PlanScope Blog – Page 333
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 333
8707 articlesConditions on permitted development you can still breach
Meeting the size limits is only half of permitted development. The conditions attached to each class are where extensions quietly become unauthorised development.
Registered arboricultural consultants and BS 5837 competence
Councils want a tree report written to BS 5837 by someone accountable for it. How to tell a contractor from a consultant, and what to check before instructing.
Getting permission for a solar canopy over a car park
A solar canopy over a car park is a building operation and needs permission. What decides the application: massing, reflection towards roads and aircraft, and drainage.
Windfall sites and how allowances are justified
Councils may count future windfall sites in their housing supply only where the evidence is strong enough. What that evidence looks like, and where inflated allowances fall down.
Local Green Space designation and what it blocks
Local Green Space gives an ordinary field Green Belt style protection, but only through a local or neighbourhood plan and only where three strict tests are met.
C1, C3 and serviced accommodation: which class applies
Class C1 covers hotels and guest houses, Class C3 covers dwellings occupied as a single household. Where serviced apartments and short lets sit, and how councils decide.
Part 7 Class A: extending a shop or a Class E unit
Class A of Part 7 allows a shop to be extended by 50 square metres or 25 per cent of the original building, whichever is less. Where the right applies, and where it does not.
Transport planner credentials a highway authority accepts
No statutory qualification governs who writes a transport assessment. What highway officers actually look for in the author, the method and the agreed scope.
What an environmental impact assessment costs and why
Screening and scoping opinions carry no fee, so an EIA budget built from a fee schedule is always wrong. What actually drives the cost of an environmental statement.
Getting permission for a fishing lake and angling facility
Excavating a fishing lake is development in its own right, and planning is only one of four consents. What the council assesses, which permits run alongside, and what to submit.
Deemed discharge of planning conditions under section 74A
Section 74A lets you treat details as approved when a council fails to determine a discharge application. Why the exclusions swallow the rule, and what to do instead.
Ancient woodland buffers and what councils expect
Ancient woodland is an irreplaceable habitat, so the policy test is close to a prohibition. How buffers are measured, what counts as deterioration, and the evidence an application needs.
Pubs and drinking establishments outside the use classes
Since September 2020 drinking establishments have sat outside the Use Classes Order entirely. What that means for changing a pub to another use, and the evidence councils expect.
Suitably qualified contaminated land report authors
There is no statutory register of contaminated land assessors, so councils look for recognised markers. What competence means under BS 10175 and LCRM, and how to check it before you commission.
Class D porches: the three limits that decide it
A porch is permitted development if it stays under 3 square metres, under 3 metres high and more than 2 metres from a highway boundary. How each limit is measured and where the right does not apply.
Budgeting a heritage evidence base for a listed building
Listed building consent carries no application fee, but the evidence behind it does. What drives the price of a heritage statement, recording and archaeology, and how to scope each proportionately.
Getting permission for a caravan and boat storage yard
Storing caravans and boats commercially on farmland is a material change of use. What the council assesses, which documents the application needs, and the conditions to negotiate before consent.
Section 96A non-material amendments and their limits
Section 96A lets a council amend an existing planning permission without granting a new one. What it covers, what it will not stretch to, and how it differs from a section 73 variation.
Budgeting a flood risk and drainage evidence base
The gap between a screening assessment and a modelled one is a factor of ten. What decides which you need, and how to sequence the work to control the fee.
Getting permission for a vertical farm in an industrial building
The agriculture exemption does not cover a standalone unit on an employment estate. What decides the use class, and the four technical issues that decide delivery.
Hot food takeaways: sui generis and the Class E boundary
Where the food is eaten decides the use class. What happens when delivery trade takes over a restaurant, and why the extract duct decides most applications.
Class F hard surfaces and the permeable paving condition
Class F allows hard surfacing, with a drainage condition at the front and none at the rear. The five square metre rule, porous options and the crossover consent.
When a council can require a named professional
Some reports legally need a licensed or competent author. Others carry only a local preference dressed up as a requirement. Where the line sits, and how to argue it.
Budgeting a transport evidence base for a major application
Trip data, survey windows, junction models and travel plan monitoring each carry their own cost. How to scope a transport evidence base before committing a fee.
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