References

Garden & Landscaping

472 sources in the library on garden & landscaping, 12 on this page cited in a published note. Each one says what the document covers and what it is good for. Name a source to see which document it is and where to read it. One at a time. Page 8 of 12.

1. supplier figure RN-9SIDOD cited

   Wickes

   A national merchant's product page for a standard treated softwood garden sleeper. It gives the size as 100 x 200 x 2400 mm, which corrects the 200 x 200 mm size the note gave. No better maker page was fetchable.

   Cited in How To Maximise Small Garden Space.

   Name this source
2. supplier figure RN-5597C3 cited

   Wickes Building Supplies Ltd

   Wickes's product page for a 1m by 20m roll of 95gsm heavy-duty weed control landscape fabric, with the roll price and the price per square metre including VAT. It settles what the weed membrane laid under artificial grass or gravel costs to buy.

   Cited in Artificial Grass vs Turf: Cost & Pros/Cons.

   Name this source
3. supplier figure RN-ZMK6G1 cited

   Wickes Building Supplies Ltd

   Wickes's product page for a 500 litre bulk bag of Hallstone blended loam topsoil, delivered by the supplier, with its price including VAT. It settles what the topsoil to improve or level ground for a new lawn costs to buy by the bulk bag, before delivery.

   Cited in Laying a New Lawn: Turf vs Seed.

   Name this source
4. supplier figure RN-PHHL94 cited

   Wickes Building Supplies Ltd

   the retail price Wickes Building Supplies Ltd publishes for Marshalls Driveline Priora Brindle Block Paving 200 x 100 x 60mm Pack of 404, which is the supply figure the cost book records for this item

   Cited in Block Paving: Cost & Patterns, Driveway Cost & Materials: Block Paving, Resin & Gravel, Resin Bound Driveways: Cost & Pros/Cons.

   Name this source
5. supplier figure RN-ACKNGY cited

   Wickes Building Supplies Ltd

   Wickes Building Supplies Ltd, Miracle Gro Multi Purpose Grass Seed 33m2 1kg. Held in the cost register as a price source; the passage quoted against it reads: Miracle-Gro Multi-Purpose Grass Seed 33m2 - 1kg :: £14 | £11 ... Gro-Sure Fast Acting Lawn Seed 50m2 - 1.5kg :: £16.50 | £0.33 per m2 ... Gro-Sure Smart Seed La

   Cited in Artificial Grass vs Turf: Cost & Pros/Cons, Lawn Care & Maintenance, Laying a New Lawn: Turf vs Seed.

   Name this source
6. supplier figure RN-NUL1HT cited

   Wickes Building Supplies Ltd

   Wickes's product page for a 10m roll of plastic lawn edging 10cm deep, with its price including VAT. It settles what the cheapest kind of flexible edging strip costs per metre, at the plastic end of the range.

   Cited in How to Edge Lawn.

   Name this source
7. supplier figure RN-ACX77C cited

   Wickes Building Supplies Ltd

   Wickes's product page for the Roughneck ROU68311 edging iron, a 210mm serrated blade on a fibreglass handle with large foot treads, with its price including VAT. It settles what a heavier-duty half-moon edging iron costs to buy.

   Cited in How to Edge Lawn.

   Name this source
8. supplier figure RN-OJEGCF cited

   Wickes Building Supplies Ltd

   Wickes's product page for a major bag of MOT Type 1 crushed aggregate sub-base, with the bag price and the price per kilogram including VAT. It settles what the compacted sub-base material under artificial grass or paving costs over the counter, material only.

   Cited in Artificial Grass vs Turf: Cost & Pros/Cons.

   Name this source
9. supplier figure RN-RIHNYC cited

   Wickes Building Supplies Ltd

   Wickes's product page for its own carbon steel lawn edger, a half-moon blade with turnover treads on a 940mm handle, with its price including VAT. It settles what a basic half-moon edging iron costs to buy.

   Cited in How to Edge Lawn.

