PlanScope Blog – Page 344
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 344
8408 articlesConstruction dust risk in an Air Quality Assessment
The construction dust section is a risk-based assessment, not a modelling exercise. Here is how screening, emission magnitude, area sensitivity and mitigation fit together.
Section 73 or a new application: changing an approved scheme
Section 96A, section 73 and a fresh application do different jobs. The choice usually turns on whether the change fits the description of development.
Drive-through planning permission: what councils assess
A drive-through restaurant or coffee unit rarely sits inside Class E, so it needs a full application. Here is the evidence councils and highway authorities expect.
Rating and background sound levels in BS 4142 work
A BS 4142 assessment turns on the gap between the rating level and the background sound level. Here is how each is derived, corrected and read.
Applying on an allocated site: reading the policy properly
If your site is allocated in the adopted local plan, officers stop debating whether development belongs there and start auditing your scheme against the allocation text. Here is how to read it.
Greenfield run-off rate: the drainage design benchmark
The greenfield run-off rate is the discharge cap every drainage design is measured against, and it decides how much attenuation storage a site has to fit.
Neighbour notification: site notices, letters and press adverts
Article 15 of the Development Management Procedure Order sets what publicity a council must give an application. For most minor schemes it can choose a site notice or a letter.
Barn conversion to a house under Class Q prior approval
Class Q converts agricultural buildings to houses without planning permission, but the structural capability test decides most applications. Here is what the council can and cannot consider.
Personal injury collision analysis in highway evidence
Highway objections turn on safety, not capacity. Five years of collision records and measured visibility distances decide whether an access is supportable.
Root protection area: the BS 5837 circle explained
BS 5837:2012 sets the root protection area at 12 times stem diameter, capped at 707 square metres. The shape can move; the area cannot shrink.
Planning committee speaking rights: how to register and what to say
Speaking rights at planning committee are set by each council's constitution. Here is how registration works, when the papers appear, and what to put in three minutes.
Single-storey rear extension over 4 metres deep
Deeper single-storey rear extensions run through prior approval and the neighbour consultation scheme, up to 6 metres on a semi and 8 on a detached house.
Construction Traffic Management Plan: routing and swept paths
A Construction Traffic Management Plan is approved by the highway authority and usually blocks the start of work. Routing plans, swept path drawings and condition surveys do the heavy lifting.
Preliminary roost assessment: the first step in a bat survey
The preliminary roost assessment decides whether bat surveys are needed and how many. It runs year round; the emergence surveys it triggers do not.
Cross-boundary sites: applying to two councils at once
Where a site crosses a local authority boundary, each council determines its own part under its own local plan. Matched descriptions, aligned conditions and committee timing decide whether it works.
Loft conversion with rear dormer: planning permission route
Most rear dormers are permitted development under Class B, up to 40 cubic metres on a terrace and 50 elsewhere. The eaves set-back and protected land rules decide the rest.
Transport Statement or Transport Assessment: the section test
A Transport Statement describes trips, a Transport Assessment models them. The thresholds that decide which one you file, and the sections that separate the two.
Rear extension refused on amenity: how to redesign it
Loss of light refusals are about form, not principle. Here is how to read the reasons, redesign the depth and eaves height, and choose between a free resubmission and a householder appeal.
Biodiversity gain plan: the document you file after permission
A biodiversity gain plan is submitted after planning permission and approved before development begins. Here is what it contains, who signs it off, and the exemptions that apply to small sites.
Pre-app advice: what a council officer can and cannot promise
Written pre-application advice is an opinion given without prejudice, not a decision. The value sits in the policy list, the consultee positions and the officer's view of harm.
HMO licensing and planning permission: two separate consents
A licence from the housing team says nothing about planning. Landlords who hold one and not the other are exposed on whichever side they have missed.
Foul Sewage Assessment: capacity evidence and the sections
Councils validate on the foul drainage answer more often than developers expect. The assessment has to follow the hierarchy and evidence each step it rejects.
Extending an Article 4 direction house: rights you lost
An Article 4 direction does not stop you extending. It turns work that needed no application into one that does, usually with no fee and a design case attached.
Nutrient neutrality: what it stops and where
Nutrient neutrality is a habitats law problem, not a planning policy choice. It stops new overnight accommodation in affected catchments until mitigation is secured.
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