PlanScope Blog – Page 43
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 43
9570 articlesClass Q: proving the building is structurally sound enough
A survey saying the barn appears structurally sound is worthless. What the authority actually needs to see, and why the schedule of works decides the application.
Getting permission for a garden centre with a cafe
The moment a site sells a material quantity of goods it did not grow, it is a shop in the countryside. How the retail tests, the cafe and the conditions actually work.
What a drafted flood risk assessment cannot do alone
Three facts decide a self-build in Flood Zone 2 or 3, and none of them can be drafted: your ground level, the modelled water level and whether the lane stays passable.
Sizing attenuation storage and the critical duration
Borrowing a storm duration from a previous job produces a tank that is undersized or absurd. How to find the critical duration and present it so a reviewer can check it.
Setting of a heritage asset and how far it extends
An assessment that opens with a radius has already gone wrong. How to establish what a setting contributes to significance and document it so a decision maker can use it.
Class MA prior approval: what to submit and why it fails
The vacancy condition has gone and the two year use test remains. What to submit, what the authority may lawfully consider, and the refusal reasons that recur.
Getting permission for a winery or cider press building
A press house is a processing building, not an agricultural one, so Part 6 rights are the wrong tool. Effluent consent, residue storage and harvest traffic decide the scheme.
Why a drafted heritage statement cannot assess significance
A draft can state the statutory duties and the method correctly. It cannot tell you the cornice is a 1960s replacement, which is the part the decision turns on.
Choosing a climate change allowance and a lifetime
Peak river flow and peak rainfall allowances do different jobs and are not interchangeable. How to choose the band, justify the lifetime and present both so a reviewer can check them.
Curtilage listing and structures built before 1948
Structures within the curtilage of a listed building since before 1 July 1948 are treated as part of it, with no entry of their own. How to check before a builder starts.
The incidental use test for garden rooms and home gyms
A garden building can meet every dimension in Class E and still be unlawful because of what happens inside it. Where the incidental use line actually falls.
Takeaway to two flats under Class M: an illustrative pack
A worked illustration of a Class M prior approval turning a hot food takeaway into two flats, and why the natural light problem was solved by giving up floor area.
Getting permission for an open water swimming venue
The water is the easy part. Off-mains foul drainage at peak session occupancy, bankside ecology and a single track lane are what decide an open water swimming application.
Checking policy codes in a draft after the NPPF re-issue
A citation written before 17 August 2026 is wrong in form as well as number. How to map an old paragraph reference to a current policy code, and what to do when it has no home.
Requesting modelled flood level data and reading it
Flood zones say how likely flooding is. Modelled levels say how deep. How to request the data, read it against a topographic survey and derive a floor level.
How much of a list entry description is binding
Reading a short list entry as a short list of protected features is the most expensive mistake in heritage work. What the entry settles, and what it does not.
Permitted development on land you share with a neighbour
A permitted development right can exist while you have no lawful way to use it. How shared drives, communal gardens and curtilage boundaries decide what you can actually build.
Class MA: the three month vacancy rule no longer applies
The three month vacancy condition was removed from Class MA, along with the floorspace cap. The two year qualifying use test remains, and it is the one that needs an evidence pack.
Office to flats under Class MA: an illustrative pack
A worked illustration of a Class MA prior approval for eight flats over a shop, and why the scheme that was approved had six. Natural light, noise and use history decide these applications.
Trampoline park planning permission in an industrial shed
Indoor activity parks in large sheds are refused on impact noise through the slab and on session changeover parking. Here is the evidence an authority expects before it grants a change of use.
Affordable housing guidance and tenure mixes explained
The percentage comes from the local plan, the tenure split and unit mix from a supplementary document. How to read all three and what the section 106 has to say.
Explaining a drafted planning report to a parish or committee
A village hall wants to know what the document shows and how you know. Separating measured evidence from planning judgement, and answering the question about how it was written.
Green Belt purposes and the grey belt question
Green Belt policy turns on spatial function, not landscape quality. The five purposes, the grey belt test, the openness argument and how a very special circumstances case is built.
Working out whether a permitted development right is used up
Class A and Class E allowances are cumulative and attach to the building, not the owner. How to reconstruct the planning history and present a chronology an officer will accept.
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