   Name this source
10. supplier figure RN-MHSKVD cited

    Wickes Building Supplies Ltd

    Wickes's product page for its own long-handled lawn edging shears, with the price including VAT. It settles what a basic pair of edging shears for trimming the overhang along a lawn edge costs to buy.

    Cited in How to Edge Lawn.

    Name this source
11. supplier figure RN-ZVBJ7F cited

    Wykeham Mature Plants

    A mature plant nursery's product page for pleached hornbeam screening trees, with the price range per plant by girth.

    Cited in How to Make Your Garden More Private.

    Name this source
12. supplier figure RN-LJ3G3P cited

    Zaun Ltd

    A British mesh-fencing maker's product page for its 358 welded mesh system, stating the 76.2 x 12.7 mm aperture and that fingers cannot get into it to climb.

    Cited in Security Fence Cost: 2026 UK Price Guide.

    Name this source
13. very strong RN-1Z09OS

    Building Control Northern Ireland (the 11 district councils)

    NORTHERN IRELAND. The scale of building control fees is set centrally by the Department of Finance under the Building (Prescribed Fees) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 as amended in 2013 and 2022, with the current fees applying to applications made after 1 April 2022. Unlike England, where each authority or private approver sets its own charges, NI fees are prescribed and are not subject to annual increase, being revised periodically by the Department. There is a FIXED RATE plan fee for certain domestic extensions, detached domestic buildings such as garages, roofspace conversions and houses up to 250 square metres. For small extensions UNDER 20 SQUARE METRES the plan fee also covers all subsequent site inspections, so there is no separate inspection charge. Other work is charged on an estimated cost of works basis using a contractor's cost. Where part of the works is solely for a person with a disability that part is excluded from the fee calculation, and a full exemption applies where the works are exclusively for a person with a disability or are described as exempt. A fee calculator is provided.

    Name this source
14. very strong RN-SQ7K5I

    Defra and Animal and Plant Health Agency (GOV.UK)

    The animal by-product rules that govern what may go on a home compost heap, published 5 September 2014 and last updated 9 October 2014, applying to England, Scotland and Wales. Only animal by-products from catering waste may be composted, meaning leftover food and cooking oil from any kitchen or canteen including homes, offices, restaurants and caterers, and including food cooked in animal fat or oil and dairy products; commercial or industrial waste cannot go in a domestic heap. Where catering waste is used, farm animals including any kept as pets, specifically sheep, cattle, pigs, chickens and other poultry, must be kept away from the heap, and the compost may only be spread on land those animals cannot access. No approval is needed to use the compost on the property where the heap sits. To use it elsewhere or sell it, a scoring table applies: producing or intending to produce more than 10 tonnes of compost a year scores 10, intended use scores 0 for domestic gardens or allotments, 3 for horticultural land or parks and 15 for smallholdings or farms, and a total of 19 or less permits off-site use or sale without further action while 20 or more requires approval from the nearest APHA office.

    Name this source
15. very strong RN-I7L136

    Defra and Environment Agency (GOV.UK)

    The statutory code that turns the section 34 duty of care into practical steps, published 11 March 2016 and last updated 26 November 2018, running to 20 pages as a PDF and also available as an accessible HTML version. It applies to anyone who produces, carries, keeps, disposes of, treats, imports or has control of waste in England and Wales, and requires waste to be kept safe, dealt with responsibly and passed only to businesses authorised to take it. Scotland and Northern Ireland are covered by their own equivalents rather than this code. It is the document behind the advice that a homeowner should check a builder's or garden clearance firm's waste carrier registration and keep the transfer note, because the householder can be held liable if their waste is fly-tipped.

