PlanScope Blog – Page 44
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 44
9567 articlesSite allocations and what being allocated really means
An allocation gives substantial policy support and a list of obligations. What it settles, what it leaves open and how to read the policy text against the policies map.
Hedges, trees and permitted development on a boundary
You can plant a hedge to any height without permission. Fences are capped at one or two metres, evergreen hedges over two metres fall under the high hedges regime, and protected trees need consent.
Getting permission for a paintball or airsoft site in woodland
Woodland paintball and airsoft applications turn on impulsive noise, a single track access and what tracks and parking do to tree roots. What to submit and what to offer.
Which documents a Class AA upward extension needs
Prior approval for additional storeys is judged on a closed list: daylight in the new homes, amenity, appearance, structure and construction management. What to submit for each.
Checking a planning document for contradictions after edits
Case officers lose confidence in a bundle whose numbers disagree. A mechanical way to reconcile site area, units, floorspace and the description of development before you submit.
Water neutrality in Sussex North and the evidence needed
Development in the Sussex North water supply zone must add no net water demand. How the figure is calculated, what offsetting an authority will accept and how it gets secured.
Rebuilding a house after a fire: repair or rebuild
A full rebuild after fire damage is a building operation and so needs permission. Repair to the same external appearance may not. How councils draw the line and how to evidence it.
Planning permission for a beach hut or coastal structure
A beach hut application is decided by coastal change policy, whether the structure sits below mean high water, and whether anyone will sleep in it. What to expect and what to submit.
Which reports a floodlit all-weather pitch needs
A floodlit artificial pitch brings four issues at once: playing field policy, obtrusive light, surface water from an impermeable surface and concentrated evening traffic.
Describing AI assistance in a fee proposal to a client
Clients are not troubled by AI-assisted drafting. They are troubled by not knowing who is responsible. Wording for the scope, exclusions and fee basis in a planning fee proposal.
Ministry of Defence safeguarding and consultation zones
Military aerodrome, technical site and explosives safeguarding zones each ask a different question of a proposal. How to find out whether a site is affected and how objections get resolved.
Prior approval: what the 56 day rule really means
If the council does not decide a Class MA or Class Q prior approval within 56 days, you may build. The period, the start date and the records you need to keep.
Planning permission for a community shop in a village house
Putting a community shop in the front room of a village house is a mixed use application, not a full change of use. The policy support, the parking argument and the conditions that make it work.
Which reports a children's home in a house needs
Most registered children's homes in an ordinary house are Class C2 rather than C3, which makes the change a material change of use. This is the document bundle that follows.
Permitted development and the 18 metre height threshold
The Part 20 height caps and the building safety height condition use the same number for different purposes. Where schemes get caught between them.
Planning permission for a container yard or storage units
Decide first whether the containers are buildings or a change of use of land. Then deal with stacking height, drainage and separation between stacks.
What a drafted Construction Management Plan cannot know
A draft gives you the structure and the controls. The plant list, programme and swept paths come from the contractor, which decides when you can submit.
Householder rights at a house in multiple occupation
The Order defines dwellinghouse by excluding flats, not shared houses. Where Part 1 rights are available at an HMO, and where a certificate is the only safe route.
Planning permission for a hot food takeaway near a school
Read the exclusion zone policy wording first: the distance and the measurement point decide viability. Then the extraction specification decides the rest.
Drafted condition wording and why authorities rewrite it
Offer a condition schedule tied to drawing numbers and reasons. Which phrases get rewritten, and why the statutory agreement rule matters to consultants.
Permitted development rights after an enforcement notice
Compliance does not discharge an enforcement notice, and it does not restore permitted development rights. Why the route back is an application, not a right.
Planning permission for a boutique hotel in a listed townhouse
Two consents, one constraint. How to route bathrooms and services through a townhouse without harming its hierarchy of rooms, and what the fire strategy forces.
Reports for a temporary use under the 28 day right
Twenty-eight days in total per calendar year, 14 for markets and motor sports, and nothing within the curtilage of a building. What to do when you run out.
Using a draft to write an objection or consultation response
Pick two or three material considerations, tie each to a numbered policy, and add a measurement or a photograph. The rest is structure a draft can give you.
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