PlanScope Blog – Page 45
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 45
9565 articlesPlanning permission for a short-term let in a residential street
The 90 night rule applies only in Greater London and only if the host pays the council tax. Outside London, intensity and turnover decide whether permission is needed.
Reports for an illuminated fascia sign
Advertisement consent runs separately from planning permission, lasts five years and turns on luminance. What to submit for an illuminated fascia sign.
A quality assurance routine before a report leaves the office
Reading a draft once for everything finds the typos and misses the renumbered policy. A two-pass routine, a record of the checks, and who can sign what.
Objecting to a new access on a shared private drive
Highway safety, intensification and amenity are planning matters. Whether the applicant has a right to use your drive is not, and has to be pursued separately.
National Park against conservation area for householder rights
A conservation area and a National Park strip the same householder rights under the GPDO. The real difference is who decides and against which statutory duty.
Converting a pub to a house when the community objects
Every pub conversion needs permission. What local pub protection policies require, what an asset of community value listing really does, and how marketing evidence fails.
Reports for a new shopfront with security shutters
Shopfront applications turn on the shutter: solid or open, box inside or out. The document set, the drawing scales and the separate advertisement consent.
What transfers from a statement to an appeal statement of case
A supporting statement argues a proposal; a statement of case answers reasons for refusal. What carries over, what must be rebuilt, and what gets added.
Objecting to a rear dormer or roof extension
Check whether the dormer needs permission at all, then argue design, overlooking and roofscape against the council's own guide rather than on loss of view.
Why a negative bat survey still leads to conditions
A nil bat survey result lowers the risk without removing the legal protection. The conditions that follow, and how to read the ecologist's recommendations.
What the obscure glazing condition actually requires
The obscure glazing condition catches upper-floor side windows under Class A and any side window under Class B. Film and blinds do not satisfy it.
Planning permission for a flood-resilient riverside dwelling
Raised floor levels and flood doors do not rescue a riverside plot that fails the sequential test. What a Flood Zone 3 dwelling application has to prove, in order.
Reports for a veterinary practice in a house
There is no permitted development route from a dwelling to a veterinary surgery. Here is the document set councils expect, from animal noise character to clinical waste storage.
Planning permission for a community building on open space
A pavilion or hall on public open space must meet one limb of the national test. Usage records you already hold are often the strongest evidence available.
Reports for a farm shop and cafe on a holding
A farm shop stocked largely from wholesalers is a retail use needing permission. Sourcing evidence, rural access, drainage and café extraction decide the application.
Adopted open space standards and the quantity test
Open space requirements come from the authority's own assessment in three strands. The maintenance commuted sum is often larger than the capital cost of the space.
Larger rear extension refused at prior approval: next steps
Prior approval under the neighbour consultation scheme can only be refused on amenity impact to adjoining premises. That narrow remit shapes every option after a refusal.
Reports for glamping pods on a working farm
Foul drainage in an unserviced location and the wording of the occupancy condition decide most glamping applications, not the landscape argument owners expect.
Planning permission for a basement extension in London
Most London boroughs restrict basements to one storey, limit garden excavation and require a staged basement impact assessment covering groundwater and ground movement.
Using officer reports and committee minutes as evidence
An earlier officer report is evidence of an authority's method rather than precedent. Quote the reasoning, not the outcome, and mine the consultation summaries.
Structuring appendices around a drafted narrative
A bundle works when each claim in the narrative cites an appendix and paragraph. Fixed appendix letters, citations at the point of claim and a cross-reference table are what hold it together.
Demolition in a conservation area and your right to comment
Relevant demolition in a conservation area needs planning permission and is publicised. Whether the building makes a positive contribution is the question that decides it.
Bat emergence survey windows and a late appointment
Emergence and re-entry surveys can only be done while bats are using summer roosts. Appointing an ecologist in autumn usually means waiting until the following summer.
Permitted development after a house is split into flats
Converting a house to flats extinguishes Part 1 permitted development rights for the whole building. Part 2, 14 and 20 classes still offer routes.
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