help needed discharging conditions

[Adamantium]

Hi all,

 

I need to discharge some conditions in order to get a commencement notice, otherwise there's a chance my site investigation to check the soil will trigger a CIL charge. The council cannot guarantee me that it won't so I'm rushing to discharge the conditions.

 

First off I need a method statement for construction of the development - I assume the architect can sort this, but if there's a standard document, that would help.

 

Next, I assume I need some experts but am struggling to find the right people for the following:

 

NO DEVELOPMENT SHALL TAKE PLACE BEFORE a Drainage Impact Study, a surface water drainage scheme for the site (based on sustainable drainage principles SuDS) and an assessment of the hydrological and hydro geological context of the development, has been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. The surface water scheme shall be implemented before the first occupation and/or use of the development and be constructed in accordance with the approved details.

 

NO DEVELOPMENT SHALL TAKE PLACE BEFORE a scheme for the on-site storage and regulated discharge of surface water run-off has been submitted to, and approved in writing by, the Local Planning Authority. The development shall be carried out in accordance with the approved scheme.

 

Can anyone help/recommend?

 

 

[PeterW]

Hmmm ... so to discharge the first one you need to dig some holes ..!!

 

I would basically state that you are required to undertake limited ground excavation works to comply with the conditions and that unless told otherwise this is not classed as commencing developement. If they don't agree, write to the council solicitor stating they have assigned impossible conditions and ask for them to be removed. 

[Jeremy Harris]

You might well get away with a desk study, rather than actually doing a percolation test, as the drainage requirements (SuDS) are a building control, not planning matter.  Perhaps just a statement that the drainage will comply with SuDS requirements and will be certified as such by building control would cover it?

 

We had a similar condition and that's all I did.  Frankly it's a bit daft for planners to try and impose conditions that are covered by building regulations, anyway, they are just duplicating things, not actually changing how things will be done.  It's the sort of condition that might be imposed on a big development, that may well change the local hydrology, because of new access roads, etc, but is plain daft for a single self-build.

[Ferdinand]

@Adamantium I think that those different drainage studies may be addressable by a single ologist, potentially in a single report or series of reports, and that you should get that ologist to recommend the sequence, such that one might demonstrate that you do not need to do the rest. Similarly, nature, trees, bats, and ecology etc may be addressable by a single person.

 

Or as @JSHarris says, sidestep the whole caboodle.

 

If you are going to need a football or rugby team of consultants, then imo on a scheme such as yours it is a good test of your architect's suitability for managing the whole thing that he can come up with suitable recommendations. However, I seem to recall that your architect is one to whom you are particularly attached, in which case you may need a Planning Consultant type to help you find the right other consultants. 

 

Elsewhere I think I suggested building a relationship with a local experienced MRICS, who may be the person to turn to.

 

When we did an Outline PP on our (housing estate) site with the intention of selling to a big developer we used Mott McDonald for our drainage survey and design  on the advice of our lead PM / Planning Consultant. They were not cheap but were good.

 

I agree that there is an issue that the Plannign Conditions seem mutually contradictory. See the 6 tests:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-of-planning-conditions#Application-of-the-six-tests

 

Ferdinand

Edited June 27, 2017 by Ferdinand