Planning permission question

[Sameolesame]

We want to do a double storey side extension that is flush with the front of the house as it stands. Someone mentioned that we may need to step the extension back and that in recent times councils do not permit build side extensions that at come level with the front of houses. Anyone know about this and what the logic for this policy might be?

This would mean a not very attractive roof line as the roof of the extension can’t blend seamlessly with the rest of the existing roof.

This is certainly true where I live but I have no idea on the reasoning. Perhaps to stop the street scene from appearing like a terrace?

Take a look at your councils planning pages online.

Around here a lot of extensions are stepped back and the roof lines never match. They like the extension element to stand out. Sometimes they make exceptions. But your architect wiil probably know better which way your planning department leans.

Planners appear to like it to look like it's an add on, rather than part of the original build, not sure why as I think it looks silly but there you go. We managed to get our extension flush to the front of the house. My husband had a consultation with the planners before we submitted plans so we had a good idea what they would accept. Not sure if these are allowed in the current climate. We explained what we wanted (an extra two proper double sized bedrooms) and they agreed that we could have it flush so it didn't go back too far (end plot so side of the house is seen from the street). The roof line still looks silly but better than it would have done.

Have a look at the extensions in your area. They are often a good guide to what is allowed.

We are having a side extension built at the moment. When we had a meeting with the architect in January to draw up the plans, she said we could either have the roof line matched up all the way across and the extension stepped back, or the front of the house inline and the roof stepped down. We couldn't have both.
We chose to go with the roof line, but the front of the house is only stepped back about 20cm so we didn't lose too much space

We were granted planning permission last week for a 2 storey side extension; it is flush with the house however the roof line had to be different according to our architect. As a pp said it is avoid the "terraced" look.

Our architect says it’s 50:50 they would allow it to be flush but it’s hard to put a case forward if we don’t understand what their logics for stepping back is in the first place.

I agree it just looks silly.

@chocolatepudandchocolatesauce would you kindly say more about what your case was that led the council to grant you the permission? Did you do this recently? Was it mainly that you wanted big rooms?

Our house is semi detached and attached to only one other house. The house we are attached to has a flush side extension but that was done in the 1970s. We want ours to look the same otherwise it would look odd.

We are semi too and on a corner plot. To have two good sized bedrooms it needed to be a certain length. If stepped back it made the side of the property look longer which apparently could affect the look of the street/the junction. My husband explained the point of the extension was to get the good sized bedrooms (why build a box room?!?) and luckily they agreed so the only option was to allow the extension to move forward to be flush. I hope that makes sense!! This was 7 years ago. I'd say if your neighbours have an extension that is flush you could argue the street scape would look silly if they weren't the same. Appeal to their better nature. Also.... Ask for more so it looks like you are willing to compromise, so you actually get what you wanted ;)

It’s national policy designed so you can see the original house and so it prevents a terracing effect. It looks silly on some houses but if you’d bought a semi and then a neighbour extended right up to the boundary, flush with their house and made it look like a mid terrace you’d be annoyed and your property would be worth less.
Submit the one not stepped back or down then negotiate a small step back. They will negotiate rather than out right reject it.

Re read the last update: Balancing the look of your two properties (ie you and the neighbour) is good justification. Get your architect to draw a balanced flush extension and an unbalanced one.

Our LEA has an SPD4 document which talks about eroding the sense of space around the property / the street scene and the character of the property. It says 2 storey side extensions should *Retain minimum of 1m to side
boundary for two storey and
first floor side extensions

• - Maintain gaps for glimpses of

sky and greenery in the street scene

• - Extensions should not usually

be flush with the front elevation*

Sorry, meant LA and bold fail

OP it looks as though our LA's policy was adopted in 2012 so 8 yrs ago. Could your neighbours have got permission before a similar change?

For what it's worth, we got planning permission for a double storey side extension but had to step it back but only by 22cm.

Thank you all for your very helpful responses. I will try and build in room for compromise. I do think it looks silly if ours does not match the neighbours as these two houses are connected by stand separate on their own as two semi detached houses.

Maybe get your architect to show the other semi attached to yours in the front from the street view of his drawings?

Hello, can I jump on here and ask if this is also the case for a detached house? The house we are in the process of buying is detached and we are hoping to do a two storey side extension on it. Thanks.

Ours is detached in its own plot and the planners wanted us to step it back, it would have looked ridiculous, our neighbours were really concerned about it as they really did not want our house to look like it was extended from the front, so this came is useful when arguing our case, the planning department approved our plans but it was a battle.

Ariela we will ask him to do that.

My husband just reminded me that the house we are attached to it’s extension is actually stepped forward. Am I right it thinking this might test the generosity of the council 😀? What they did many moons ago is step the extension forward so it was flush with the bay window while the door entrance portion sits slightly back between the two. I hope this makes sense.

Notearforme yours might be easier but I honestly have no clue. The others here are more knowledgeable.

@NoTeaForMe

Hello, can I jump on here and ask if this is also the case for a detached house? The house we are in the process of buying is detached and we are hoping to do a two storey side extension on it. Thanks.

Our house is detached plus on a corner and although we could have the front flush, the roof line had to be different however I would assume it depends on your LA.

I’ve been thinking about this some more and I get the point about the terrace house look to semi detached extension. However there is no chance of this happening with our extension so I hope it’s not a blanket rule as a starting hurdle that we have to overcome. I’m worried to hear that they apply this even to fully detached houses.

The side we are not attached to has a gate and we also have a gate. There is a mighty space between the two houses. You could drive a big truck between them. The house we are attached to is at end of plot with a huge green space next to it.

I’m nervous but I have hope.

I could be wrong but I think it is the starting point and you have to justify where the LA should deviate from it.