PlanScope Blog – Page 57
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 57
9543 articlesRear extension depth: the 3 and 4 metre lines
Class A allows a single-storey rear extension of 3 metres on an attached house and 4 metres on a detached one, with deeper extensions only through the prior approval procedure.
Pedestrian audits and crossing provision evidence
An audit that produces a located, priced schedule of defects and remedies is evidence. A page of photographs is not. How to choose routes, score them and link findings to mitigation.
Surface water sewer capacity and the undertaker's position
The right to connect under section 106 of the Water Industry Act 1991 survives, subject to limited refusal grounds. Why the capacity enquiry has to come before the layout is fixed.
External wall insulation on a terraced elevation
On designated land, render and cladding fall outside Class A entirely. Elsewhere the similar appearance condition decides it, and on a terrace the party wall junction, eaves and reveals decide the design.
Certificate of lawfulness for a proposed use or operation
Section 192 asks whether a proposed use or operation would be lawful, not whether it would be acceptable. The authority has no discretion to refuse on the merits, and the onus of proof is on the applicant.
Council housing land supply positions and where to find them
The authority's supply statement, its monitoring report and the latest appeal decision rarely agree. Where to find each, what the delivery test thresholds do, and the five lines of attack on a site schedule.
Basement impact assessment: the three strands councils want
A basement impact assessment is a framework, not a document. Three strands, three stages, an independent audit, and the strand applicants usually underestimate.
Obtrusive light at residential windows and the limits used
Obtrusive light limits vary by environmental zone and by curfew period, and the zone assignment is a judgement the whole assessment depends on. The metrics, the figures, and how to make verification work.
Whole life carbon: modules A to C and what gets reported
Whole life carbon is modules A plus B plus C, with D reported separately and never netted off. What each module covers, which assumptions drive the result, and how to present it so a reviewer can check it.
Delivery and servicing hours conditions on noise grounds
Delivery noise is short, loud events that a BS 4142 rating level dilutes, which is why authorities restrict hours instead. How to assess the events, mitigate them and negotiate the hours.
Overhanging branches and encroaching roots
The common law right of abatement lets you cut back to the boundary line without notice, but not beyond it, not onto the neighbour's land, and not where a Tree Preservation Order applies.
Bus service contributions and the pump priming period
Revenue support for a bus service is the hardest planning obligation to justify. The three calculation methods, the drafting that makes the obligation work, and the honest position after year five.
Floodplain compensation: level for level volume calculations
Compensatory storage has to be replaced within the same elevation band it was lost from, not just in the same total volume. The calculation method, the siting rules and the drawings that get it approved.
Why loft conversions in a flat need permission
Article 2(1) of the GPDO excludes flats from the definition of a dwellinghouse, so Part 1 gives a top-floor flat no rights, not even a rooflight. Internal work is a different question, and the lease is usually the harder one.
Stop notice and the compensation risk it carries
Section 183 allows a stop notice only where an enforcement notice has been issued. Section 186 then pays compensation if that notice is quashed on any ground other than the planning merits.
Tree Preservation Order registers and how to check them
Checking a TPO needs the order and its sealed map, not just the council's GIS layer. Individual, group, woodland and area classifications each behave differently, and the exemptions are riskier than they read.
Measuring height for the 18 metre fire statement threshold
Height for a fire statement is measured from the lowest adjacent ground level to the floor surface of the top storey, excluding roof-top plant. The storey count is a separate test and either one triggers the requirement.
Privacy and overlooking: where the distance rules came from
The 21 metre back-to-back figure is a local design convention with imperial origins, not a national standard. How authorities apply it, and the three arguments that win a reduced distance.
Communal heat networks and what planning policy requires
National policy says little about site heat networks; the requirement comes from local plans and, in London, policy SI 3. What evidence persuades, how zoning changes the safeguarding argument, and which conditions work.
Part O overheating against closed-window noise mitigation
Approved Document O rules out open windows above 40 dB LAeq at night, while acoustic conditions usually cite BS 8233's 30 dB. That 10 dB gap is where most urban infill sits, and it has to be resolved before submission.
Trees in a listed building curtilage: what protects them
Section 1(5) of the Listed Buildings Act extends listing to structures in the curtilage, not to trees. What does control the work is a TPO, conservation area notice, a planning condition or a felling licence.
Traffic regulation orders funded by a developer
Only the traffic authority can make a traffic regulation order, and it must consider objections before deciding. How to secure one through a planning obligation without taking on a risk you cannot manage.
Property flood resilience works and planning permission
Internal resilience works fall outside the definition of development, and demountable barriers are not building operations. Listed buildings, conservation areas and raised external levels are the exceptions.
Converting a house into two flats: amenity and storage
Section 55(3)(a) makes subdivision a material change of use, so there is no permitted development route. What decides these applications is room sizes, outdoor amenity space, bin store design and cycle parking.
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