Diy Conservatory Planning Permission

Conservatory Planning Permission and Building Regulations.
By far the majority of conservatories in England and Wales are exempt from Building Regulations approval and many from Planning Permission.

Planning Permission
Conservatories, sun lounges and garden room extensions are all extensions to the home and in planning terms aren’t treated any differently to any other extension which means that you have the same opportunity to avoid planning permission through Permitted Development (PD) rights. These rights give you the opportunity to extend your home up to a certain size without Planning Permission but there are conditions to them and once they are used up they are gone. So if you’ve already used your quota to extend you can’t use them again if this conservatory addition exceeds the limits.

The following is an overview of the exemption categories current in 2004. Because the law in this respect is prone to change, it should be considered only as a guide. For a full and definitive statement of the law, consultation should be made to the relevant and current statutory instrument at time of planning.

Planning Permission may or may not be required for your conservatory addition. A house which has not been extended before might still have PD rights. The law changes regularly as to what constitutes PD and you should always check with your local Planning Authority for the current criteria and how your home and this proposal relate to it. Even if you don’t need permission, it pays to get this fact in writing from them, either by letter or a Lawful Development Certificate. They will only do this on receipt of a letter accompanied by a detailed plan and in some cases a fee. The plan should show the size of the addition and its position on your home and should be fully dimensioned and not simply drawn to scale.

Under the Town & Country Planning Act 1990 (General Development Order) current guidelines for Permitted Development of Domestic Additions in England and Wales are as follows (variations in Scotland under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development)(Scotland) Order 1992).

Ground-level additions (conservatory, garden room, sun lounge etc.) which are:
No higher than the highest part of the existing roof or:
When it is within 2 m of your property boundary it is in no part higher than 4 m
Adding less than 50 cu m to the volume of your home

General cases
Upper-level additions (conservatory, sun lounge etc) to the roof in which:
The addition will add less than 50 cu m to the volume of your house
The addition is to a roof slope that does not face the highway
The addition does not increase the height of the roof

Special cases
Are terraced houses and also properties in the following designated areas; Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Conservation Area, Norfolk and Suffolk broads

The addition is no bigger than 10 per cent of the existing house (including the roof) in volume (Scotland – in floor area) or 50 cu m(Scotland – 16 sq m floor area)(whatever is the greater) and definitely no bigger than 115 cu m in volume (Scotland – 30 sq m floor area)

An addition to the roof such as a dormer window is only exempt in the case of terraced houses if it is no bigger than 40 cu m in volume.

NOTE: In the other special areas listed above, Planning Permission will be required

In all cases volume is measured externally and includes roof space

That no part of your addition is nearer to a public highway than any part of the existing house unless it is at least 20 m away from your finished house (as extended)

There are no permitted development rights for additions to or in the grounds of Listed Buildings. Listed Building Consent will be needed.

No Article 4 directive is in force on your property or the Permitted Development rights have been removed (they are sometimes in Conservation Areas, on new housing developments or contaminated sites where greater control is needed for some reason or another)

Some facts worth noting:
Conservation Areas are defined as “areas of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance”

They are designated by the local authority in consultation with parish councils, local amenity societies and the general public. Developers can be a little remiss in pointing out to new home owners that they have no PD rights imposed by the development’s Planning Permission. It could after all devalue a property in some people’s eyes. The information will be included on the deeds to your home but you should check with the planning department as to the detail. If PD rights have been removed, it could mean that you need Planning Permission to erect anything from a fence or a garden shed upwards.

Areas of Special Control exist in some parts of the UK, which, although too small to be considered as Conservation Areas, have been designated so to protect their architectural or historical value. Permitted Development will be affected.

Farmhouses are not usually considered as Domestic Dwellings for planning purposes.
Additions to council houses will also require permission of the local authority housing Dept. Even subsequently bought council houses may carry restrictive covenants to this effect.