    Name this source
16. very strong RN-DSQM5S

    Defra, Natural England (GOV.UK)

    The government announcement that set the peat-free direction a compost or raised bed note has to reflect, published 27 August 2022 by Defra, Natural England and Lord Benyon. It announced that all sales of peat to amateur gardeners in England would be banned by 2024, following a consultation with more than 5,000 responses of which over 95% supported action. The supporting figures are that only about 13% of UK peatlands are in a near-natural state, that bagged retail growing media accounts for 70% of the peat sold in the UK, and that the government targeted restoring 35,000 hectares of peatlands by 2025, alongside a new £5 million fund for peatland use in sustainable farming. A professional horticulture ban was signalled for later. Treat this as the policy statement and its date, not as evidence that the ban is in force, because it was published under the 2019 to 2022 administration and the retail ban was not commenced on that timetable.

    Name this source
17. very strong RN-738A9S

    Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (GOV.UK)

    The current national SuDS standards for England, published 19 June 2025 and last updated 30 July 2025, replacing the 2015 non-statutory technical standards which are now only on the National Archives. They remain non-statutory and cover the design, maintenance and operation of surface water drainage for new developments and, with the caveat that not all parts apply directly, for retrofit SuDS. The stated aims are water reuse, reducing flood risk by slowing and storing runoff, improving water quality by filtering pollutants, improving visual quality and supporting biodiversity. This is the reference to use when a driveway or garden drainage note explains why runoff should be dealt with on the plot rather than piped to the sewer, and it is the document to cite instead of assuming Schedule 3 of the Flood and Water Management Act is in force.

    Name this source
18. very strong RN-8VS2HG

    Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (GOV.UK)

    The change to household collections that determines how garden waste is dealt with from 2026, published 27 March 2025 and last updated 13 May 2025, applying to England. From 31 March 2026, waste collectors must by default collect four streams separately from all households including flats: food and garden waste; paper and card; all other dry recyclable materials meaning glass, metal and plastic including cartons; and residual waste sent for energy recovery or to landfill. Plastic film packaging and plastic bags must be collected with plastic recycling from 31 March 2027. Paper and card may be co-collected with other dry recyclables where local circumstances allow. The materials that must be collected are listed in Schedule 1 of the Separation of Waste (England) Regulations 2024, which also lists materials that need not be collected: for glass this excludes non-packaging glass such as flat and window glass, mirrors, drinking glasses, Pyrex, light bulbs and ceramics, and for metal it excludes kitchenware, kettles, irons, pipes and packaging that held white spirits, paints, engine oils or antifreeze. The food and garden waste stream is the one a garden clearance note should reference.

    Name this source
19. very strong RN-0SP6L1

    Department of Finance (Northern Ireland)

    Northern Ireland's guidance to Part N of the Building Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012, supporting regulations 80 to 82. Four sections: general, sanitary pipework, underground foul drainage and rainwater drainage, plus an appendix of referenced standards. Table 3.2 gives the minimum drain gradients: for a peak flow of less than 1 litre per second, 1:40 for both 75mm and 100mm pipe; for greater than 1 litre per second, 1:80 for 75mm and 1:80 for 100mm (minimum 1 WC) and 1:150 for 150mm (minimum 5 WCs). Diagram 3.1 gives discharge capacities of drains running at 0.75 proportional depth. For rainwater, paragraph 4.2 requires the system to carry the expected flow at an assumed rainfall intensity of 75 mm per hour. Table 4.2 sets the design area factors by roof pitch: plan area for 0 to 10 degrees, plan area x 1.15 for 11 to 30, x 1.40 for 31 to 45, x 2.00 for 46 to 70, and elevation area x 0.5 above 70 degrees. Paragraph 4.7 sets watertightness and test requirements for gutters and rainwater drains.

    Name this source
20. very strong RN-8AAHX7

    Environment Agency

    How the Environment Agency zones the ground around a drinking water abstraction, last updated 1 August 2024, and the map layer that decides whether a soakaway, drainage field or infiltration system is allowed at all. SPZ1, the inner zone, is the larger of the area within 50 metres of the point where groundwater is abstracted, or the area from which groundwater takes up to 50 days to reach the abstraction point; it is the most vulnerable to pollution, and a small sewage discharge to ground inside it always needs a permit rather than the general binding rules. SPZ2, the outer zone, is the largest of 250 metres from the point for smaller abstractions, 500 metres for larger abstractions, or the area with a groundwater travel time of up to 400 days. SPZ3, the total catchment, is the whole area from which groundwater eventually flows to the abstraction, and can extend a considerable distance. The Agency cites septic tank soakaways and fuel storage as typical contamination risks the zones are designed to manage. Check the zone before designing any infiltration drainage on an off-mains property.

