PlanScope Blog – Page 61
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 61
9536 articlesHousing design standards: space, aspect and dual aspect
London residential schemes are tested against the national space standard, a tighter ceiling height, a dual aspect expectation and limits on units per core. Those four together decide whether a layout works.
Crematoria and burial grounds: use class and consents
Neither a crematorium nor a burial ground falls within any use class, so both need planning permission. A crematorium also carries statutory separation distances and an emissions permit, and a burial ground needs a groundwater risk assessment.
What changes at one thousand square metres
One thousand square metres is the floorspace route into major development for non-residential schemes. It changes the determination period, the publicity, the fee basis and the policy tests that apply.
Planning a pharmacy alongside a medical practice
Retail and health services both sit inside Class E, so a pharmacy opening in a shop unit or alongside a surgery usually needs no change of use permission. The consents that do bite are parking, hours, extraction and signage.
Fire safety and policy D12 in a London application
Policy D12 of the London Plan asks every development to meet the highest standards of fire safety and asks major schemes for a statement from a suitably qualified independent assessor. It overlaps with Planning Gateway One without replacing it.
What changes in transport evidence at 50 dwellings
Around fifty dwellings, or 2,500 square metres of floorspace, most highway authorities move from wanting a Transport Statement to wanting a full Transport Assessment. The thresholds are local, and the consequences for programme are not small.
Repairs, like for like and when consent is still needed
Repair work to a listed building needs consent whenever it affects the building's special character. Like for like is a useful idea and not a legal exemption, so the safest route is a conversation before the scaffold goes up.
Choosing a flow control device for a small development
On a small site the permitted discharge rate is often so low that the physical outlet becomes the problem. Here is how vortex devices, orifice plates and weirs differ, and what head you need for each to work.
Interim protection while a designation is being made
An immediate Article 4 direction, a provisional tree preservation order and a building preservation notice all take effect before any confirmation. Other designations carry nothing until they are made. Knowing which is which changes your programme.
Sports and social clubs: Class F2 or sui generis?
A sports and social club can sit in Class F2 as a local community facility, or outside the use classes entirely if the bar becomes the main event. The distinction decides what you can change without permission.
What changes at one hectare
One hectare is the site area at which a flood risk assessment is expected even where the site sits wholly in Flood Zone 1. It also moves non-residential schemes into major development and brings the lead local flood authority into the process.
Checking coal mining and former mineral workings
A free online check tells you whether your site falls in a coal mining development high risk area. What follows is a risk assessment, often intrusive drilling, and a permit before anyone touches the coal.
Change of use to a light industrial unit near homes
Light industry sits inside Class E only where the process could be carried out in a residential area without detriment to amenity. That wording, not the machinery, decides whether your unit needs permission.
Water consumption targets and how to reach 105 litres
The 105 litre target in London is delivered through the optional requirement in Part G of the Building Regulations, imposed by planning condition. Here is how the calculator works and which fittings actually get you there.
Visibility splays and stopping sight distance
A new access stands or falls on the visibility splay. Here is how the x and y distances are set, why measured speeds matter more than the speed limit, and what to do when the splay crosses land you do not own.
Listed building enforcement and the absence of immunity
There is no four year or ten year rule for listed buildings. Unauthorised works remain enforceable without limit, the offence is criminal, and a purchaser can inherit the obligation to put the building back.
Which rainfall dataset the drainage model should use
The rainfall input changes a drainage answer more than the model does. Here is how the older and newer national rainfall datasets differ, how to agree one with the lead local flood authority and what a reviewer checks first.
A site adjoining a designation in the next authority
Where a designation sits in the neighbouring authority's area, your application is still decided under your own council's development plan. The effects on the designation are material all the same, and the evidence has to satisfy two readers.
Film and television studios and the use class question
Film and television production is not named in the Use Classes Order, so a studio consent turns on how the primary use is described and how the planning unit is drawn. Sound stages, set workshops and production offices can each fall differently.
What changes at half a hectare
Half a hectare is the site area at which a residential scheme becomes major development when the number of dwellings is not yet known. That single definition changes the determination period, the publicity, the drainage regime and the fee basis.
Using the trip rate database for a small scheme
Trip rate data decides whether a small scheme needs junction modelling or a one-page statement. Here is how to select comparable survey sites, size the sample and present the rates so a highway officer can verify them.
Change of use to an amusement arcade or betting shop
Amusement arcades and betting offices sit outside every use class, so a change of use always needs planning permission. The decision usually turns on frontage policy, clustering and noise rather than on the gambling itself.
Industrial land: policy E7 and no net loss of capacity
London industrial land policy starts from retention, not release. Here is how the capacity test works, what intensification and co-location mean in practice, and the evidence a borough will expect before it accepts any loss.
Drainage for a single plot: what is proportionate
Major development drainage standards get applied to single plots far too often. Here is what one new house has to show, and when that changes.
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