Law Blog

In developments that rely on the Floor Area Ratio framework, “public open space” is not protected merely as a numerical remainder, but as a planned urban asset with a defined purpose. The Planning Policy Guide on the Use and Applicability of the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) (2014) requires that tall or medium-rise schemes create high-quality […]

In Urban Conservation Areas, planning law is often tested not by large-scale redevelopment but by modest interventions that affect the roofscape. A party wall raised at roof level may appear, at first sight, to be a private adjustment between neighbours. Yet once that wall becomes visible from the public realm, it ceases to be a […]

One issue which is worth recalling in the context of development control enforcement concerns the legal consequences of silence within a planning permission. This difficulty frequently arises in developments where the permission authorises a particular form of works and imposes a general obligation to comply with approved drawings and applicable policy, yet deliberately or inadvertently […]

Residential redevelopment is sometimes advanced on the assumption that an existing opening onto a narrow passage is sufficient to justify additional height, more units, and greater intensity. Planning law takes a more structured approach. It requires, first, that residential units front onto a space that is recognised in planning terms, and second, that the environment […]