The Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 (“the GPDO”) grants automatic planning permission for certain alterations to dwellings. These are called permitted development rights.

Despite this, the number of householder planning applications has risen dramatically in recent years – from 158,000 in 1995/96 to 328,000 in 2006/07. As a result, the Government has introduced measures designed to remove the need for local planning authorities to determine a number of routine house extensions, which are considered to have minimal impact on neighbours.

These measures are brought about by the Town & Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (Amendment) (No. 2) (England) Order 2008 (“the Order”) which alters the GPDO and comes into force on 1 October 2008.

These changes are subject to a number of detailed conditions which are beyond the remit of this article and those intending to make use of them are advised first to seek legal or planning consultants’ advice.

The main changes can be summarised as follows:

Rear and side extensions

The current volume allowances for extensions are replaced by the following permitted development rights:

• Permission to build a single storey rear extension up to 4m (in the case of a detached house) or 3m (in the case of any other house) out from the rear wall of the original house.

• Permission to build a 2-storey rear extension up to 3m behind the rear wall of the existing house, but not extending closer than 7m from the rear boundary of the property.

• Permission to build a single storey side extension not exceeding 4m in height, no wider than half the width of the original house and which does not front a highway.

If any extension comes within 2m of any side or rear boundary of the property, the eaves height of the extension must not exceed 3m.

In conservation areas, side extensions of any height and rear extensions of more than 1 storey are not allowed.

Loft conversions and other roof extensions

Put simply, loft conversions will not require planning permission where:

• The volume of the roof space is not increased by more than 40 cubic meters in the case of a terraced house or 50 cubic meters in any other case.

• They do not extend beyond the plane of the existing roof slope which forms the main elevation of the house fronting the highway and

• Any enlargement, except of hip-to-gable construction, must be set back at least 20cm from the eaves, so as to avoid an entire roof being replaced.

Paving etc of front gardens

In order to address concerns about water run-off and flooding, the laying or replacement of a hard surface exceeding 5 sq m within the curtilage of a house no longer enjoys permitted development rights unless it is porous, so that water can permeate to the ground.

Guidance on permeable surfacing of front gardens can be found on www.communities.gov.uk.

Commentary

These changes will give householders greater scope to extend and improve their homes without going to the time and expense of applying for planning permission. They will however increase the scope for neighbour disputes.

The Government hopes that the changes will also free up resources within planning authorities to devote to planning applications for more complex development.

• For advice on any planning issues relating to residential or any other properties, please contact David Platt, Head of Planning on 01273 403274.