    Name this source
21. very strong RN-CPOR2B

    Environment Agency

    The Environment Agency regulatory position statement that replaced the withdrawn knotweed code of practice. Last updated 4 September 2025, review date 12 August 2028. Japanese knotweed material may be buried on site at a minimum depth of 5 metres without a geotextile membrane, or 2 metres if fully sealed within one. Soils containing seeds, rhizomes, corms or fragments of other invasive non-native plants may be buried at a minimum 2 metres. The membrane must be undamaged, large enough to minimise joins, securely sealed, UV resistant and capable of remaining intact for at least 50 years. You must email enquiries@environment-agency.gov.uk at least one week before burying knotweed under this RPS. Other conditions: a written management plan; store material no longer than 12 months, or 6 months if it is to be burned; keep records for 2 years; a 1,000 tonne cap for non-knotweed invasive plants; and keep burial locations at least 7 metres from adjacent properties. It applies to Schedule 9 Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 plants and species of special concern under the Invasive Alien Species (Enforcement and Permitting) Order 2019.

    Name this source
22. very strong RN-CDZ4ZO

    Environment Agency (GOV.UK)

    The Environment Agency's live service for flood warnings and alerts, river, sea, groundwater and rainfall levels, and flood risk over the next five days, with Floodline on 0345 988 1188 (textphone 0345 602 6340) as a 24 hour alternative. It is explicit that surface water or flash flooding is not covered here and that the local council is the authority to contact, which matters for a garden drainage note because surface water is the flooding a soakaway or permeable driveway actually addresses. Separate services cover flooding in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and a distinct long term flood risk service covers risk for an area rather than the current position.

    Name this source
23. very strong RN-O2TJ1D

    Environment Agency (GOV.UK)

    The exemption a landscape gardener needs before burning arisings on site, and the page that draws the line between a householder's bonfire and a business one. Published 12 September 2019 and last updated 1 July 2025, applying to England, D7 is a band 3 chargeable waste exemption. It permits burning up to 10 tonnes of waste in any 24 hour period, storing up to 20 tonnes intended for burning at any one time, and storing waste for up to 6 months before burning so it can dry out. Permitted waste codes are 02 01 03, 02 01 07 and 20 02 01 (plant tissue), 03 01 05 (sawdust, shavings and cuttings from untreated wood only) and 03 03 01 (waste bark and wood), where untreated means never preserved, varnished, coated, painted or exposed to chemicals. Burning must be at the place the waste was produced, outdoors, and not a nuisance to neighbours; waste cannot be brought in from elsewhere. Crucially the page states that householders burning their own garden waste do not need to register this exemption.

    Name this source
24. very strong RN-XALOC2

    Environment Agency (GOV.UK)

    The registration a builder or garden clearance firm must hold before taking waste away, with the current fees a note can quote. A business must register if it transports waste as a carrier, buys, sells or disposes of waste as a dealer, or arranges for someone else to do so as a broker, and an unlimited fine applies for not registering. Registration is usually free if you only transport waste you produce yourself; otherwise it costs £191.02. Registrations are upper tier or lower tier: an upper tier registration must be renewed every 3 years at £130.25, while a lower tier registration does not need renewing. Changing what the organisation does costs £49.62, and the Environment Agency must be told within 28 days if contact details change, management changes, someone in management is convicted of an environmental offence, or the organisation changes what it does. Registered details appear in the public register of waste carriers, brokers and dealers, so a homeowner can check. Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each have a different process.