Because the first Town and Country Planning Act came in on 1 st July 1948, anything built on or after that date in the way of extensions, porches, garages etc. counts towards your permitted development quota and if your property has had any add-ons since 1 st July 1948 you might not have any PD rights left at all. If this is the case, you may only recover PD by demolishing some or all of the old buildings in the same category.

In England & Wales, the local planning authority will notify your neighbours of your proposals either by letter, advertisement in the local press or a notice displayed nearby. In Scotland, it is your responsibility as the applicant to consult the neighbours and submit their signed comments to the Planning Department. Forms for this purpose are usually acquired with the Planning Application forms and should be returned completed when the application is made. In the former, interested parties have a couple of weeks to lodge their objections if they have any. It is therefore sometimes beneficial to show your plans and consult with them beforehand.

Many people and organisations are consulted in the planning process – parish councils, environmental groups etc – and it takes some time for all comments to be collected. If there are any objections, it does not necessarily mean that your addition will be refused. It does mean that it will be presented at a planning committee or sub-committee meeting and will thus be decided by elected councillors rather than by delegated powers (i.e. by Planning Officers). In reality the case officer will prepare a short report and make a recommendation which more often than not will be adopted. You should be entitled to see any such report together with any consultees comments but you will not be sent them automatically, so make enquiries and ask.

In Northern Ireland planning applications are made to the Dept. of the Environment for Northern Ireland who have six divisional offices where they consult with local authorities. Conditions are attached to planning e.g. the work must start within 5 years, samples of materials must be submitted for approval etc.

Refused Planning Permission In the event of your application being refused Planning Permission, try to establish from your Planning Officer what the exact nature of the objection was and if a revision may be beneficial. If this fails the only recourse is to appeal to the Secretary of State, Dept of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

An appeal can take 4-5 months for the inspector to visit the site then a further 2-3 months after the visit before a decision is issued. Appeals are free if you make them yourself but Planning Consultants who specialise in planning applications will make a charge – think carefully as their fees may not be proportional to the benefits. If you do decide to appeal, time scales are set and full and comprehensive documentation must accompany appeals. It may be due to the design, neighbour objection, extra addition to the home etc. The Local Authority Ombudsman is the complaints body should you wish to accuse the local planning authority of maladministration. The decision on your case will be made on grounds of neglect not refusal of your application.

Planning considerations include: Overlooking
If your addition includes windows that overlook a neighbouring property, the Planning Officer may consider that in doing so they encroach upon the privacy of the people living there. The only solution is to design them as high-level windows with the bottom cill height at least 1.78m above the finished floor level.

Design The visual appearance of the addition is of prime consideration and one which is often the cause of much disagreement. “Good” design is often at variance between the home owner and Planning Officer.

ScaleThis is important and may relate as much to the amount of available room in your garden as to the impact on the existing property. The Planning Officer may decide the addition is too big and overdeveloped.

Home Office SpaceShould you wish to use the addition as space for a home office you do not necessarily need Planning Permission to change from dwelling to business use. It remains principally your home as long as the majority of the property remains as such but as soon as the majority of the property is given over to offices, and perhaps staff, the definition alters.

Listed Building PermissionIf you live in a Listed Building, you will need to apply separately for Listed Building Consent. No fee is charged unlike ordinary ones which are around £115 and go up frequently. The work is zero rated for VAT purposes.

Building RegulationsThe vast majority of conservatories built in England, Wales & Northern Ireland are exempt from complying with the Building Regulations. Building Regulations impose health and safety, energy conservation and accessibility requirements onto the built environment and providing you meet these minimum standards in the design and construction of any controlled addition you will receive Building Regulation Approval.

Exempt Criteria for Conservatories Building regulations 2000 (as amended) England & Wales Building regulations (Northern Ireland) 2000

The exemption categories that include conservatories are described below:-
A conservatory, porch, covered yard or covered way no greater than 30 sq m internal floor area, are exempt if the glazing meets the requirements of Part N or Part V (Northern Ireland)

Part N is the approved document in England & Wales (Part V in Northern Ireland) that gives advice on the use of safety glass in critical locations, so conservatories are only exempt if safety glass is used in these critical zones. If it isn’t, an application is required and the Building Control Officer will require you to use safety glass in these areas. A definition of a conservatory for exemption hasn’t been published in England & Wales although some regions express their definitions of what they view as necessary.

