Park Gate House, Ham Gate Avenue, Ham, Richmond, TW10 5HN Data via plota.co.uk

Listed building consent is needed for work that affects the special interest of a listed building, inside or out, on top of planning permission. Setting can be a consideration for buildings nearby; there is no fixed radius.

The London Plan gives Metropolitan Open Land the same protection as green belt: inappropriate development needs very special circumstances.

The council must give weight to preserving or enhancing the area's character and appearance. Not every council has published its boundaries as open data.

Harm to a protected site is only accepted where there is no alternative and an overriding public interest.

Where development of farmland is needed, policy prefers poorer land over the best and most versatile (grades 1, 2 and 3a). Three sources: Natural England's post-1988 field surveys, which are definitive where they exist; the Defra predictive map for England (2025) and the Welsh Government predictive map, modelled from the soil map with 3a and 3b split; and the 1970s provisional map, which planners and other services still show, coarser and with grade 3 undivided. Where the provisional and predicted grades disagree, treat the predicted grade as the current estimate and expect an application to carry its own survey.

The council or Historic England considers archaeology likely here. A desk-based assessment, and sometimes trial trenching, can be asked for with the application.

Schemes that add traffic, parking or combustion plant are assessed against the area's action plan and may need an air quality assessment.

Sites of special scientific interest are the best wildlife and geological sites in the country. Development likely to harm one is rarely permitted.

Registered parks and gardens, battlefields, world heritage sites and protected wrecks are designated heritage assets: harm needs clear and convincing justification.