Indoor Showroom

Conservatory Planning

At Greenway Home Improvements, we feel it is of great importance to offer sound advice to customers with regards to planning permission for conservatories. Should your PVC conservatory require planning permission, we will happily act as your agents for this and deal with the whole process on your behalf Will you require planning permission? In England and Wales you will not usually require planning permission, provided you do not exceed the "permitted development" limit for your property (which is 50-70 cubic metres, depending on where you live). Notable exceptions are listed buildings, conservation areas or properties with public access routes in the close vicinity such as footpaths or bridleways. Adding a PVC conservatory to the front of your property can also have planning implications. If your property has been extended in the past - you will have used up some or perhaps all of your ‘permitted development’ area and may need permission. It's also worth noting that occasionally ‘permitted development’ rights may be withdrawn from a property and any extension however small needs planning. If in doubt we can happily check for you and advise you accordingly - freephone 0800 163 369 for details on all Planning Permission requirements.

Do I need Planning Permission?

Greenway will take care of this for you, but for your information, here is a summary of the basic facts. In most cases you will not require planning permission for your conservatory under the present legislation, unless you are adding a conservatory to a house that has already been extended. You may also need to check if your house is a ‘new build’ as developers sometimes place restrictions on them.

You may be able to build quite a number of conservatories without planning permission that previously would have needed it. The following rules must be followed to remain exempt from them.

• They are built at ground level and are less than 30 square metres in floor area. 

• At least half of the new wall and three quarters of the roof is either glazed or translucent material.
 
• The conservatory is separated from the house by external quality door(s).
 
• Glazing and any fixed electrical installations comply with the applicable building regulations requirements.

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

1. 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.  

2. 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.
 
3. Side extensions to be single storey with maximum height of four metres and width no more than half that of the original house.
 
4. Maximum eaves height of an extension within two metres of the boundary of three metres from the lowest point on the ground.
 
5. No verandas, balconies or raised platforms.
 
6. On designated land no permitted development for rear extensions of more than one storey; no cladding of the exterior; no side extensions.
 
7. No more than half the area of land around the "original house" would be covered by additions or other buildings.
 
8. Maximum height of a single-storey rear extension of four metres.
 
While permitted development rights now allow for the construction of many 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.

Want more information on our PVC Conservatories

Click Here to contact us online or if you prefer, freephone 0800 163 369