Planning
Permitted development converts buildings faster than it improves them
Removing the need for permission speeds up conversion and removes the stage at which daylight, space and amenity were checked.
Planning
Zoning, permits, density and the paperwork that decides a skyline.
21 articles · updated August 11, 2026 · page 2 of 2
Planning
Parking minimums are a housing rule wearing a traffic uniform
Requiring a set number of spaces per dwelling looks like transport policy. Its main effects land on what gets built and what it…
Planning
An affordable housing obligation is a negotiation, not a number
A policy percentage is the opening position. What gets delivered depends on a viability argument conducted mostly in private.
Planning
A masterplan ages faster than the land it covers
Large sites are planned once and built over decades. Almost everything assumed at the start will change before the last phase.
Planning
Appeals set planning rules more reliably than plans do
The written policy says one thing. What survives challenge is what actually governs, and it is written case by case.
Planning
Setbacks and site coverage design the building before the architect does
Two dimensional rules about how far a building stands from its boundaries do more to shape a city than any style debate.
Planning
Use classes decide what a high street is allowed to become
A shop and a gym look similar from the pavement. Whether one may replace the other is settled by a category written decades ago.
Planning
Height limits are usually about daylight and aircraft, not taste
A restriction on how tall a building may be normally has a technical origin. The aesthetic argument is layered on afterwards.
Planning
A design review panel has influence and no power
A group of experienced designers comments on a scheme and cannot decide anything. What happens next depends on who is listening.