Buying a House in a conservation area and extendin

crisp

I have a viewing at a house in a conservation area this weekend.

Do you always need planning permission or not to extend into the loft or on the ground floor in such areas?

glasgowdan

I believe the rules govern the external appearance of the house, so potentially not needed for loft work depending on windows. You won't have any permitted development rights so any ground floor extensions will need to go through the process.

cjmillsnun

I would bank on needing planning permission for anything that will change the external appearance of the property. This would also include fitting Velux windows as these may be visible from upper floors of neighbouring properties.

I am an ex councillor who sat on the planning committee for a number of years.

crisp

Thank you. I thought as much especially for an extension and a dormer and potential cellar conversion (you need to go down 3ft more). Will have a browse of the planning site for the area.

Waterlily24

We weren't allowed to put a dormer window in our loft conversion, it had to Velux or similar.

Nadeshkarine

Be aware that just because a neighbour on the street in the conservation area has been granted permission, doesn't mean yours would be.

I took a look through the applications for a street where we were looking at a house, and considering a loft extension.

In that instance the council took the line that the roof line of each block in the terrace was a unique feature of the area and so didn't allow any dormer loft extensions if that set of ~8 houses was untouched.

Basically you got lucky if one of your close neighbours had got in and done it when approvals were (seemingly) more lax. There was one application where all the surrounding neighbours in the block supported it and wanted to do the same so they would all match and council still said no.

Always worth reading the decision notice as well as the outcome on these.

minibbb

We live in a conservation area and are in the process of a single storey extension to give us a large kitchen/diner. Extension is 6x3m and is under permitted development without any issues. Guess it varies area to area so worth asking your local council.

G_M

The local authority probably has a "Conservation Area Appraisal & Management Strategy" document, and it is probably available on their website.

That should define what can and can't be done, with or without permssion.

Newuser1987

Just to clear something up. Being in a conservation area does not remove your permitted development rights. The conservation area having an Article 4 Direction stating 'permitted development rights have been removed' is what changes those rights.

As an example I live in a conservation area which has an article 4 direction but is limited to the front of the building only. We still have permitted development rights to extend out the back.

steven_norfield

Planning consultant here. Conservation areas carry a variety of different reasoning, and many parishes have their own supplementary planning documents which either supersede or amend the core conservation area.


For example, local to me is Cottenham which has a ferociously tight SPD on it to protect the main thoroughfare, its own SPD goes over and above the planning doctorate in that you are tied to using timber windows and clay roof times for example. So you can do your extension dimensioned under PDR, but it has to be built under the conservation rights, you can come unstuck very easily.


PDR is pretty much useless these days for anything except retrospective planning. Just apply for householder permission, since its £192, the same price a certificate of lawful development. If you apply for the householder permission it will stipulate any material conditions which, if you did a PDR extension, you wouldn't know about and could come unstuck with.

kadirayoob

When buying a home, you need to make sure you have all the research done. Home buying can be a tedious process and you need to make sure you know about the home buying process. Location is key if you want your home or property to increase in value over time. Most first time buyers end up buying a property that they aren!!!8217;t satisfied with.