Scotland has its own published set of regulations and requirements but in all cases in the UK, for conservatories to be exempt safety glass must be used in all critical locations.

Should your proposed addition not fit the exemption criteria you will need to comply with the Building Regulations and submit an application to them.

Applying for Full Plans Approval
Once a full and detailed technical specification is forwarded for approval, you will be advised if further amendments or additional information is needed and whether these then become conditions of the approval. If they are deficient in the extreme or contravene any regulations they will be rejected. You may then re-submit at no extra fee.

Rejection of plans and determinations
Because the requirements of the Regulations are functional requirements there is some scope for deciding what constitutes compliance and what doesn’t. If you feel your design has been unjustly refused on the basis of standards or accepted guides such as British or European Standards and BAA (British Board of Agreement) certificates, you can appeal to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister for a determination. As with a planning appeal the OPDM will consider both sides of the argument and make an informed decision on which to support in a written determination – a judgement as a referee and a legally binding one. You can only use this procedure at the design stage on a refused Full Plans Application. This is a lengthy process so allow plenty of time.

Advice on Building Regulations
If you need any advice on particular requirements of the Building Regulations, the Building Control Section of your local authority will be able to help. Each “Approved Document” deals with different issues e.g. structure, fire spread, resistance to weather and ground moisture etc. These can be found in public libraries for your consultation.

Building control on site
It is a requirement of the Building Regulations that you or your builder notifies the Building Control Officer at various stages of the work and leaves the work at these stages exposed for inspection before covering it up and continuing. Failure to give such notice may mean that you are required to break open and expose the work for inspection later. Notice should be in writing and most authorities provide cards that can be used for this purpose. A fax, e-mail or telephone can be used to give notice of inspections but do not continue with the work until these inspections have been carried out even if they are late. The role of Building Control Officers is solely to spot check that minimum standards have been met – not the quality of the work.

Completion Certificates
These certificates are evidence that your work complied with the requirements of the Building Regulations in its construction. Once the work is finished a Completion Certificate should be sought from your Building Control office. This is a valuable piece of paper which you will need should you sell the property – it is a statement.

What if you or a previous owner built an addition without getting the necessary permission?
First, check to see if permission was needed. There are procedures for correcting unauthorised work if it wasn’t done too long ago.

If you discover that the addition should have had Planning Permission and didn’t you can normally make an application retrospectively. If the planning authority decides that the work isn’t acceptable and breaches planning controls, they will refuse permission. Normally, this would mean that you would be advised formally of the reasons for refusing it and what measures you need to take to remedy the breach. They would set a date by which this corrective work would need to be completed.

They may implement this enforcement by way of a condition imposed on your Planning Permission or they may refuse permission and serve an enforcement notice. Conditions of approvals are enforceable and if you don’t meet them the authority has the power to serve a breach of Condition Notice on you.

You will have the right to appeal against this notice – until the appeal is decided by the Secretary of State the notice is suspended and unenforceable.

With regard to a breach of Condition Notice, there is no right of appeal and you run the risk of prosecution if you fail to comply with it. You can, however, apply to the planning authority to have a condition removed.

Building regulations have been in their current format since November 1985 and if the work was done after then and doesn’t meet the exemption criteria you are eligible to apply for a Regularisation Certificate. This is a retrospective approval and is not available for any additions built before this date.

Alas it is not just paying a fee and waiting for the certificate to arrive as the Building Control Officer will have to inspect the work and this could mean exposing parts of the construction. He will need to assess the structural design of the addition and you might be required to provide structural calculations and details justifying this element. Weather resistance, insulation, ventilation and fire safety issues will be on the agenda.

It is very important to acquire the certificate for two reasons – one being you will need it if you want to sell your home and two it may represent a threat to the health of family and friends.