PlanScope Blog – Page 36
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 36
9582 articlesRoad geometry for adoption under section 38
A consented layout can still fail technical approval. The widths, radii, visibility distances and refuse vehicle limits that decide whether a new estate road is adopted.
Siting an air source heat pump in a conservation area
Three tests decide where an air source heat pump goes in a conservation area: whether Class G applies, visibility from the highway, and the 42 dB(A) sound calculation.
Mortgagee exclusion clauses in affordable housing
A mortgagee exclusion clause lets affordable housing restrictions fall away if a registered provider's lender enforces. Without it, providers usually cannot buy the units.
Roof terraces, overlooking and privacy screens
A roof terrace lets the viewer move, which is why separation distance policies written for windows do not resolve it. Screen specification, set-backs and conditions.
Section 104 sewer adoption and planning conditions
Sewer adoption under section 104 of the Water Industry Act 1991 follows the undertaker's standards, not the planning condition. How to reconcile the two before discharge.
Solar on a commercial roof: the Class J limits
Rooftop solar on a commercial building is usually permitted development under Class J of Part 14, but the projection, height and edge limits are unforgiving.
Self-build exemption from the levy and its traps
The self-build exemption from the Community Infrastructure Levy turns on four forms served in the right order and a three year occupation period. Where it goes wrong.
Pre-application enquiries to statutory undertakers
Capacity enquiries and point of connection quotations drive a development programme more than the planning determination period does. How to run them and what to submit.
Raising a roof ridge height: what the limits allow
Class B of Part 1 allows roof enlargements but not a higher ridge. What the height, volume and plane limits mean, and what a householder application needs instead.
Personal and enurement conditions on a permission
A personal or enurement condition limits a planning permission to a named person or business, so it is not exercisable by a buyer. What national guidance allows, and the section 73 route out.
Larger home extensions: depth limits and neighbour consultation
The larger home extension scheme allows 6 metres on a semi or terrace and 8 metres on a detached house, after a neighbour consultation. Here is the procedure, the 42 day period and the traps.
The Hillside principle and drop-in permissions
After Hillside Parks, a later permission that makes the original scheme physically impossible to complete can stop the original being lawfully implemented. Here is what that means for phased sites.
Openable windows, ventilation and the noise mitigation trap
A noise assessment that passes only with windows closed removes the cheapest overheating tool. Here is how the two assessments conflict, and the design moves that resolve them.
Travel plan targets, monitoring and the obligations behind them
A travel plan secured by section 106 is a five year liability. The target definition, the survey methodology and the remedial measures list decide what it costs, and all three are negotiable at drafting stage.
Insulating a listed roof space without causing harm
Ceiling-level insulation in a ventilated loft rarely needs listed building consent and carries the lowest risk. Rafter-level work needs a condensation risk assessment, and bats change the membrane specification.
Securing affordable housing where a scheme is phased
On a phased scheme the occupation trigger decides whether affordable housing actually gets delivered. Here is how the triggers, transfer standards, cascades and step-in provisions should be drafted.
Structural survey before a rooftop extension
Part 20 prior approval needs an engineer's report on whether the existing building can take additional storeys. Here are the investigations that answer it, and the service and lease issues that follow.
Reading a daylight and sunlight report as an objector
A daylight and sunlight report is easier to check than it looks. Find the baseline, check which windows were assessed, test the room use assumptions, and build an objection around what is missing.
Swale and filter strip design on a rural self-build plot
A swale conveys, attenuates and treats at once, and on a rural plot it usually beats a pipe and a tank. The constraint is width. Here are the dimensions, the check dams, the consents and the maintenance.
Part 4 Class A: temporary buildings for a development site
Part 4 Class A of the GPDO 2015 permits site offices, compounds and plant required temporarily for operations that already have permission. Here is what it covers, and what it does not.
Eighteen metres or seven storeys: the higher risk test
A building at least 18 metres tall or of seven storeys, with two or more residential units, is higher risk. That changes who approves it, when work can start, and what has to happen before occupation.
What a draft can say about five year housing land supply
A draft can set out the five year housing land supply test and structure a site-by-site critique. It cannot know an authority's current position, and a plausible wrong figure costs more than a blank one.
Applications on a site that straddles two council boundaries
An authority can only permit development in its own area, so a cross-boundary site needs two applications. Here is how to keep the two determinations aligned on fees, conditions, obligations and levy liability.
Section 73B: varying a permission under the 2023 Act
Section 73B of the 1990 Act, inserted by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023, allows a permission to be altered where the effect is not substantially different, including its description of development.
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