Other documentation
You must submit other documentation in certain circumstances.
Flood risk assessment
Flood zones refer to the probability of river and sea flooding, ignoring the presence of defences. You must to submit a flood risk assessment with your proposal if your property is within flood zones 2 or 3.
For more information, go to:
Tree survey
Trees are protected if they are:
- within a conservation area
- covered by a tree preservation order
You will need to submit a tree survey and impact assessment with your application if:
- there are any protected trees within falling distance of your proposal
- you are building within the root protection area of a protected tree
The root protection area can be wider than the canopy of the tree, so even if you are not building underneath the tree, you may need a survey.
If there are established driveways, buildings, or walls between the tree and your proposal, it is unlikely the root protection area will have extended past these structures.
Ecological survey
If you are building on an area of garden that is routinely used, it is unlikely you have any protected species living there.
If you intend to build a shed on a far corner of the garden that has been left to grow wild for many years, however, protected species may have moved in and an investigative ecological survey should be completed by a qualified person.
Heritage impact assessment
Any householder application for a listed building will be incomplete unless you submit a Heritage Impact Assessment. This is a comprehensive assessment for which you will probably need to hire a specialist in Building Conservation. It is often divided into 3 parts:
- a description of all features of architectural, historic, or social merit
- a discussion of how the proposal will affect those features
- all measures taken to mitigate against any impact
You won't be able to rely solely on the listing from Historic England for this information.