PlanScope Blog – Page 87
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 87
9489 articlesMatching brick and mortar conditions and how to discharge them
A matching materials condition is a second design decision, not paperwork. What the wording means, why mortar matters more than the brick, and how to discharge it.
Sunlight to gardens and the two hour criterion
The sun on ground test is a ground-level area calculation at the spring equinox, separate from window sunlight tests. What it covers, how trees are treated, and what to do when a courtyard cannot comply.
A garden plot subdivided for one house: the walkthrough
The principle of a single house on garden land is usually arguable. The access past the host dwelling, a protected tree, the separation distances and the biodiversity metric are what decide it.
Large scale purpose built shared living in London
Shared living is not C3, not C4 and not an HMO, so the permission's own wording defines it. The H16 criteria, the contribution mechanism, and what boroughs actually test on room and communal space quality.
Noise evidence where the only plant is a heat pump
An air source heat pump is assessed by a fixed desk calculation under permitted development and against measured background noise when permission is needed. Where the two tests diverge, and the siting decisions that matter most.
Hip to gable loft conversions and roof form objections
Class B names hip to gable work directly, so it can be permitted development. The volume allowance is what stops most schemes, and the design objection to losing a hipped pair is what decides the application that follows.
Part 6 agricultural permitted development on a large holding
On a holding of five hectares or more, Class A of Part 6 permits substantial agricultural buildings without a planning application. The ground area and height limits, the 400 metre livestock rule, and what reasonably necessary actually means.
Standby generators: noise, emissions and the permit line
One plant item, three regimes. How to assess a generator under BS 4142 for both test and emergency scenarios, where stack height matters, and when the plant needs an environmental permit as well as permission.
Energy statement baselines: Part L against policy targets
A Part L pass and a policy percentage improvement are different measurements and should never share a table. How each is built, why carbon factors changed the answers, and what the reconciliation paragraph needs to say.
Climate based daylight modelling against the BRE method
BRE 209 neighbour tests and BS EN 17037 illuminance modelling answer different questions. Which method to use where, the inputs a model needs, and how the results diverge by orientation and plan depth.
A twelve room care home extension: the walkthrough
Twelve bedrooms is a minor application on floorspace and a difficult one on evidence. An illustrative walkthrough of the parking profile, the garden argument, the daylight tests and the conditions imposed.
Student accommodation and nomination agreements in London
Policy H15 makes the nomination agreement central to a purpose-built student scheme in London. What the obligation has to cover, how the affordable element is capped, and the evidence boroughs expect on need.
Transport evidence for a farm shop on a rural A road
Farm shop highway objections turn on the right turn off a fast rural road, not on capacity. How to build trip generation evidence where TRICS coverage is thin, and what the access drawing has to demonstrate.
Front doors and fanlights in a conservation area
Door replacement is the permitted development right most often removed by an Article 4 direction in a conservation area. What officers look at, and how to evidence a case from the street rather than from your own door.
Porches under Class D and the two metre highway distance
Class D has three absolute limits and no prior approval route. How to measure the ground area externally, where the 2 metre highway line falls, and when a full application is the better option.
Real-time dust monitoring and trigger levels on site
There is no statutory dust deposition limit in England, so trigger levels have to be derived from a site baseline. How to specify monitoring, set alert and action levels, and report them so they stand up to a complaint.
Urban greening factor: calculating a score that passes
The urban greening factor is a weighted average across the whole red line area, not just the landscaped parts. Here is how the weightings work, where the score is won, and how to present a calculation an officer can check.
Daylight conditions and verifying as-built glazing
Permissions on dense residential sites often tie the development to the daylight assessment, including the glazing transmittance it assumed. Here is the evidence that discharges the condition and the substitutions that break it.
A beauty salon in a front room: the planning walkthrough
Four clients a day in a front room usually needs no permission. Add a non-resident therapist and evening hours and it does. An illustrative walkthrough of where the line sits and what the application contained.
What replaced the London Plan density matrix
The 2016 density matrix gave applicants a cell in a table to argue inside. Policy D3 replaced it with a design-led process, which means capacity now has to be evidenced through tested options and quality checks.
Appeal decisions as material considerations: weight and limits
Inspectors' decisions carry weight as evidence of approach rather than as rule. A practical method for finding comparable decisions, reading the operative findings and citing them without handing the authority its refusal reason.
The town centre vitality section of a retail impact assessment
The vitality and viability section carries most of the impact test. Here is what it must quantify, where the health check indicators come from, and how trade diversion figures are built so an authority can rely on them.
Opening up a rear wall: steel beams, planning and party walls
Planning controls what the new rear elevation looks like, building control signs off the beam, and the Party Wall etc. Act 1996 governs bearings in a shared wall. Three timetables, run in parallel.
Hot food takeaways and the 400 metre school distance
The London restriction on new hot food takeaways near schools is measured as a walking distance from school entrances and exits. What that catches, and the four arguments that get used.
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