PlanScope Blog – Page 351
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 351
8408 articlesPlanning permission for a garden office or outbuilding
Most garden offices are built under permitted development, but Class E has hard limits on height, coverage and use. Here is what decides whether you need planning permission, and what to do if you do.
Flood Zone 3b and the functional floodplain
Flood Zone 3b is the functional floodplain: land where water has to flow or be stored in a flood. Only water-compatible development and essential infrastructure belong there, and the zone is defined by your council's strategic flood risk assessment, not the national flood map.
Habitat units: the currency of biodiversity net gain
Habitat units are the unit of account in the Defra statutory biodiversity metric. Here is how the number is built, why area, hedgerow and watercourse units are counted separately, and what a metric output can and cannot tell you before you buy land.
Abandonment of use: when a lawful use dies
A lawful use can be lost through abandonment, which means resuming it needs fresh planning permission. Here is what the four factors cover and how to prove a last lawful use.
Planning permission for a two-storey side extension
Class A permitted development stops at a single storey to the side, so a two-storey side extension needs a householder planning application. Here is what officers look for and what the council will validate.
How to win permission for an infill plot in a village
A single new dwelling in a village gap is a minor application, but it lives or dies on two tests: whether the plot sits inside the settlement boundary and whether the spacing respects the street. Here is how to build the case and the evidence pack.
Principal elevation: how to identify it correctly
The principal elevation is the wall that fronts the main highway serving the house and carries its main architectural features. Here is how the test works, how corner plots and angled frontages change the answer, and which permitted development rights turn on it.
Curtilage: what counts as part of your house
Curtilage has no statutory definition, yet it decides whether a garden room, garage or annexe falls under householder permitted development. Here is how the courts test it and what evidence councils accept.
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