Can we do this under permitted development?

[hummingbird12]

We are hoping to complete soon on a 2 bed bungalow that we are hoping to renovate and re jig to make a family home.

The bungalow had a small rear extension in 2000 for a utility and en-suite. Then a conservatory and detached garage in 2003. Both with approved planning.

We were hoping to knock down the conservatory and build a side extension (the length of the house and bring it out to the current width of the conservatory) under permitted development.

Is this something we can do?
I will be emailing the local planning department but just wanted to see if anyone had a similar experience.

It has a good size plot and no neighbours to that side of the house.

My parents did something similar and this was allowed under permitted development. Definitely check with your local council first.

The fact that both previous extensions needed PP would ring alarm bells for me. Assuming the bungalow is in England.

On the face it it, both would normally be pd, so there must be a reason that PP was required. And therefore it would likely be required for anything new.

Is it relatively modern? PD rights might have been removed when it was originally built.
Is it in a Conservation Area, or AONB or National Park?

I believe it's 1970's built. Not in a protected area or national park.
We can't work out why they applied for planning and thought rules potentially might have been different 20 years ago?

Yes we are in England 🙂

I thought that if an existing extension, PD can't be used?

I agree that if it was 30 years ago, they would have needed planning so that shouldn't be an issue to worry about.

Sometimes people apply for planning just for belt and braces. Can't see why that wouldn't be under permitted development as it's less than 50% of the current size and not two storey.

The main changes to do happened in 1995, with only tweaks since then. I'm fairly certain that at least one would've been pd under the old system anyway.
Planning authorities are not supposed to determine applications if they don't need PP. They can be converted into Certificate of Lawfulness applications.
Seems strange to me - unless pd rights have been removed totally.

We went for PP when we may have got away with PD as our house had already had extensions but we weren't sure of the exact increase of area compared to the original (or what the original was) so it seemed simpler just to do the paperwork to be sure.. Are the lounge and conservatory both add ons?

They might have gone for full planning previously to retain future PD rights.

Just the conservatory and then the en-suite/dressing room and utility at the back

I’m not sure I can fully interpret what you mean, but you might want to refer to this guidance that is a good summary with drawn examples of what is/is not permitted.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d77afc8e5274a27cdb2c9e9/190910_Tech_Guide_for_publishing.pdf

Read the planning portal. It looks likely that you would be able to under permitted development with the current rules. It depends on how high you want to go by the boundary and space on the plot.

The garden is quite big and it's wrap around so we wouldn't be anywhere near the boundary thankfully.

It doesn't work like that - all extensions eat into the pd limits

So along as we stick to PD limits on the original footprint of the house it should be okay?

I think you need to check with the Council. It still seems very strange to me that two previous extensions which look as though they could have been pd were the subject of planning applications.

Are you sure the lounge wasn't a previous extension?

Are there any roads surrounding the plot, apart from the one at the front?

Yes I will email them today thank you.
We do think it's odd also. Maybe they weren't aware of PD at the time. I'm not sure.
Hopefully council can confirm.

100% the lounge is original. We received the searches back yesterday and this included all the plans for the PP they applied for.

No roads. The property is at the bottom/behind a little culdesac. It's on a single track road that is only used by our driveway or people walking their dogs onto the fields (dead end for cars at the bottom)

Are you sure the original PP for the bungalow didn't remove pd rights? It sounds as though it might have been a bit of an infill property, and removing pd in the 1970s was quite common.

We applied for planning even though it was definitely under permitted development. Our architect said it was could to have that piece of paper.

The reply from our local planning department just said they advise to follow the guidance on PD and asking as the extension comes under PD rights then it can be done.

No comment on why the previous owners applied for planning so I'm one the wiser.

We are happy to apply for planning if need be. It's just a more drawn out process. He did say we can request the permitted development approval in writing from them so I think we will do that