PlanScope Blog – Page 347
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 347
8382 articlesDevelopment: what section 55 actually means
If it is not development, planning control does not apply. Here is the two-limb test in section 55 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the express exclusions, and where de minimis fits.
Tree Preservation Orders: how to check and apply for works
Felling a protected tree without consent is a criminal offence carrying an unlimited fine. Here is how to check for an Order, apply for works, use the exemptions safely and evidence the application.
Mansard roof extensions: policy tests and design rules
A mansard rebuilds the roof rather than adding to it, so permitted development is out and the whole argument moves onto design and terrace precedent.
Historic Building Recording: Level 2 versus Level 3
A Level 2 record describes the building. A Level 3 record explains how it came to be that way, with measured drawings and a phasing argument behind it.
Glamping site planning permission: pods, yurts and safari tents
Temporary use rights cover a seasonal campsite, not a year-round pod site. Knowing where the line sits saves an enforcement case later.
Very special circumstances in the Green Belt
Substantial weight attaches to Green Belt harm, and the considerations relied on must clearly outweigh all of it. Most cases fail by arguing the wrong half of the balance.
Local plan policy references to quote for a rear extension
Section 38(6) makes the development plan the legal test. Quoting the right three policies and answering them with dimensions does most of the officer's work.
Roof terraces and balconies on house extensions
Every relevant class excludes verandas, balconies and raised platforms above 0.3 metres, so a roof terrace always needs permission. Here is what mitigates overlooking and what to put on the drawings.
Fire Statement or Fire Safety Strategy: which one you need
One is a planning form, the other a fire engineering document, and they sit at different gateways. Here is the Article 9A trigger, what each document contains, and the validation failures to avoid.
Padel and tennis court planning permission with floodlights
The surface may be permitted development, the 3 metre glass enclosure and the lighting columns are not. Here is what a court application has to answer on noise, floodlighting, openness and drainage.
Permitted development rights: what they actually cover
The rights are permission, not an exemption from planning. Here is where they come from, how each class is structured, the five things that remove them, and how to prove your works were lawful.
Your council's SFRA: what it means for your site
The flood map gives you a zone. Your council's strategic flood risk assessment gives you the local modelling, the functional floodplain, the critical drainage areas and the sequential test evidence.
Rear dormer design in a conservation area
There is no volume allowance to work within. A dormer in a conservation area is assessed against the section 72 duty, which makes roof geometry the whole argument.
Mode share targets in a Travel Plan and how to evidence them
Most travel plan targets fail review because they have no baseline and no consequence. Four elements make a target a highway officer will accept.
Farm shop planning permission and the diversification test
A trestle table of your own potatoes is agriculture. A barn selling bought-in goods is a shop. Where a farm shop sits on that spectrum decides the whole application.
PTAL: public transport accessibility level in London
PTAL measures proximity to stops and service frequency. It says nothing about where the services go, which is why the band alone rarely answers a committee question.
Conservation area appraisals: using them to justify your design
The council wrote the appraisal and will read your application against it. The useful material sits past the historical section, in the townscape analysis and the negative features.
Porches: the 3 square metre rule and where it goes wrong
Three numbers decide whether a porch is permitted development. External measurement and the two-metre highway rule remove the rights from most urban front gardens. Here is how to check yours.
Flood Risk Assessment or Drainage Strategy: what goes where
The flood risk assessment covers risk to the site, the drainage strategy covers what leaves it. Here is how to split the scope, avoid contradictions and anticipate the conditions each consultee asks for.
Swimming pool planning permission: indoor and outdoor
The pool is rarely the problem. The plant room, the enclosure, the trees and the backwash are. Here is what Class E covers, where it stops, and what a council will ask for.
Benchmark land value in a viability assessment
Most viability disputes are arguments about benchmark land value. Here is what the figure represents, how existing use value plus a premium is derived, when alternative use value is admissible, and what a reviewer tests.
Planning fees: working out what you owe before you submit
Councils cannot vary the national fee schedule, but the category, the measurement basis and the date of the schedule all change what you pay. Here is how to work it out before you submit.
Hip-to-gable loft conversions: when permitted development stops
A hip-to-gable uses more of the Class B volume allowance than most people expect, and the house type that suits the form is often the one with the smaller limit.
Modules A1 to A5 in a Whole Life Carbon Assessment
Upfront carbon is the part of the assessment a planning decision can still influence. Here is what each module covers and where reviewers find weak assumptions.
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