PlanScope Blog – Page 322
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 322
8795 articlesOverheating Risk Assessment: reporting CIBSE TM59 results
A TM59 overheating assessment stands or falls on its inputs. What the two criteria measure, how Approved Document O changes the modelling, and how to report the rooms that fail.
What the 2022 edition of BRE 209 changed for new interiors
The 2022 third edition of BRE 209 moved daylight assessment of proposed dwellings from average daylight factor to climate-based illuminance targets. The neighbour tests stayed put.
Exception Test for flood risk: the two limbs explained
The exception test has two limbs and both must be passed, argued with completely different evidence. Here is when it is engaged, what each limb needs, and how to present residual risk so the decision stands up.
Extending a house that has already been extended
Extension allowances are measured against the house as it stood in 1948 or as first built, so work by previous owners counts against you. Here is how to establish the original footprint and calculate what remains.
Plan making reform: what changes for local plans
The 2023 Act rewrites how local plans are produced, from gateway checks and a 30 month timetable to supplementary plans and the end of the duty to co-operate. Here is what applies, and how to tell which system an authority is in.
Eurocode 7 and geotechnical categories in a submission
Geotechnical Category 1, 2 or 3 decides how much ground investigation a site needs. Here is what each covers, how the ground investigation and design reports differ, and what a case officer actually reads.
The 0.8 relative test and when a loss is noticeable
The 0.8 proportional test decides most contested daylight cases, because both the absolute and relative limbs must be failed before a loss counts as noticeable. Here is how the arithmetic behaves and how to present it.
Schedule 3 SuDS approval and what commencement means
Schedule 3 would create SuDS Approving Bodies, make national drainage standards statutory and tie the right to connect surface water to approval. It is still not in force in England, and here is what would change if it were.
Walkthrough: an office to nursery change of use
Office to nursery looks like a movement within Class E until a condition restricts the building to office use. This illustrative walkthrough covers play space, the drop-off plan, noise and the conditions that followed.
Appealing a refused lawful development certificate
Certificate appeals are decided on fact and law, not planning merit. Here is what the balance of probabilities means in practice, which documents carry weight, and when a fresh application beats an appeal.
Water Supply Assessment: content and consultee expectations
A Water Supply Assessment has to show demand, network capacity and demand reduction. Here is what each section contains, what the undertaker will and will not tell you, and where water neutrality changes everything.
Obscure glazing conditions and how they are enforced
Side windows built under permitted development must be obscure glazed and non-opening below 1.7 metres above the internal floor. Breaching that takes the whole extension outside the right, not just the window.
Demolition prior notification and structural safety
Demolition needs prior approval from the planning authority and a separate notice to building control under the Building Act 1984. Here is what each covers, what the method statement must show, and where conservation areas change the route.
Vertical sky component: what 27 per cent measures
VSC measures sky visibility at the outside face of a window, with an unobstructed maximum just under 40 per cent. Here is what the 27 per cent guidance value means, how it interacts with the 0.8 relative test, and when a lower value is defensible.
Green roofs: drainage, biodiversity and thermal benefit
Green roof policy arrives through drainage, greening and biodiversity policies at once, and each asks for different evidence. Here is what substrate depth buys, how much attenuation credit to expect, and how the condition is usually worded.
Walkthrough: a twelve unit scheme and its gain plan
An illustrative twelve unit scheme followed from June habitat survey to approved Biodiversity Gain Plan, showing where on-site delivery falls short and what securing off-site units actually involves.
Enforcement notice appeals: the seven statutory grounds
Section 174 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 gives seven grounds of appeal against an enforcement notice. Here is what each asserts, which evidence carries it, and why the deadline cannot be extended.
Structural surveys for agricultural building conversions
Class Q turns on whether the existing building can already carry the loads that conversion brings. Here is what the structural report has to show about the frame, the foundations and the works proposed.
Foul Sewage Assessment: what each section has to prove
A Foul Sewage Assessment has to prove the waste water has somewhere lawful to go and that the receiving system can take it. Here is what each section must evidence, from the drainage hierarchy to adoption and connection triggers.
Solar panels on a house: limits and listed buildings
Roof solar on a house is usually permitted development under Class A of Part 14, subject to a 0.2 metre projection limit and the ridge rule. Listed buildings need separate consent, and unauthorised works are a criminal offence.
Environmental Outcomes Reports and the future of EIA
The 2023 Act creates the power to replace environmental impact assessment with outcomes based reporting. Here is what Part 6 provides for, how it differs from an Environmental Statement, and what to submit in the meantime.
Choosing assessment dates for sunlight studies
BRE 209 anchors its sunlight and overshadowing tests to 21 March. Here is why the equinox is the default, what summer and winter plots add, and the clock time and true north errors that undermine a study.
Energy modelling assumptions officers challenge
Energy statements are challenged on their inputs, not their headline percentage. Here are the assumptions officers query, from baseline edition and heat pump flow temperature to PV capacity and air permeability.
Walkthrough: a shopfront replacement in a conservation area
A shopfront in a conservation area needs planning permission and a separate advertisement consent. This illustrative walkthrough follows one unit from appraisal evidence and measured survey through to the conditions on both decisions.
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