Street Furniture – rundown of 20 leading UK companies
When I am on holiday I like wandering around the streets and looking at the landscaping of public spaces. We have recently (2025) been to London and Madrid and both…
Site Development – Trade by Trade Sequence
Again I wanted to have a baseline overview of the stages of a larger housing development - again a non-residential development would follow a similar route. This will dovetail with…
Procedural Overview of Permission Administration for site through to Completion (UK Planning authority focus)
Much like an order of trades for actually building out houses on a housing site there is an order of adminstration that needs to be managed when site construction really…
Scotland – Amended Application Fees Monday 09 June 2025
The Town and Country Planning (Fees for Applications) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2025 These come into force on Monday 09 June 2025 Planning Application Fees - Detailed Post - This is…
Site Visits – Route Planner Tool
A simple tool to assist with Route Planning I've had problems before where I am trying to get to a number of different sites and I want to easily have…
Postgres 4 Planners : QGIS optimisation – SAVE database connection
Example here QGIS v3.40 Bratislava Opening projects in QGIS can result in multiple and continual requests to authenticate every database connected to a project. This gets old quickly. You will…
OS Open Network – Shortest Route Measurement
It is February 2019 and I had written about using pgrouting to display the shortest distance between 2 points on a network using Postgres and the Ordnance Survey Network on…
Prior Notification and Prior Approval
1. Prior Notification What it is: A simpler process where the developer notifies the local planning authority (LPA) of their intention to carry out certain types of permitted development. Purpose:…
Scottish Government publishes new Guidance on Housing Land Audit
Importance of the Audit The Housing Land Audit is an annual count of future housing coming forward and a record of historical completions on former site. It is a principle…
Postgres 4 Planners : Housing Land Audit Automation
Simple Question : Using automation can we get an idea of completions on Scotlands Housing Land Supply sites only from open source data? Here I use the Ordnance Survey's Open…
Postgres 4 Planners : CSV Import Tool
Requirements - psql tooling installed locally link It continues to be outrageously easy to use AI to help create tools that assist in daily tasks. Here I create a simple…
Plan App Representations – Window for Comments
After submission of a planning application householder and larger applications neighbours and interested parties have the right to comment in support, objecting to or neutrally on an application. What is…
Postgres 4 Planners : SHP File Command Import Tool
Requirements : psql tooling installed locally link Identify the shape file you are wanting to import move it to a c:\shp\ directory and then using your known server parameters run…
Duration of Planning Permission (Scotland)
Time limits on existing planning permissions - General Rule 3 years Section 58(1) of the Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997, as amended 1st October 2022, provides that grant…
Geoserver WFS Creator 2.0.0 Tool
Its possible to limit the number of layers that are brought back from a capabilities request to a Geoserver. I have not been able to limit to an individual layer…
Residential Annexes and Ancillary Accommodation – Permitted development
The Peak District published a comprehensive policy document on the complexity of determining what is ancillary and what is not. Link below Peak District - Residential Annexes - Supplementary Planning…
Postgres 4 Planners: Dump and Restore Tool
Single Database (using command line tools & custom format *.dump) MY PREFERRED METHOD (Databases or Tables- here from Windows client) Overview (click to go straight to STEP) STEP 1 : Preparation…
Curtilage – a definition
One of the most common planning applications councils receive is for development within the grounds of a property. In order to be considered as a householder planning application those structures…
Overview Planning Application Preparation Flow Chart (Local/Major) – UK / Scotland
Prior to even submitting a planning application a significant amount of information needs to be collected. Time and money needs to be budgeted for this process. I have attempted to…
Map of National Developments Scotland NPPF4
The NPPF4 contains two maps identifying the National developments in Scotland - I talk a bit about hierarchy of development link here and how these developments fit into development within…
Building Control (Scotland) – Link with further reading
This blog focuses on Town Planning but anyone actually wanting to complete a development of any kind must take into consideration Building Warrants in the development process In parallel to…
News Jan 2025 : Environmental assessment system to be replaced amid development drive (England and Wales)
"Developers have to consult too many organisations on too wide a range of issue, the Treasury said." Quote from the Independent on Sunday 26 January 2025 full article link below;…
News Jan 2025 Scot Government – New Housing Land Audit Guidance
The Scottish Government has published revised guidance on Housing Land Audit Preparation 20th January 2025 This is worth reading if you are involved in planning in Scotland either in a…
National /Major / Local Definition – Hierarchy of Development
The process by which a development gets planning permission is influenced by its class of development - National, Major or Local. That classification is defined through legislation. The Town and…
Scottish Govt – Development Types .. Planning Performance Data
The Scottish Government requests that all planning authorities within their jurisdiction classify applications according to a particular development type which they defined in correspondence to Local authorities. Planning Performance Statistics…
OpenStreetMap : Participation is easy
I have been a contributor to the Open Street Map dataset on a very minor level for about 8 years now and I would recomend it to anyone doing research…
Overpass Turbo : Churches and Cathedrals
If you haven't used it before Overpass Turbo is a website that allows the user to interrogate the global OpenStreetMap database. This is excellent for identifying at scale building types…
Overpass Turbo : Schools
Following on the theme of using Openstreet map to identify spatial context of building here's the syntax to identify schools within a bounding box defined as your selected field of…
Town Planning and Refuse Disposal
In our development and with regard to planning I know that City of Edinburgh carefully consider refuse disposal in housing site design. Waste disposal areas are easily accessible to residents…
Town Planning and Pedestrian Access
Internationally recognized examples of good practice in urban design and pedestrian access. Here are some notable examples : (Researched using ChatGPT) 1. Copenhagen, Denmark Focus on Active Transportation: Copenhagen is…