PlanScope Blog – Page 83
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 83
9496 articlesWhat Class E covers and the changes it allows
Movement between the sub-classes of Class E is not development, so no permission is needed. Here is what each limb covers, what sits outside the class, and the conditions that remove the flexibility.
Who is qualified to apply the BRE daylight guidance
Daylight and sunlight assessment has no statutory competence requirement, so the test is experience and method. Here is how to judge an assessor, review a report and tell planning daylight from rights of light.
Play noise from schools and nurseries in an application
BS 4142 excludes sound from people and recreational activities, so a nursery or school application needs a different approach. Here is how to assess play noise and which controls councils accept.
Checking the Housing Delivery Test result for an area
The Housing Delivery Test measurement is published annually for every English authority, and the consequences for decision taking follow from which band it falls into. Here is how to find it and use it properly.
Does existing floorspace count towards the threshold
Major development status turns on the floorspace a scheme creates, while the Community Infrastructure Levy turns on net additional floorspace. Here is how the same building is counted on both bases.
BS 4142 or BS 8233: which noise standard applies
BS 4142 assesses industrial and commercial sound affecting existing dwellings. BS 8233 sets internal ambient targets for the building you are creating. Here is which one a council asks for, and when both apply.
Air quality damage cost contributions explained
An air quality contribution is emissions multiplied by a published cost per tonne multiplied by a number of years. Here is how the figure is built, what cuts it, and the tests it has to satisfy.
Appealing a refused telecommunications prior approval
A refusal of prior approval for a mast can only rest on siting and appearance. Here is what the appeal has to prove, how the 56-day determination period works, and which refusal reasons fall outside the permitted scope.
Equalities evidence for altering a community building
The public sector equality duty applies to the planning decision on a community building. Here is the access, use and consultation evidence that lets a case officer show it was discharged.
Appealing a travel plan condition before occupation
Most travel plan conditions are wrong in scope rather than in timing. Here is how the six conditions tests apply, why a condition cannot require a monitoring fee, and whether to use section 73 or a section 78 appeal.
Waste strategy for a block with no street frontage
On a back-land flatted scheme the collection authority's carry distances dictate the ground floor plan. Here is how to sequence the vehicle position, the store and the resident route, and what to submit.
Clearing vegetation outside the breeding bird season
The Wildlife and Countryside Act protects a nest while it is in use, whatever the date, so the March to August season manages risk rather than removing it. Here is the check regime, the clearance method and the conditions to expect.
Curtilage and why it limits outbuilding rights
Permitted development for outbuildings applies within the curtilage of the dwellinghouse, and caps coverage at 50 per cent of it. Here is what curtilage means, why it differs from the title, and how to evidence it.
Who signs a viability assessment and on what basis
A viability assessment is signed by a practitioner working to the RICS professional statement, which requires objectivity even when one party is paying. Here is what that means for the inputs, the reviewer and publication.
Odour and noise from waste facilities at planning stage
National waste planning policy tells authorities not to duplicate pollution control. Here is where the planning line falls, which odour and noise sources matter, and the conditions that work without duplicating the permit.
Daylight to a school, nursery or hospital next door
The daylight tests apply where the affected neighbour is a school, nursery or health facility, with different rooms in scope and the sun-on-ground test extended to play space. Here is how to scope and report it.
Using the statutory biodiversity metric data sources
The statutory metric runs on four inputs, and each has a data source behind it. Here is which datasets support a baseline, where inventory data misleads, and the seven things an authority's ecologist checks first.
Phasing a scheme to stay below a threshold
Some thresholds are assessed on the application and some on the project as a whole. Here is where phasing is legitimate, where project splitting makes a permission vulnerable, and how the levy treats a phased permission.
Energy Statement or a Part L compliance report
Both documents come out of the same modelling software and serve different regimes. Here is what a planning energy statement must demonstrate, why SAP outputs are not predictions, and how to avoid contradicting yourself.
Costing a noise survey and assessment
Survey duration, night-time attendance and repeat visits dominate the cost of a BS 4142 assessment. Here is how the fee breaks down, what quotes usually leave out, and how to scope it with environmental health.
Refusal for a missing bat survey and the season problem
Where a building has roost potential and no survey, the authority cannot engage with the licensing derogation tests and usually refuses. Here is why a condition rarely helps, and how the survey season shapes your options afterwards.
Health evidence for a takeaway near a school
A hot food takeaway inside a school exclusion zone usually faces a policy presumption against it. The three points that decide these applications are the measurement, the opening hours offered and whether the policy applies to your unit.
Bat emergence survey season and how to plan around it
Emergence surveys depend on bats leaving a roost, which limits them to May to September. Here is what can be done in winter, how survey effort scales with roost suitability, and how to work a submission date backwards.
Article 3(5) and when permitted development is lost
Article 3 of the GPDO 2015 grants permitted development and then takes it away in defined circumstances, including where the building or use relied on is unlawful. Here is how to check the position and confirm it formally.
Not sure which documents your council will ask for?
Enter your postcode and PlanScope recommends the right reports for your project, then drafts them in minutes.
Enter your postcode on PlanScope