    Name this source
25. very strong RN-S5KB1F

    Environment Agency (GOV.UK)

    The exemption that governs composting above domestic scale, useful for a note on allotment or community composting and for explaining where a home heap stops being unregulated. Published 28 April 2014 and last updated 1 July 2025, applying to England, T23 is a band 2 chargeable waste exemption covering aerobic composting of vegetation, cardboard and food waste to spread on soil for nutrients or structure, including chipping as prior treatment. Named examples are a school composting kitchen and garden waste in its grounds, an allotment association composting old plants and trimmings, and a community composting group. Table 1 wastes include 02 01 03 and 20 02 01 plant tissue, 02 01 06 horse and farmyard manure capped at 20 tonnes, and 20 01 01 paper and cardboard capped at 10 tonnes, and table 1 waste may be stored for up to one month before treatment. Anaerobic treatment and untreated animal by-products are excluded.

    Name this source
26. very strong RN-QWTY7U

    Environment Agency and Defra (GOV.UK)

    The Environment Agency guidance on discharging to ground through an infiltration system, published 1 February 2016 and last updated 25 November 2020, applying to England with separate guidance for Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. A groundwater risk assessment must be submitted as part of an environmental permit application to discharge treated sewage effluent into the ground through an infiltration system, and the guidance does not apply to discharges to the land surface such as unlined reed beds or grass plots. It states the infiltration system or drainage field should meet the definition in BS 6297:2007 + A1:2008, being a series of infiltration pipes in single trenches or one large bed through which effluent percolates into the disposal area. Raw sewage must not be discharged to the ground or to sub-surface drainage systems, and pre-treatment is required at a level matching the risk: primary treatment such as a septic tank, primary plus secondary such as a package treatment plant, or primary, secondary and tertiary such as a reed bed. Sewage effluent must not go to surface water without secondary treatment. The risk assessment is the prior examination required by the Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016. Useful for distinguishing a rainwater soakaway from a foul drainage field, which a garden drainage note often conflates.

    Name this source
27. very strong RN-TTR10H

    Forestry Commission

    The Forestry Commission's threshold guidance for England, last updated 8 July 2026. A licence is not needed for trees under 8cm over-bark diameter measured at 1.3m above ground, or under 15cm for coppice and underwood. Above that, up to 5 cubic metres of timber may be felled per calendar quarter without a licence, of which no more than 2 cubic metres may be sold. The four quarters run January to March, April to June, July to September and October to December, and the allowance does not roll over. Licences are issued by the Forestry Commission and are free in England. Everyone involved in a felling - owner, agent and contractor - can be prosecuted where no licence or other valid permission was in place. Full exception detail, including the trees-in-gardens exception, sits in the companion publication 'Tree felling: getting permission'. This is the licence layer that sits alongside, not instead of, a tree preservation order or conservation-area notice.

    Name this source
28. very strong RN-FHMXFY

    GOV.UK

    The starting point for the vehicle crossing a new driveway needs, and the page that settles who the applicant deals with. A dropped kerb allows vehicles to cross the pavement from the road to a driveway, and the application is made to the local council found by postcode, not to a national body. The service is explicitly available in England and Wales only, so a note aimed at Scottish or Northern Irish readers must point them elsewhere. Use this to support the point that the dropped kerb is a separate consent from planning permission for the hardstanding itself, and that its cost and conditions are set locally.

    Name this source
29. very strong RN-NPG9NW

    Health and Safety Executive

    The exact task sheet a note about taking down an old asbestos cement garage or shed roof should cite, because it is the document that defines when the job stays non-licensed. It covers small-scale removal of AC sheets, gutters, drains and ridge caps and dismantling a small structure such as a shed or garage, but only while the AC stays intact: if it starts to break up and creates significant dust the work becomes notifiable non-licensed work under sheet a0. It does not apply to large-scale work or mechanical demolition, which need a full risk assessment and plan of work, and it does not apply where lagging, limpet or insulating board are present, which need an HSE-licensed contractor. It lists the equipment as 500 and 1000 gauge polythene sheeting and duct tape, warning tape and notices, bolt cutter, webbing straps and rope, a garden-type sprayer with wetting agent, a bucket of water and rags, asbestos waste bags, clear polythene bags, a lockable skip for larger quantities and asbestos warning stickers. Two cautions matter for a DIY reader: AC roofs are always fragile and cannot bear weight, and it is dangerous to seal over exhaust vents from gas-fired equipment.

