Planning Permission For Edwardian Conservatories

Will I need planning permission for my new conservatory?

At Conservatory Outlet we will take care of organising the planning permission if it is required. However for your information, below is a summary of the basic facts. Under present legislation, in most cases you will not need planning permission for a conservatory unless it is being added to a house that has already been extended. Also some ‘new build’ properties have restrictions put on them by the developers.

Below is a list of rules that will need to be followed to ensure your new conservatory remains exempt from planning permission.

• Your conservatory is less than 30 square meters in floor area and is built at ground level.
• A minimum of three quarters of the roof and half of the new wall needs to be either glazed or of a translucent material.
• The conservatory will need to be separated from the existing house by external quality doors.
• All applicable regulations must be followed for any glazing and fixed electrical installations.

From 1st October 2008 new rules for conservatories and extensions took affect which replaced the old rules and affect conservatories as follows:

• No extension forward of the principal elevation or side elevation fronting a highway. This means that any conservatory on the front or side of a house that will be closer to a public highway than the original house will need planning permission. A highway is any public right of way including footpaths. 
• Maximum depth of a single-storey rear extension of three metres for an attached house and four metres for a detached house. The width of a conservatory running along the back length of a house is not constrained at all unless it projects beyond the house which is constrained by rule 3. A house is only detached if there is no solid structure connecting it to a neighbour. A "link" house is therefore not detached nor would be two houses with a common garage. The rules on what counts as being detached have not changed from the previous ones.
• Side extensions to be single storey with maximum height of four metres and width no more than half that of the original house.
• Maximum eaves height of an extension within two metres of the boundary of three metres from the lowest point on the ground.
• No verandas, balconies or raised platforms.
• On designated land no permitted development for rear extensions of more than one storey; no cladding of the exterior; no side extensions.
• No more than half the area of land around the "original house" would be covered by additions or other buildings.
• Maximum height of a single-storey rear extension of four metres.

While permitted development rights now allow for the construction of many Edwardian conservatories without planning permission items 1 and 2 above may still limit their size and material construction if you want to avoid building regulations. If a conservatory you are building does not meet any of the above four rules then it will have to adhere to building regulations in full.

To talk to one of our Edwardian conservatory experts and find out more about necessary planning permission freephone 0800 915 8844

Please Note: the above Planning Permission & Building Regulations do not apply in Northern Ireland.  Please call for details.