The rules on permitted development are a bit of a grey area and the
legislation is probably one of the worst drafted in recent memory, I get the
feeling that it was intended to be like that! Here is a link to the government
website on such matters, this will bore you senseless:
http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/permission/responsibilities/planningpermission/permitted
But I know that what we all want is the rules set out in language we can all
understand. So, in plain and simple terms here is a potted summary of what
you should be able to do;
Detached Buildings
The construction and use of detached buildings in the garden of a house
offers huge possibilities for the creation of additional space. Although the
right to build outbuildings is restricted in Conservation Areas and AONB it
is not restricted in green belt areas and offers real potential to make
otherÂwise very restricted plots much more useful. The only limit to the
floor-space is that they do not cover more than half the garden area or
exceed four metres in height with a pitched roof or three metres with a flat
roof. The uses that they can be put to are very wide and limited only in the
same way as the use of the house itself. This is provided that the house and
its garden and outbuildings are only occupied as one residence.
So the best way of thinking about outbuildings is to consider them as parts
of the house – simply detached and located in the garden. Their uses can
include a games room, study, home office, additional lounge, workÂshop,
laundry, guest bedrooms etc. The fact that such outbuildings can be built to
resiÂdential standards, with cavity wall insulation and so forth does not
affect the need for planning permission and as I say, provided such
outbuildÂings are further than five metres from the house, not situated
between the house and any road and do not cover more than 50 percent of the
garden there are no limits in the area of floor space created.
It’s hard to understand why more people do not take advantage of the possibilities they
offer.