    Name this source
30. very strong RN-Q3WTJ2

    Health and Safety Executive

    The HSE guidance behind hot tub water hygiene, and the source for the temperature range a running-costs note should mention. It applies to spa pools in business settings, including domestic-type spa pools or hot tubs used as part of a business such as a holiday let. It records that spa pools have a much higher ratio of bathers to water volume than swimming pools, so the water carries a higher concentration of organic material, and that a spa pool is usually drained, cleaned and refilled after a number of bathers or a maximum period of time rather than after each bather. Vigorous agitation forms inhalable aerosols, and spa water is usually held within the temperature range where legionellae and other infectious agents grow, given as 20 to 45 degrees Celsius. Named risks besides Legionella pneumophila include folliculitis from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and furunculosis from Staphylococcus aureus. Paragraph 28 warns that prolonged immersion in water above body temperature can lead to delayed shock, and that people with certain conditions or physical disabilities should seek medical advice first.

    Name this source
31. very strong RN-40KX6P

    Health and Safety Executive

    The source for the lifting weights a DIY note should quote instead of inventing a limit. HSE stresses that the Manual Handling Operations Regulations do not set specific weight limits, so the figures in the risk filter are guidelines, not safe limits. Figure 1, the lifting and lowering risk filter, assumes the load is easily grasped with both hands in reasonable conditions and a stable body position, and gives, close to the body, for men 10kg at shoulder height, 20kg at elbow height, 25kg at knuckle height, 20kg at mid lower leg and 10kg at floor level; for women the equivalents are 7kg, 13kg, 16kg, 13kg and 7kg. Holding the load at arm's length roughly halves each value (for men 5kg, 10kg, 15kg, 10kg and 5kg). Where the hands pass through more than one zone, the smallest weight applies. This is why a 25kg bag of ballast or a paving slab handled at arm's length or below knuckle height is already outside the guidelines for one person.

    Name this source
32. very strong RN-VTHK6G

    Health and Safety Executive

    HSE's guide to hand-arm vibration, INDG175(rev3) published 11/12, and the reference for why a DIY or garden note should limit trigger time on a hired breaker, sander or scarifier. It defines hand-arm vibration as vibration transmitted into the hands and arms from hand-held power tools such as grinders or road breakers, hand-guided equipment such as powered lawnmowers or pedestrian controlled floor saws, or holding materials against hand-fed machines such as pedestal grinders. Regular and frequent exposure can cause two forms of permanent ill health, hand-arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) and carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). HAVS symptoms are tingling and numbness in the fingers that prevents fine work, loss of strength in the hands, and fingers blanching white then turning red and painful on recovery, which reduces the ability to work in cold or damp conditions outdoors. Symptoms may come and go but with continued exposure become prolonged or permanent, causing pain, distress and sleep disturbance, and this can happen after only a few months though usually over a few years. The Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 require risks to be controlled and information, instruction and training to be given.

    Name this source
33. very strong RN-WD0NBM

    Health and Safety Executive

    HSE's leaflet on portable hand-held petrol chainsaws, INDG317(rev2) published 01/13, aimed at employers, the self-employed and anyone controlling the use of work equipment. It sets out that controlling chainsaw risk starts with a legally required risk assessment focused on real risks rather than paperwork, and that manufacturers' instructions and data sheets should be checked for the hazards. It flags groups needing particular attention, including new and young workers, migrant workers, new or expectant mothers, people with disabilities, temporary workers, contractors, homeworkers and lone workers. Use it to support the point that a tree or hedge contractor working on a domestic garden is doing work at work, so chainsaw certification and PPE are legal duties, not a firm's own policy.

