Planning permission for dorma

onlyroz

We are looking to carry out a loft conversion. My understanding is that you do not need planning permission if the dorma is on the back of the house - but what would I need to do to get permission for one on the front? Any ideas of the likelihood of success?

Also, the previous owner significantly extended the house sideways - and so it is approximately 1/3 bigger than it was originally. Will this affect the planning application for a front-dorma loft conversion?

Debt_Free_Chick

You shouldn't assume that you need no permission for a dormer on the rear of the property - I think that rather depends on the local planning requirements in your particular area.

In addition, it's likely that any further development will require planning permission, due to the extension already made.

Have you looked at your local planning dept website? And you should be able to give them a call and talk through hypothetical scenario before you make a final decision.

macman

A rear dormer may fall within permitted development, but that depends on the size and height of the dormer.
A front one is most unlikely to succeed (why do you need this too?).
But, as always, your first stop should be a chat with your LA's duty plannng officer, armed with a few basic sketches and photos.
What you will of course need for a loft conversion is Building Control Approval ,and to serve a Party Wall Notice (unless detached).

Candles_by_Lisa

Do other neighbours in the street/area have front dormers? If they do you have a good chance of being accepted for this. It really depens on size/height of the dormer whether it is accepted at the rear. Have you checked your Local Authorities website they usually have information there regarding min/max dimensions.

alanobrien

You do where i live, check with your local planning office.

macman

What was allowed in the past is not at all relevant to what may (or may not) be allowed today. Precedent is not a factor that is taken into account, so even if all your neighbours have front dormers, that doesn't necessarily mean that you will be allowed one.
For example, a lot of my neighbours have loft conversions with full-width rear dormers, probably built 15 or 20 years ago now. There is no way that they would be allowed at present.

onlyroz

I haven't seen many front dormers around - I contacted the council and they offer a "pre-planning" service, where I submit sketches and photos with as much detail as possible about what we want to do, and then they assess what sort of planning approval is required.

What I don't want to do is to spend £1000+ for an architect to produce a design that has no hope of being approved.

Ideally we'd like to do a front *and* rear dormer extension to convert the loft into two largish bedrooms. If we are only allowed a rear dormer then I'm not sure we'd get two rooms up there. We also have the option of building over our kitchen extension, but I imagine that would be more expensive and would also require planning permission.

onlyroz

Here is the front and back, if anyone's interested:




From the front, the section to the right is the extension built by the previous owner. He made a hash of a lot of things, but the builder we had in yesterday said that it would be possible, in principle, to put in a front and rear dormer, after doing some work to sort out the internal joists.

As you can see, it also could do with a lick of paint, and probably some new windows on the front.

macman

onlyroz wrote: »

I haven't seen many front dormers around - I contacted the council and they offer a "pre-planning" service, where I submit sketches and photos with as much detail as possible about what we want to do, and then they assess what sort of planning approval is required.

What I don't want to do is to spend £1000+ for an architect to produce a design that has no hope of being approved.

Ideally we'd like to do a front *and* rear dormer extension to convert the loft into two largish bedrooms. If we are only allowed a rear dormer then I'm not sure we'd get two rooms up there. We also have the option of building over our kitchen extension, but I imagine that would be more expensive and would also require planning permission.

You don't need to do this anyway, a chat with the duty planning officer should resolve most of the broader issues-at no cost whatsoever.

onlyroz

macman wrote: »

You don't need to do this anyway, a chat with the duty planning officer should resolve most of the broader issues-at no cost whatsoever.

It seems like they don't "a chat" - what they want is for me to pay £44 for their "pre-planning service".

macman

My LA has a one-stop shop where a duty planner is present to deal with such enquiries.
But £44 is still a better deal than wasting money on getting formal plans drawn up at this stage. You don't need a architect to design a loft conversion.