Planning Permission, in simple terms, is asking for permission from the planning department of your local council to complete a certain piece of building work where it falls outside of “Permitted Development”. It will be granted (possibly subject to certain conditions) or refused. It is your responsibility for seeking, or not seeking, planning permission. If required, it should be granted before any work begins. This document produced by the Government provides lots of great information: click here

There are many detailed rules about what is classed as permitted development based on the location of your home and the type of project being undertaken, full detail can be found here. A few general rules for all extensions include:

• Only half the area of land around the "original house” can be covered by extensions or other buildings

• Extensions cannot be higher than the highest part of the existing roof; or higher at the eaves than the existing eaves

• Where the extension comes within two metres of the boundary, the height at the eaves cannot exceed three metres

• Extension cannot be built forward of the ‘principal elevation’ or, where it fronts a highway, the ‘side elevation’

• The work cannot include: verandas, balconies or raised platforms, a microwave antenna (e.g. TV aerial or satellite dish), a chimney, flue or soil and vent pipe or any alteration to the roof of the existing house

• The materials used in any exterior work must be of a similar appearance to those on the exterior of the existing house

The local authority fee and service charge is £238.20, for householder extension or alteration projects (there is no extra cost for listed building consent or if you are in a conservation area).

Where your project falls within permitted development, we recommend applying for a LDC to provide written confirmation from the local authority that the proposed development is lawful for planning control purposes. This is not a legal requirement, but will give you peace of mind and is useful when coming to sell a property.

The local authority fee and service charge is £135.30, for most residential extension or alteration projects.

Being in a conservation area means that your planning proposal will need to be more sensitive to the local heritage and historical architectural language than normal. The application will be dealt with by the conservation officer and it may be preferable to pay for pre-application advice. You may still have some permitted development rights, although they are reduced.

Listed buildings are one of our specialist areas, having successful achieved planning permission for a large variety of projects across the country, you can see our most recent listed project on Instagram @worcesterlodge.

If you, or a previous owner, have made changes to a property without getting the required planning permission, in some cases you are able to use the 4 Year Rule” to retrospectively bring the property in line with council regulations. You are required to prove the property has been in the same use for the previous four years. We will apply for a Certificate of Lawfulness, which if granted, will make the unauthorised development lawful and ensure you have no issues when you come to sell the property. This process removes the need to apply for planning permission.

Fees vary by local authority, type and size of build, see an example here or refer to your local authority planning page for accurate fees. For an average size extension of 10m2 – 40m2 the fee is £558.

We are able to obtain the required calculations for you using our preferred engineer, and include these details on our drawings so everything is in one place, alternatively you may wish to coordinate this via your builder.