    Name this source
34. very strong RN-QZ6BMY

    Health and Safety Executive

    HSE's brief guide to the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, INDG362(rev2) published 11/12, and the reference for the hearing protection line in a DIY or garden machinery note. It states that noise at work can cause permanent and disabling hearing damage, either gradually from exposure over time or suddenly from extremely loud noise, and that the damage stops people understanding speech, keeping up with conversations or using the telephone. It also identifies tinnitus, described as ringing, whistling, buzzing or humming in the ears, as a distressing condition that can lead to disturbed sleep, and notes the safety consequences: noise interferes with communication, makes warnings harder to hear and reduces awareness of surroundings, creating a risk of injury or death. The Regulations require employers to eliminate or reduce noise risks, to take action to reduce exposure and provide personal hearing protection depending on the level of risk, to keep within the legal exposure limits, to maintain and ensure the use of noise control equipment, to provide information, instruction and training, and to carry out health surveillance by monitoring workers' hearing.

    Name this source
35. very strong RN-17XJK7

    Health and Safety Executive

    HSE's own overview, updated 5 June 2024, and the correct answer to the persistent claim that ladders are banned. It states plainly that ladders and stepladders are not banned under health and safety law, that the law calls for a sensible and proportionate approach to managing risk, and that ladders can be a sensible and practical option for low-risk, short-duration tasks, while adding that they should not automatically be the first choice. It directs the reader to use the right type of ladder and know how to use it safely, and names the supporting documents a note can cite alongside it: the brief guide LA455 on safe use of ladders and stepladders, INDG401 Working at height safely, and HSG33 Health and safety in roof work. Use it to correct DIY myths and to justify recommending a tower or platform for longer jobs such as gutter or fascia work.

    Name this source
36. very strong RN-TZ6BSZ

    HM Land Registry

    HM Land Registry's own guide to what a title plan does and does not settle, last updated 1 June 2026, England and Wales. Most registered titles are general boundaries under Land Registration Act 2002 section 60(1): the plan shows the general extent only, and there is no standard tolerance, measurement or ratio between the mapped general boundary and the legal boundary, with case law confirming no limit on the quantity of land that can fall within the rule. A legal boundary is an invisible line dividing one property from another; a physical boundary is the fence, wall or hedge, and they need not coincide. Red edging shows the registered extent based on a reasonable interpretation of pre-registration deeds and Ordnance Survey mapping. T marks only carry meaning where the deed text refers to them; a T mark on a deed plan with no textual reference has no legal significance. The hedge and ditch presumption puts the boundary at the far edge of the ditch from the hedge. There is no legal basis for inferring ownership from which side the fence rails face, and a maintenance covenant does not confer ownership - an unmarked boundary is generally best regarded as a party boundary.

    Name this source
37. very strong RN-RQSN12

    HM Land Registry

    How to move from a general boundary to a legally exact one, last updated 1 June 2026. A determined boundary application is made by including the 'Determined Boundary' transaction, under rule 122 of the Land Registration Rules 2003, and attracts a fixed fee from the current HM Land Registry fee schedule. The registrar must be satisfied that the plan (or plan plus verbal description) identifies the exact line, that the applicant has an arguable case for the claimed position, and that all adjoining owners are identified with contact addresses. Supporting evidence can include plans or provisions in pre-registration deeds, statutory declarations, statements of truth, other signed statements and expert reports. The plan itself must be at a preferred minimum scale of 1:200, ideally no larger than A3, showing enough surrounding detail to locate it on the Ordnance Survey map. Measurements must be accurate to plus or minus 10mm, taken horizontally from at least two defined permanent features; National Grid coordinates need absolute accuracy of plus or minus 300mm and relative accuracy of plus or minus 10mm. A chartered surveyor's certificate of accuracy is standard.

