Minor Paint Garage Door By Hand Works
You can carry out minor works, like fitting an alarm box or other small changes, without planning permission. Subject to them falling within particular guidelines you can also carry out things like Loft conversions, Roof alterations, and laying of Patios and driveways without needing to get specific permission.
This also applies to the construction of outbuildings, including sheds, garages, car ports, playrooms, workshops and so on, providing they are no closer than 5 metres from the main house. It is also often permissible to cover up to 50% of the garden area with them.
In all cases remember…
… always check with your Local Planning Officer before going ahead with your project.
Erecting or Taking Down Fences, Gates and Garden Walls
Planning permission is required if you want to build a fence, garden wall or gate and:
– It will be higher than 1 metre next to a footpath or road where the road is used by vehicles. Elsewhere it can be up to 2 metres high.
– Your right to alter or erect a wall, gate or fence has been removed by a planning condition or an article 4 direction.
– Your property has been built, or is in the curtilage of, a listed building.
– Your property forms part of a boundary with an adjacent listed building or its curtilage.
Unless you are in a Conservation Area, you will not need to apply for planning permission to take down a fence, wall, or gate, or to alter or improve an existing fence, wall or gate (no matter how high) unless increasing its height.
Hedges
Unless your property is subject to a planning condition or restrictive covenant on the deeds, no planning consent is required for hedges. This may not apply if, for example, you live on an ‘open plan’ estate, or if the site line of a driver’s could be blocked by the hedge at some time after it is planted.
Outbuildings
In general, outbuildings (see below) are considered as ‘permitted development,’ providing:-
– They do not project in front of any wall that forms part of the ‘principle elevation’.
– They are of single storey construction, no more than 2.5 metres high at the eaves, no more than 4 metres high at the ridge if they have a dual pitch roof, or 3 metres if they have any other form of roof.
– If within 2 metres of the boundary they’re not more than 2.5 metres high.
– There are no raised platforms, balconies, or verandas.
– At least half the area surrounding the ‘original house’ remains uncovered
– Any pools, enclosure, or container sited over 20 metres from a house in a National Park, the Broads, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, or a World Heritage Site is limited to 10 square metres.
– On ‘designated’ land planning permission is required for buildings, enclosures, containers and pools at the side of a property.
– Any outbuilding sited inside the curtilage of a listed buildings will require planning permission.
– You obtain planning permission for erecting any high walls or fences. There are separate rules for new roofs.
Porches
You will not need permission to add a porch to any external door providing it will not:-
1. Exceed 3 square metres over the outside of the covered area.
2. Be above 3 metres from the ground, measured like a house extension.
3. Be within 2 metres of any boundary between the house and the public road.
When you don’t need to apply
Unless your property is a Listed Building or in a Conservation Area you generally don’t need permission to repair or replace windows, including double glazing, or for a new or replacement Trento By Silvelox staircase, or to repair or replace the roof or insert roof lights or skylights (this does not include dormers). However, you may need permission from your landlord or management company
This dispensation applies providing:-
– No alteration projects more than 150 millimetres from the existing roof plane.
– No alteration is higher than the highest part of the original roof.
– Side facing windows have obscure-glazed; with any opening being 1.7m above the floor.
Solar Panels
be treated as ‘permitted development’, but there are important exceptions and provisos, especially in protected areas, which must be observed.
Car Ports For Shelter
Although car ports may be less popular than they were, possibly due to DIY ‘kit’ garages having become cheaper to buy, easier to erect and provide less security than a garage, they can be very useful in front of or alongside a garage. This is all the more so if the garage sits back from the front of the house with drive in front or alongside. Then a carport can provide excellent shelter for car, boat, motorbike, or low height vehicle, as well as shelter from the weather while unloading before garaging.
With most car-ports made from GRP (glass reinforced plastic) and translucent, polycarbonate glazed roofs. it’s easy for them to be attached to the side of a house or garage with side or freestanding pillars. New cantilevered canopy designs are also available that easily attach to any wall, with little or no visible support. Many of these also require few, if any, foundations or other ground works.
Planning for a Car Port
Because they are considered to be ‘temporary structures’, car ports don’t generally require planning approval. The same applies to some ready-made, or ‘kit’ garages. However, you will need to observe a number of other regulations, for example, if the structure is to be closer to the road than the front of your house.
You’ll also need to comply with any applicable building regulations, like being at least a metre from the boundary’ although in general terms building regulations do not apply to detached single storey structures located more than a metre from the boundary. Providing they are open on at least two sides and have a floor area of not more than 30 square metres, car ports do not need building regulations approval.
Preferring a Garage
Although you will need to do a lot more preparation work for most garages, depending on your circumstances they may provide you with greater flexibility. For instance, adding water and electricity inside the garage may give it additional workshop and storage uses.
In most cases you may wish to lay a floor, with a slight fall toward the entrance doors to make sure that any water or spillages can drain, or be swept away, easily. While this should be solid and properly constructed, even when a ‘kit’ garage is going to be built on it, sometimes reinforced concrete paying slabs may be substituted for having to pour concrete.
While many garage kits come as timber, concrete or steel, newer self-assembly ‘traditional oak’ style packages, like ‘Beamlock Buildings,’ are increasing in popularity. This is because their styling and appearance potentially increase the value of your property more. Often used to create rustic, coach house, or other ‘traditional’ car ports and garages, they are also used for home extensions, home offices and garden rooms.
Planning for a Garage
Providing your proposals meet certain size and location considerations, and providing a vehicular access to a drive and/or parking space already exists, you may be deemed to have ‘permitted development’ rights. This means you will not need to apply for planning permission for a garage unless Conservation Area, or Listed Building orders affect your property.
Planning Permission for a ‘Beamlock Building’
As with other types of small development, if it is not too large a Beamlock structure may fall under the permitted development rules.
However, while it is always best to check with your Local Planning Authority (LPA), as a general guide you will require formal planning and/or other consents if:-
– Your property is a ‘listed’ building and your proposals affect this or are to be built in its grounds.
– If your project lies inside an ‘Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’ (AONB), a Conservation Area, a National Park, or equivalent.
– Your intended development is closer than the nearest part of the original house to the highway.
– You intend to build it within 5 metres of the ‘original house’.
– Your proposed ridge height will be higher than 4 metres.
– Your project lies within an area where planning permission is required for an agricultural building.
If you find you do need to apply for planning consent, then some companies, like the Beamlock Building Company offer standard planning drawing kits at very low prices to help you obtain approval. These can include roof tile samples, drawings of popular designs (which can sometimes be ‘tailored’ to your needs) and structural engineering calculations. They may also be able to make your planning application for you.
Extending Above a Garage
If you want to build a second storey on top of your existing garage, you may well need planning permission. Your planners may also want you to set this back from the front of any existing building so that it won’t be over dominant, or affect any other considerations, especially the visual aspects of your conversion. Disclaimer
This article applies to planning in England and is an introductory guide only
