PlanScope Blog – Page 356

Dropped kerbs: planning permission and the highway licence

A crossover involves two separate consents from the same council. Here is which one you need, in what order, and what the highway authority checks.

Rooftop solar panels: when a house needs permission

Solar on an ordinary house rarely needs an application. The exceptions are listed buildings, Article 4 areas, front elevations and anything on a flat.

Basement Impact Assessment: screening and scoping stages

Most of what decides a basement application happens at screening and scoping, before a single borehole is sunk. Here is how the stages fit together.

Best and most versatile land: grades 1, 2 and 3a explained

Provisional maps cannot tell you whether land is grade 3a or 3b, and that distinction settles more rural planning arguments than any other.

Planning enforcement: what happens after a complaint

Councils have a discretion to enforce rather than a duty. Here is what actually happens after someone reports a breach, and the routes out of one.

Battery storage planning permission on a field site

Electricity storage sits outside the nationally significant infrastructure regime, so a field-scale battery scheme goes to the local planning authority. Here is what to evidence.

Lighting Assessment: obtrusive light limits by zone

A planning Lighting Assessment proves the scheme lights what it needs to, stays inside the zone limits and leaves acceptable residual effects. Here is how.

Obtrusive light: the environmental zones E0 to E4 explained

Lighting limits in planning depend on which environmental zone a site sits in. Here is what E0 to E4 cover and how the limits change after curfew.

Discharging planning conditions before you start on site

A permission is not a licence to start. Here is how to work through the conditions on your decision notice and get them discharged in the right order.

Hand car wash planning permission and the retrospective trap

Most hand car washes open without permission and end up applying retrospectively after a complaint. Here is what the council will ask for either way.

Ventilation and extraction statement for a hot food unit

A ventilation and extraction statement specifies the kit rather than predicting the effect. Here is what environmental health officers expect to see in it.

FIDOL factors and odour effect descriptors explained

Odour in planning is described rather than measured. The FIDOL factors explain why the same smell can be acceptable at one receptor and refused at another.

Construction 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.

Council Guides7 min 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.