    Name this source
38. very strong RN-PFKLE7

    Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

    The Approved Document that sets the standard for the approach route from the boundary or parking space to the dwelling entrance, which is what governs a new path, ramp or level threshold in a garden. Volume 1 (dwellings) is the 2015 edition incorporating the 2016 amendments, in force from 1 March 2016; Volume 2 (buildings other than dwellings) was updated on 1 October 2024 with the 2024 amendments incorporated. Volume 1 establishes three categories of dwelling: category 1, visitable dwellings, the baseline that applies to all new dwellings; category 2, accessible and adaptable dwellings; and category 3, wheelchair user dwellings. Categories 2 and 3 apply only where imposed as a planning condition by the local planning authority, which is why an ordinary domestic project defaults to category 1. The approach route provisions cover the route from the point of access, giving requirements for gradients, level and ramped approaches, step dimensions where a stepped approach is unavoidable, and clear passage widths. For external works generally read this with Approved Document K on protection from falling and BS 8300-1 on the external environment.

    Name this source
39. very strong RN-6MMER0

    Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

    The current NPPF, published 17 August 2026 (130 pages), replacing the framework first published March 2012 and revised July 2018, February 2019, July 2021, September 2023, December 2023 and December 2024, and also replacing Planning policy for traveller sites. The single most important thing about this edition for anyone citing it: the framework has been completely restructured from continuously numbered paragraphs into lettered and numbered policies, so every existing citation of an NPPF paragraph number is now stale. The chapters are Plan-making (PM1 to 17), Decision-making (DM1 to 10), Achieving sustainable development (S1 to 6), Climate change (CC1 to 3), Homes (HO1 to 13), Economy (E1 to 4), Town centres (TC1 to 4), Communications (CO1 to 2), Clean energy and water (W1 to 4), Minerals (M1 to 6), Making effective use of land (L1 to 3), Green Belt (GB1 to 8), Well-designed places (DP1 to 4), Transport (TR1 to 8), Healthy communities (HC1 to 8), Pollution (P1 to 6), Flood risk (F1 to 9), Natural environment (N1 to 6) and Historic environment (HE1 to 10). Policy GB7(1)(b) is the one homeowners meet: the reuse, extension, alteration or replacement of an existing building is not inappropriate development in the Green Belt provided the existing building is of permanent and substantial construction, is lawful in planning terms, and any extension or alteration will not result in a disproportionate increase in size compared to the original building, with footnote 40 defining the original building as the building that existed on 1 July 1948 or, if later, as it was originally built. Policy HE5(2)(c) now defines substantial harm expressly, as where a development proposal would seriously affect a key element of a heritage asset significance, and HE4(2) requires clear and convincing justification for any harm to a designated heritage asset.

    Name this source
40. very strong RN-K607FJ

    Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

    The 130-page PDF of the August 2026 National Planning Policy Framework, the document a planning officer works from. It is the citable text for policy GB7, which lists what is NOT inappropriate development in the Green Belt and therefore needs no very special circumstances: agriculture, horticulture and forestry or work solely for nature conservation; the reuse, extension, alteration or replacement of an existing permanent and lawful building where the change is not a disproportionate increase in size against the original building (and any replacement is for the same use and not materially larger); limited infilling in Green Belt villages; limited affordable housing for local needs; redevelopment of previously developed land that would not cause substantial harm to openness; and, where openness impact is minimised, mineral extraction, engineering operations, utilities and telecommunications infrastructure needing a Green Belt location, Community Right to Build or Neighbourhood Development Orders, material changes in the use of land, and facilities for outdoor sport, recreation, cemeteries, burial grounds and allotments. GB7(1)(g) adds the grey belt route and GB8 sets the Golden Rules for major housing development. Chapter 20 (HE1 to HE10) is the heritage chapter: HE1 covers plan-making and local heritage lists for non-designated assets, HE2 covers conservation areas and World Heritage Sites, HE3 covers Historic Environment Records, HE4 requires conservation appropriate to significance and clear and convincing justification for harm, and HE5 requires a proportionate significance assessment and a stated degree of harm, judged on effect on significance rather than the scale of the development.

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