PlanScope Blog – Page 98
Practical guides to UK planning applications: which reports your council expects, permitted development, constraints, costs and how to prepare each document.
Articles – page 98
9470 articlesReverting to a previous use after a permitted change
Part 3 grants a right to change use. It does not generally grant a right to change back. Ask the question before you implement the change, not after the tenant leaves.
EIA competent experts and who coordinates the statement
Regulation 18 puts the duty on the applicant: competent experts, with their expertise set out. Competence has to be demonstrated on the face of the submission.
Transport statement outline for a change of use
A change of use transport statement is an argument about a difference. Establish the lawful existing use, the proposed use, subtract, then deal with the consequences.
Phasing consultant spend across a planning programme
Money is rarely wasted on the wrong consultants. It is wasted on the right consultants appointed in the wrong order, so that bad news arrives after the design is paid for.
A new vehicular access across a public right of way
A right of way across your plot survives the grant of planning permission. Either design a lawful crossing or obtain an order, and programme the groundworks around confirmation.
Mezzanine in a warehouse: which planning documents apply
Most warehouse mezzanines are internal works and need no permission. The exceptions are retail buildings over a statutory threshold, hidden changes of use and restrictive conditions.
Fire appliance access on a cul-de-sac housing layout
Fire access is decided by the road layout, long before building control consults the fire service. On a cul-de-sac the turning head and the hose run are where schemes fail.
Average daylight factor and target illuminance compared
One method measures a percentage of overcast sky light with no regard to orientation. The other simulates real lux across a real year. A scheme can pass one and fail the other.
Reservoir inundation mapping in planning decisions
A site can be in Flood Zone 1 and in a reservoir inundation area at the same time. The sequential test does not apply, but the residual risk still has to be addressed.
Development beside the railway and what the operator asks
Planning permission does not give you the right to work near a railway. Fencing, drainage, piling and oversail are settled by the infrastructure owner, and that process runs on its own timetable.
Curtilage of a listed building and the rights you lose
If your house is listed, the garden wall and the old coach house may be listed too. The 1948 test decides it, and unauthorised works are a criminal offence with no immunity period.
Transport planners: database access and signed outputs
Trip rate disputes are rarely about arithmetic. They are about which surveyed sites were selected and whether the officer can rerun the query. That is why database access matters.
A viability appraisal input schedule a reviewer can test
Viability arguments are almost never about the arithmetic. They are about fifteen inputs, their evidence and their base dates. Set those out separately and the negotiation gets shorter.
Appraising a site before you pay for any planning reports
Most sites that fail do so because of something visible on a free public map. Here is the order to check them in, and the findings that should stop a purchase outright.
Dog grooming from home: when planning permission applies
A grooming table in a utility room rarely needs permission. A converted garage with three dryers and fifteen bookings a day usually does. The line is the material change of use test.
Car park redevelopment documents for a housing scheme
Redeveloping an operational car park for homes turns on two risks: the parking you are removing and the contamination the tarmac has been hiding. Here is how to scope the evidence.
Monitoring and maintenance liabilities after consent
A permission can create obligations running five years on travel plans, thirty on biodiversity and indefinitely on common areas. They carry fees, and they survive the sale of the site.
A rural estate biomass boiler house and fuel store
The plant is rarely the problem. The chimney height set by dispersion, and the heat main trench through parkland trees and buried archaeology, are what these applications turn on.
Document bundle for an electric vehicle charging hub
A charging hub is a small building operation with a large electrical installation, and the installation shapes the application: connection evidence, substation space, lighting and transformer noise.
Documents for a telecoms mast under Part 16
The Order requires only a description, a location plan and the fee. Everything else you submit exists to make the chosen position and design defensible on siting and appearance.
Depth and velocity hazard and safe access routes
Depth alone says little about safety. The hazard rating combines depth, velocity and debris, and it is what decides whether an access route out of a development is acceptable.
Major accident hazard pipelines and consultation distances
A major accident hazard pipeline brings consultation zones, an operator easement and restrictions on building, excavating and planting. Design around it before the layout is fixed.
Part 16 telecoms apparatus and the prior approval route
Under Part 16 the permission comes from the Order, so the council can only consider siting and appearance. Objections about health or need cannot be acted on, however many arrive.
Archaeological contractors and the county archaeologist
Your contractor writes the written scheme of investigation; the council's archaeological adviser approves it. Keeping those two roles apart is what keeps archaeology off the critical path.
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