What constraints affect this site?
The title plan is in your hand, the vendor has named a price, or the auction legal pack went live this morning. The question on the desk is simple and expensive: what constraints affect this site, and what will they cost to discharge. If flood zone, TPO, access width or BNG triggers show red, you know before offer, architect brief or pre-app.
The 48-hour desktop pack screens the site against national datasets across eight constraint categories and produces a traffic-light constraints report with overlay maps, a risk register, and indicative specialist study costs.
Built for SME developers assessing auction lots, option sites, infill plots and small residential schemes (typically 1 to 20 homes) before committing architect or pre-app spend.
Order a Site Appraisal · See a sample report
What a planning constraints report contains
A planning constraints report is only useful if it covers the main categories that can stop, delay, or load cost onto a scheme. The eight categories below each tie to the policy or dataset that governs them.
| Constraint category | What we read |
|---|---|
| Planning policy and 5YHLS | Local Plan, allocation status, tilted balance at NPPF paragraph 11(d) |
| Site designations | Green Belt (NPPF paragraphs 154 to 155), AONB, Conservation Area, listed buildings, TPOs, ancient woodland |
| Flood risk | Flood Zones 1 to 3, surface water, sequential test under NPPF paragraph 174 |
| Ground conditions | Phase 1 risk, Coal Authority Development High Risk Areas, radon |
| Ecology and BNG | Priority habitats, BNG trigger and exemption check |
| Heritage setting | Listed buildings within 200m, scheduled monuments, NPPF paragraphs 207 and 213 to 215 |
| Access, transport, infrastructure | Highways, water, foul drainage, electricity capacity |
| Policy levies and viability | CIL, S106 indicative, AH percentage, indicative GDV and RLV |
Use it to decide:
- Walk away from a site where red-flag constraints make the scheme uneconomic.
- Chip the offer price where abnormal costs or S106 burdens are now quantified.
- Commission the right specialist study (and only that one) before pre-app.
- Brief the architect with a constraints envelope, not a blank canvas.
For the deeper read on each category, see our planning constraints report (2026 UK guide), and what is included in our 48-hour desktop pack.
Four packs sized to four decisions
The constraints report is the entry point. Three further packs build on the same desktop intelligence as the buyer stage progresses.
| Pack | What it does | Decision moment | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Site Appraisal | Traffic-light constraints report across all 8 categories | Bid or pre-screening | From £199, 48 hours |
| Feasibility Intelligence | Adds scheme options, indicative GDV, BCIS-informed costings, RLV | Pre-acquisition or pre-architect | From £895, 48 hours |
| Pre-Application Pack | Adds constraint-triggered desktop reports plus draft Planning Statement and DAS | Pre-app meeting booked | From £1,995, 48 hours |
| Planning Intelligence Pack | Tailored intelligence pack to sit alongside architect drawings | Application submission | Tailored, 48 hours |
Site Appraisal deliverable, in detail:
- PDF report covering all eight constraint categories with a traffic-light summary on page one.
- Constraint overlay maps (designations, flood, heritage, ecology, access).
- Risk register with severity, evidence source and recommended next step.
- Cost and timeline triggers: which specialist studies are likely, indicative fee ranges, typical lead times.
A fuller breakdown of each pack is set out in the 2026 UK guide.
Constraints report before architect, before pre-app
A planning constraints report is one of the cheapest orders to place before instructing architect concept design or booking pre-application advice. Architect concept fees vary by scheme, but a wrong-site instruction is rarely refundable. The report tells you which constraints apply, which trigger specialist studies, and where the bid budget needs to provision for abnormal cost. The wider workflow sits at the development land due diligence main page, with sequencing in what reports you need for planning permission. For Green Belt sites, the report screens against the grey belt criteria at NPPF paragraphs 154 to 155 (December 2024).
Authority context: GOV.UK flood risk assessment guidance for planning and GOV.UK planning permission guidance.
Send the boundary today, receive the constraints report on Day 2
If the title plan or red-line is in your hand, the 48-hour constraints report protects the bid, the option fee, or the architect appointment.
Three steps:
- Send the site address or red-line boundary, with scheme intent in one line.
- Confirm scope and pay.
- Receive the PDF constraints report on Day 2.
Deliverable: traffic-light constraints report, overlay maps, risk register, indicative specialist study costs.
What this desktop report does not replace
It tells you when these are likely needed; it does not certify them.
- Ground: Phase 2 site investigation by a chartered geotechnical specialist.
- Flood: hydraulic modelling and FRA by a chartered engineer.
- Ecology: seasonal field survey by a licensed ecologist.
- Planning representation: MRTPI advocacy at appeal or committee.
- Landscape: CMLI-led LVIA.
- Transport: chartered transport assessment.
- Valuation: RICS Red Book valuation.
Where any of these are triggered, the report names the specialist study, indicative cost range and typical timeline.
From £199 to identify walk-away risks. £895 for the feasibility upgrade. £1,995 to walk into pre-app. Tailored to submit. Upload your boundary, pay, receive your report on Day 2.