PlanScope Blog – Page 97
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 97
9472 articlesA demolition and material reuse checklist before works
Demolition is usually permitted development, but only after prior approval of the method and restoration. Then record the building and audit the materials, in that order.
Ground movement assessment and the party wall interface
Planning permission does not give you a right to underpin a neighbour's wall. The movement assessment and the party wall award answer different questions, and you need both.
Overlooking distances and back to back separation
Separation distances are local conventions, not national policy. The 21m figure is a starting point, and a scheme that misses it can still succeed on a drawn privacy case.
Breach and overtopping scenarios behind a defence
Flood zones ignore defences, so a defended site needs breach and overtopping scenarios. The outputs that matter are depth, velocity, hazard and the time before water arrives.
Natural cavities, gypsum and chalk mine instability
Unlike coalfield areas, chalk mines and dissolution features have no statutory referral body. Nobody tells you the risk is there, so the desk study has to find it.
Ecological clerk of works: when a site needs one
The ecological clerk of works implements the mitigation somebody else designed. The role only works if the authority to stop an operation is written into the contract.
A scoping checklist for an air quality assessment
Most schemes need a construction dust assessment and no dispersion model. Screen the two phases separately and agree the scope with environmental health first.
The hydrogeology section of a basement impact assessment
Basement hydrogeology sections fail on monitoring duration more than on technique. Here is what to establish, how long to monitor and what auditors look for.
Overshadowing a neighbouring garden: the assessment
An overshadowing study is a shadow model run against the sun path. The test that counts is whether half the garden still gets two hours of sun on 21 March.
Rainfall data sets and which one to design with
The rainfall model behind a drainage calculation changes the storage volume, especially for short rare storms. Record which data set you used and where it came from.
Historic landfill and the 250 metre gas buffer
The 250m landfill screening distance is a prompt to build a conceptual site model, not a boundary. The programme risk is the monitoring, which can run for months.
Structural engineers for basement and retrofit work
Chartered status is the easy check. The gap that causes trouble on domestic basements is who designs the temporary works, and it is rarely explained to the homeowner.
Contents checklist for a noise impact assessment
A planning noise report answers two different questions, one under BS 4142 and one under the residential guidance. Here is what each section has to contain.
Fire statement for a change of use rather than new build
Article 9A ties the fire statement duty to the finished building, so a tall office to residential conversion engages Planning Gateway One. The hard part is proving what the existing construction is.
Two hours of sunlight on 21 March for amenity areas
BRE 209 asks whether half of an amenity area gets two hours of sun on 21 March, with a secondary check against 0.8 times the former sunlit area. Here is how to apply both.
Oil separators and car park drainage design
Separators only remove free oil and they need maintaining. For most car parks the right answer is a treatment train, with the separator reserved for high hazard surfaces.
Radon affected areas and the protective measures
Radon is a Building Regulations matter rather than a planning one. The probability band for your plot decides whether you need a sealed membrane, or a membrane plus a sump.
Permitted development rights after a Class Q conversion
A barn converted under Class Q is a dwelling without householder permitted development rights. Extensions, sheds and hard surfacing all need permission, so plan the whole site at prior approval stage.
Lighting designers and the obtrusive light guidance
Councils judge a lighting report by whether the author can demonstrate the scheme against the obtrusive light guidance for the right environmental zone. Here is how to pick and brief that person.
A pre-start condition tracker for a small site
Pre-commencement conditions can leave a permission unimplemented if work starts too early. Here is how to sort the decision notice, build a tracker and plan the lead times.
Checklist for a parking survey to the accepted method
Parking surveys are rejected on procedure, not findings. One night instead of two, a count in half term, or a capacity figure with no stated method will do it.
A cricket or sports pavilion on a village green
Planning permission is the easier of the two consents. Section 38 of the Commons Act 2006 prohibits works on a registered green, and starting without it is an offence.
Evacuation lifts and what planning can actually secure
An evacuation lift changes the core, the floor plate and the unit mix, so it is a planning-stage decision. What a condition can secure is narrower than applicants assume.
The 25 degree rule and when councils apply it
The 25 degree line is a screening test that avoids unnecessary calculation. Pass it and the daylight question is usually closed. Fail it and the real tests begin.
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