Planning permission for extensions not needed from 1/10/08

[wolfman]

Source: DCLG
Published Wednesday, 1 October, 2008 - 09:26
 
 Improving your home just became a whole lot easier for tens of thousands of families Housing and Planning Minister Caroline Flint announced today.
Following regulations laid on the 10 September the new planning rules coming in effect today mean that the majority of homeowners will no longer need to get planning permission to extend their home.
The changes allow people to extend their home up and out for the first time without needing to pay the costs (up to £1000) or wait weeks to get planning permission to start building.
About 80,000 households will now find it easier to improve their homes because they no longer have to go through the bureaucratic hurdles of the planning system.
Importantly carefully calculated size limits on these permitted extensions mean the new rules strike the right balance between helping homeowners to better their home and protecting neighbours against larger inappropriate or intrusive extensions.
Finding out what the planning requirements are has never been easier thanks to a new interactive house guide that helps people who want to improve their home ensuring no one falls foul of the new rules.
The website http://www.planningportal.gov.uk/uploads/hhg/houseguide.html guides users round the planning permission rules for homes from everything at the front and back of house through to each floor inside.
All people have to do is click on the part the house they are changing whether it's a loft conversion, the driveway, solar panels, fencing, or even the bathroom and a pop up explains all the new rules.
Housing and Planning Minister Caroline Flint said:
"From today people will find it has become much easier to convert the loft and build on an extension.
"The changes the government has made will mean about 80,000 households a year no longer have to get planning permission.
"At a time when the whole country is counting their pennies carefully any room to make a saving on stretched family finances is particularly welcome.
In addition the changes today mean that anyone who wants to put in a new driveway or parking area over five square metres will not require planning permission if they use surfaces that allow the water to soak through the ground.
Two thirds of the homes affected by the floods last year (about 55, 000) were due to surface water run-off causing £3bn of damage. Surface water flooding can be easily avoided by using permeable surfaces such as concrete block paving with gaps, porous asphalt or gravel, wheel track only paving or through installation of 'soak-away' systems.
By using only permeable surfacing homeowners can reduce the negative impact of surface water drainage on their properties making flooding significantly less likely.
Ms Flint added:
"Many homes also need better protection against flooding which is why the changes promote permeable surfaces for driveways that allow surface water drainage - a major factor in recent floods."

[wolfman]

Fran Yeoman
Families who need more space but can’t afford to move to a bigger house will find it easier to expand into the loft or to build an extension after the Housing Minister announced changes to planning law.
About 80,000 homeowners a year will no longer need planning permission for extensions to their homes, Caroline Flint claimed yesterday.
The real winners are expected to be those who cannot get a mortgage for a bigger home or sell their present property because of the credit crunch.
The Government said that reducing red tape will also save the taxpayer up to £50 million by removing almost a quarter of planning applications from overburdened local authorities.
From October 1 single-storey extensions up to four metres deep can be built without permission on detached properties. On smaller homes, three-metre extensions will be permitted. There will no longer be a maximum volume for a rear extension that can be built without permission, and the rules governing loft conversions and extensions will also change.
In an attempt to reduce flooding from surface water run-off, which caused £3 billion of damage last summer and was a factor in two thirds of the homes affected, new driveways or parking areas will not require planning permission if a permeable material is used.
The new regulations were welcomed last night by the Federation of Master Builders and the Local Government Association, which said that they would give a much needed boost to the construction industry and reduce the workload for council planning departments.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors also welcomed the new regulations but said that they would not remove controversy from the process of home improvement.
Andrew Warner, a spokesman for the institute, said: “An Englishman’s home remains very much his castle. Household applications are notoriously contentious and there will always be concerns regarding privacy, overlooking and a loss of amenity. It is often not the size of an extension but the ability to overlook which causes contention.
“Concerns also remain that planning departments across the country are still under-resourced. To reduce the application input into the system by 80,000 will not significantly compensate local authorities for a severe lack of funding.”
Householder planning applications have more than doubled since 1995 to an annual total of almost 330,000.
Recent research by LV, the insurer,suggested that almost 1.5 million households will have an extension built, or at least draw up plans for one, over the next year.
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