Technical Documents and Planning Permission

At various stages throughout your development, you may be asked to supply landscape based technical documentation to your local planning office. This may either be in support of an application (i.e., not required, but it provides the council with valuable information to make an informed decision) or mandatory. Find out more about Technical Documents and Planning Permission here…

So, what is the best practice you can follow to ensure the council get exactly what they require from you?

Firstly, we would always recommend that you check with your planning officer exactly what it is that they require. Some technical documents can be similar in nature, but you will find that there are many small differences that mean that one type of report is suitable, whereas another isn’t. For example, a Stage 1 tree survey will just report on the health of the trees on site, whereas a Stage 2 tree survey will consider potential development issues. Both reports have different purposes at different stages throughout a project, so you will need to ensure that you are not wasting time and money on the wrong document.

Secondly, where possible please consider liaising with both your planning officer and your landscape architect at the same time, ensuring they receive correspondence from each other. Often documents may contain the required information, but this can be hard to find, or not as clear as the council require it. If the council can liaise directly with your landscape architect, then the information can be identified as early and easily as possible.

Being mindful of these two steps will help your planning application to proceed seamlessly, providing all the parties with the information they need. Every council is different, so please do ensure you are meeting your specific council’s requirements. If you have any questions about the reports that you need, feel free to contact us for further assistance!

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Does a WAC Test Mean My Site is Safe to Develop On?

WAC Testing only tests the soil for certain chemical levels as required by landfill companies. This determines whether the soil is safe to go to landfill and shows if it contains excessive levels of chemicals that will leach into the soil. Depending on the nature of your work, your local council or planning office may be happy to proceed with a WAC test, so please do liaise with them directly regarding your project.

Other planning offices may refer to Soil Guideline Values (SGVs). These are designed to assist professionals to assess the long-term risk to human health from low-level exposure to certain chemicals. The SGV values only cover certain specific substances which are known to cause risk to human health. The substances include:

Arsenic Toluene

Nickel Ethylbenzene

Mercury Xylene

Selenium PCBSs (Polychlorinated biphenyls)

Cadmium Phenol

Benzene

SGV values are different than the WAC values, so please do not presume that a successful WAC test will lead to your development progressing.

Contact Us To Find Out More About A WAC Test

ProHort would recommend liaising with your local planning team, to ensure that you are completing the correct soil analysis for the correct purposes. Two of our soil analysis packages offer an analytic report – if you let us know which values you would like us to analyse against, then your report can be tailored accordingly. Find out more about the soil analysis packages we offer by visiting our Soil Analysis page, or get in touch on 01782 479479 to speak to somebody.

Council ‘Snuck In After Dark’ To Remove Trees

Did you hear about how Doncaster Council ‘Snuck In After Dark’ To Remove Trees? These were located next to the pavement on either side of the street. As well as being aesthetically pleasing, the trees provided the residents with privacy from their neighbours and shade for their front gardens. The trees were removed ahead of pavement repairs as the trees’ roots had apparently affected the structural stability of the walkways.

There was strong local opposition as the council had failed to publish their findings and, in the residents’ eyes, the pavements were not consistently damaged enough to warrant the removal of all the trees.

The council have said they have only removed the trees to ensure the highway could be maintained in the safe condition.

How Can I Stop This Happening To Me?

While the above is an extreme case, there are many things you can do to ensure that the greenery on your street is retained:

If you suspect that roots may be causing damage to any of your own property, but you want to retain your greenery, we recommend getting a tree survey. The tree survey will outline estimated root growth areas – this will mean you can remove the tree or trees that you suspect are causing the damage and not feel the need to remove all the trees in your garden.

You may wish to apply to the council to gain a tree protection order on a tree. Each council’s process is slightly different, but you must be able to prove that your tree is an exemplar specimen and adds ecological value to the area. A tree survey may be able to help with this.

If you suspect that unwanted tree work could be planned for the greenery surrounding your property, we recommend checking your local council’s planning website. This should contain all planning applications that have been made to the council and their status. If you wish to raise an objection to any tree work, you can do so formally through this website and you can encourage others to do the same.

We are able to complete tree surveys and applications for tree protections orders, so if you want to ensure this doesn’t happen to you, call us on 01782 479 479.

What is a Landscape Strategy?

A landscape strategy is one of many technical documents that ProHort can produce to aid you throughout your planning application and subsequent development. It includes a detailed plan of the site, often specifying the hard and soft landscaping elements that will be included in the project. You may get multiple plans; typically one that covers the planting elements (and will identify where individual trees and plants are to be placed) and another that may highlight the areas of hard landscaping. The plans will also identify any existing features on the site that will be retained.

A clear landscape strategy will incorporate aspects of the property’s history and the surrounding area to ensure that your design seamlessly blends into the environment. You may also get additional details of the type, size and colour of the plants incorporated into the strategy, or specifications regarding compensating for any loss of biodiversity.

They can also be tailored to meet your requirements – if you have a particular plant, style of paving or additional touch that you would like incorporated then your landscape architect should be able to arrange this. Please be aware that a landscape strategy will exclude pricing of items, as it is purely a strategic document.

Please get in touch if you would like more information about our landscape strategy documents

Author: Emma Candlin