PlanScope Blog – Page 69

Heads of terms for a planning obligation

Heads of terms are the schedule members vote on and the solicitors draft from. Here is what belongs in them, how to set triggers and indices, and which omissions hold up the deed after resolution.

Section 70A and declining a repeat application

Section 70A of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 lets a council decline to determine a similar application made within two years of a dismissed appeal or two refusals. Here are the conditions, the similarity test and what to change.

Project Type Guides7 min read

Permission for additional storeys under Part 20

Part 20 adds homes on top of existing buildings, but the prior approval matters reach as far as external appearance and natural light. The limits, the information required and when a full application is better.

Which Reports Do I Need6 min read

Reports for a crematorium and memorial garden

Two regimes run together: planning permission and an environmental permit that sets the stack height. The statutory siting distances, the traffic peaks around service times and the landscape case.

Glossary6 min read

The enforcement warning notice and how to respond

The notice is an invitation to apply, not something to comply with, and it records the authority view that permission would probably be granted. How to use that.

Checklist for a householder planning appeal

Twelve weeks from the decision notice, and nothing can be added once the appeal is in. How to choose between appealing and using the free resubmission, and what belongs in the grounds.

Costs, Fees and Budgeting7 min read

Budgeting a scheme that needs a habitats regulations assessment

The assessment is the council's duty and the applicant's cost. Why mitigation cannot be counted at screening, what secures it for the lifetime of the development, and how to programme the obligation.

Which Reports Do I Need7 min read

Reports for a change of use to a place of worship

Class F.1 covers public worship, and most refusals turn on peak attendance parking rather than principle. The surveys, the management plan and the policy protecting the previous use.

Glossary6 min read

Revocation or modification of a planning permission

Implementation defeats revocation, and compensation for depreciation in land value is why authorities rarely make these orders. The confirmation procedure, the objection route and the sequence to follow.

Professionals and Qualifications7 min read

Who can act as agent on a planning application

Planning consultant is not a protected title, so anyone can submit your application. What the agent takes on, why ownership certificates carry criminal liability, and what to ask before instructing.

Checklist for a non-material amendment submission

Section 96A is fast because its gateway is narrow. The five questions that decide materiality, the drawing comparison schedule that persuades, and the conditions the route cannot touch.

Costs, Fees and Budgeting7 min read

Who pays when a consultee asks for more work

Consultee requests arrive after validation because validation never tested adequacy. The scoping agreement and the additional services clause decide who pays, and a condition is often the better answer.

Which Reports Do I Need7 min read

Documents for a householder annexe in the garden

Living accommodation is never incidental, so Class E cannot deliver a self-contained annexe. The characterisation question, the drainage and tree evidence, and the condition the council will attach.

Report Deep Dives7 min read

The sensitivity and magnitude matrix in an LVIA

GLVIA3 supplies a method, not a matrix. How value and susceptibility combine, what magnitude actually contains, and how to report year 1 and year 15 residual effects defensibly.

Tree replacement notice after unlawful removal

The duty to replace a protected tree runs with the land and applies even where felling was exempt. How the notice works, the 28 day appeal window, and the records that prevent the dispute.

Professionals and Qualifications7 min read

Outdated technical reports and the CPD behind them

Three Framework editions in under three years broke the citations in a lot of reports. The tells that a report is working from old guidance, and how to specify currency in the appointment.

Site photographic record: what to capture and label

An hour on site with a numbered location plan settles arguments for years. The street views, the boundary and levels shots, the naming convention and an illustrative schedule for a conversion.

Costs, Fees and Budgeting7 min read

Discharging an archaeological condition in phases

An archaeological condition has three limbs and each is a separate discharge. How to secure phased approval, what the curator charges for, and where the post-excavation tail hides.

Which Reports Do I Need7 min read

Planning documents for an HMO conversion from a house

Class L permits the change from a house to a small shared house, so everything turns on whether an Article 4 direction applies. The concentration test, room size standards, parking stress evidence and the plans an officer expects.

Report Deep Dives7 min read

The ground gas assessment section of a Phase 2 report

Monitoring in settled weather, flow readings at the resolution limit and a characteristic situation with no source behind it are the three failures reviewers see most. What a defensible ground gas section contains.

Vacant building credit and affordable housing contributions

Where the credit applies, affordable housing is calculated on the uplift rather than the whole scheme. What counts as vacant, what counts as abandoned, and why a long vacancy can cost you the levy offset.

Professionals and Qualifications7 min read

Telecommunications declarations and who signs them

The ICNIRP declaration is an operator liability, not a consultant opinion. What it certifies, the radio frequency competence behind it, and why shared masts need a cumulative assessment.

Report Deep Dives7 min read

The background sound survey in a Noise Impact Assessment

The LA90 background sets everything else in a BS 4142 rating. Measurement positions, representative periods, calibration records and the uncertainty a reviewer will look for.

Curtilage coverage for a garden outbuilding: worked example

The original dwellinghouse comes out of both sides of the sum and every later extension counts against you. A step by step coverage calculation for a garden outbuilding, with the figures set out.