PlanScope Blog – Page 346
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 346
8395 articlesTrial trenching strategy in an archaeological evaluation
A trial trench evaluation is designed to answer a question, not to cover a percentage. Here is how the sampling strategy, the written scheme of investigation and the mitigation route fit together.
Front boundary walls, fences and gates: height limits
Boundary enclosures are permitted development up to 1 metre next to a highway and 2 metres elsewhere. Here is what counts as adjacent, what listing and conservation area status change, and how height is measured.
Reserved matters: what outline permission leaves open
Outline permission fixes the principle; reserved matters settle access, appearance, landscaping, layout and scale. Here are the limits, the deadlines and the submission pack.
Two-tier areas: who handles highways and archaeology
The council that validates your application often is not the one commenting on access, drainage or archaeology. Here is how responsibilities split in two-tier areas and who to approach first.
Setting the study area in an archaeological DBA
The search radius decides what a desk-based assessment can conclude. Here is how to set it, justify it and record negative evidence so the county archaeologist accepts the result.
Dropped kerbs and driveways: two consents, one project
The kerb and the driveway are approved by different bodies under different rules. Here is how section 184 crossover consent and the Class F surfacing condition fit together.
Solar farm planning permission on farmland: the tests
Ground-mounted solar on farmland is judged on soil grade, landscape effect and reflection long before design detail. Here is the evidence base a rural landowner needs to assemble.
Pre-commencement condition: what it blocks and when
A pre-commencement condition stops all development until it is discharged in writing. Here is the section 100ZA agreement rule, the discharge procedure and what happens if you start anyway.
National Landscape councils: extension and new-build tests
Inside a National Landscape the council must give great weight to natural beauty and refuse major development except in exceptional circumstances. Here is how those tests are applied to a rural extension or a replacement dwelling.
Air source heat pump siting rules for a house
Class G permits a domestic heat pump provided the noise standard is met at the neighbour's window. Here is what decides the siting, and when the installation needs planning permission instead.
Access chapter of a DAS for a listed building
Listed building access has to reconcile section 16(2) with the Equality Act and say where it lands. Here is the sequence that persuades a conservation officer, and the options table to compare.
Storage yard or open storage planning permission
A field or yard used for commercial storage is a material change of use. The decision turns on principle, surface water, access geometry and what the site looks like from outside.
Delegated decision: who signs off your application
Delegation under section 101 of the Local Government Act 1972 lets officers decide most applications. Here is what sends one to committee, and what an objection has to say to count.
Neighbourhood plans: when they outrank the local plan
Made neighbourhood plans carry full development plan status, and conflict with the local plan is resolved by recency under section 38(5). Here is what those plans can lawfully do and how to write the policy section.
Solar panels on a house roof: the PD limits that apply
Most roof-mounted solar needs no planning permission, provided it projects less than 200mm from the roof plane and sits below the ridge. Here is where the limits bite and what conservation areas really restrict.
Writing the design evolution section of a DAS
Design evolution is an argument, not a diary. Here is how to build it from constraints, present options that were actually tested, and answer the access limb the Order asks for.
Planning permission for a mosque, church or prayer hall
A congregation buying a shop or industrial unit needs a full change of use application. The decision usually turns on parking at peak attendance rather than on design. Here is the evidence that answers it.
Determination period: 8, 13 and 16 weeks explained
Eight weeks for minor applications, 13 for majors, 16 with an environmental statement. Here is where those periods come from, what stalls them, and why an appeal for non-determination is usually the slower route.
Lawful development certificates: proving works are lawful
A certificate asks whether development is lawful, not whether it is acceptable. Here is how the two sections differ, what the ten-year rule changed, and what evidence actually persuades an officer.
Replacing windows and doors in a listed house
Joinery is usually part of what makes a modest listed house special, so replacement needs consent whatever the new windows look like. Here is the evidence that gets an application through.
Residual risk and finished floor levels in an FRA
The finished floor levels section has to state the design flood level, the freeboard and what happens in the event beyond the design case. Most assessments skip the third, and consultees keep asking.
Gym planning permission and the plant noise problem
Indoor fitness sits in Class E(d), so a shop or office unit needs no change of use application. What does need attention is impact noise from free weights, roof plant and the evening parking peak.
Validation: why councils return applications unregistered
Until an application validates, no clock runs and no officer is assigned. Here are the reasons councils return submissions, and the discipline that gets one registered first time.
Class Q barn conversion: the tests councils apply
Class Q gives a barn a route to homes through prior approval, but the agricultural use test and the structural capability test decide most applications. Here is what councils actually look for.
Not sure which documents your council will ask for?
Enter your postcode and PlanScope recommends the right reports for your project, then drafts them in minutes.
Enter your postcode on PlanScope