‘Larger home extensions’ are single-storey extensions to the rear of a house that project to a depth of up to 6m (or 8m if it is a detached house) into the garden.
It is an addition to normal permitted development rights, that limit you to a depth of 3m (or 4m on a detached house).
To get the extra depth, you must make an application for prior approval. If none of your close neighbours object to your proposal, your application is automatically approved (the council is not given the power to object to it).
However, if there is an objection from a neighbour, the council does have the power to decide whether permission should be granted, and it is very common for them to refuse consent on the basis that a deep extension would harm neighbours to either side.
We have a good success rate appealing these refusals. The idea of prior approval applications is that they are light touch – permission should be granted where possible.
Appeal inspectors often agree with us that a single-storey extension is usually too low in height to cause any real harm.
In this case, we didn’t need to appeal at all! The client came to use after having applied for a larger home extension and been refused prior approval.
He had run out of time for an appeal so we resubmitted his application instead, this time adding a detailed supporting statement making the argument in favour of his proposal and providing details of several recent appeals in the area that had been successful under similar circumstances.
We were delighted when Redbridge Council agreed with our arguments and reversed their previous decision, granting permission for the new extension.If you have been refused planning permission for any kind of extension or other development, do not hesitate to get in touch with us for some advice.
