Extention to the FRONT of a property?

[RambleOn]

Has anyone been given planning permission to an extention to the front of their property?

There is a property I fancy the location of, but is too small as it stands.

The back garden is medium sized, but the front garden enormous, and could take a single storey extention and still leave a sizeable garden but with less weeding iyswim.

It wouldn't affect the 'line' of the house fronts on the road, as it is the corner plot on the outside of a bend, and the houses are all higgledy-piggledy (technical term for all over the place)

If it's a corner plot it may have to meet both the street lines (even if other houses haven't it may still exist in the planners eyes)

Ask them (the planners) - that is the easiest way

Will they give me free advice on a house I don't even own?

There will be an offical building line even if it isn't immediately obvious. Should be shown on the title deeds (which you can download for a fee) or plans held at Planning Office. They can advise without you owning the property.

Great, thanks both

Yes, we had an extension built on the front and side of our house. No probs with planning permission at all, although it wasn't a very big extension (playroom, upstairs bathroom, bigger hall).

In this area, they have free weekly planning surgeries where you can go along with some photos and a basic plan (which you have drawn) and have a chat about whether it's likely to be approved.

You can usually get to see a planning officer for an informal chat as it saves them time on processing applications which haven't got a hope. I discussed our current house with the duty planning officer at our local council with only the estate agent's details as that was all I had at the time. Most councils will have a similar scheme.