm side of the balance far more often than on the benefits side. This is how inspectors structure the exercise, and what evidence moves it.
Which reports an HMO application needs
An HMO application lives or dies on amenity, parking and refuse evidence. Here is the pack councils expect for a C4 or large HMO, and the refusal reasons it has to answer.
Economic Impact Assessment: additionality and displacement
Gross job numbers rarely survive officer scrutiny. This is how additionality is calculated in a planning economic impact assessment, and where the assumptions usually break.
Overlooking distances and where the 21 metre rule began
The 21 metre standard began as a daylight figure in early housing manuals and became a privacy convention. That history is why it bends more than people expect.
Green Infrastructure Plan: section by section
A green infrastructure plan is distinguished by quantification. Areas by typology, canopy cover and connectivity, all checkable against a local standard.
Class MA after the removal of the floorspace cap
Class MA lost its floorspace cap and vacancy requirement in 2024. The two year qualifying use survived, and natural light still fails most applications.
Who can sign a BS 5837 tree survey
The standard asks for an arboriculturist, defined by education, training and experience. Here is what the qualifications and registration schemes actually test.
Construction management plans for a basement excavation
Spoil volume drives everything else in a basement construction plan. Write it before the decision, while there is still room to negotiate the conditions.
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