Garden Room without planning - future Self Catering Use

[Colin K]

Planning to replace an existing garage with a new Garden Room for use by my elderly mother who is having difficulty getting upstairs.

Local planners will only give vague general advice.

See image attached:
- Existing
- Without Planning
- Future Self Catering planning aplication

Intending to build this without planning permission on the basis that the new room will NOT be fully self contained and my mother will need to come into the house for toilet / shower and washing machine.

Do one or both of these conditions meet the requirements to not need planning permission. I think either would qualify.
1. Kitchen will just be a microwave and kettle and sink. She will need to come into the house for main meals. Same for access to washing machine.
2. Shower and Toilet will be at back of existing main house kitchen (converting existing outside toilet and boiler house).

BUT
Does the fact that we plan to build a glass walkway joining the new garden room to the Toilet Shower area cause any planing issues?
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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_fqtak444jv9P3W0E4zui4O-kRyFmMUI/view?usp=sharing

My mother is 89 years old, so realistically she will not be around in 15 years.
Assuming existing planning rules still apply are we likley to be able to get "change of use" planning permission for the Garden Room for Self Catering Accomodation?

Self Catering accomodation needs full cooking, washing and bathroom facilities so we would add an oven and hob to the mini kitchen + a washing machine in the Toilet / Shower area - Thus Garden room + Toilet Shower would give guests totally separate self contained accomodation. Access via the shared driveway at side of house.

 

[^woody^]

I can't understand why you would need permission to do this conversion in the first place. It's not a change of use in planning terms.

But using it for self catering is a change of use and will need permission. The absence of which would have consequences for insurance as the building will be unlawfully used.

 

[LukeB123]

I think you will need permission for it if you are adding this glass "walkway".

You are effectively changing the outbuilding into an extension to the main dwelling house. The extension as a whole (glass walkway and outbuilding) is probably going to be too wide and too deep in comparison to the main dwelling to fall under permitted development (PD). If you didn't have the glass walkway (or a link to the dwelling), then the conversion of the garage is probably going to be PD.

The Self Catering bit is site / location dependant and probably not easy.

 

[IT Minion]

I have a similar layout at my current house for similar reasons. The way the previous owners managed to sort out the planning permission was to get the bungalow classed as a mobile home which meant a much simpler process. The bungalow is a fully self-contained dwelling otherwise.

Then again they were cowboys...

 

[Leofric]

What do the planners say about losing an off street parking space by converting the garage into a living room to start with ( I know most people don't put a car in the garage ) ? What parking space do you have if you lose the garage ? The planners should look favourably on the proposal to provide accommodation for an elderly relative otherwise. It shouldn't be too difficult to design the link to be acceptable for planning permission.

 

[Colin K]

Thanks for all the replies:
@woody I am hoping to build the Garden Room as a permitted development without requiring planning permission - but ...
As @LukeB123 suggests is the glass walkway joint garden room to back of existing house going to mean planning is required - and thus a new question, is there anything about all of the work that might cause planning to be refused?
@Leofric I have only spoken to planners in general terms, they will not be definitive unless I apply for planning, which is what I am trying not to do. They did not mention loss of garage, driveway could still hold 4 cars.

Any further comments on the glass walkway and future change of use for self catering are welcome.

EDIT: As I would want the covered walkway to be totally enclosed, probably double glazed, this article suggests that Planning would be required.

http://www.extensionbuild.co.uk/linking-extensions-with-other-buildings.html

Assuming that to be the case. Assuming we build the garden room without the need for planning permission, see original post, would we only be asking for planning permission for the covered walkway or for garden room and walkway, as both together would be an extension to the house? I suspect the latter.

In either case any opinions on starting the garden room and applying for planning permission before starting the covered walkway.

 

[^woody^]

Thanks for all the replies:
@woody I am hoping to build the Garden Room as a permitted development without requiring planning permission - but ...
As @LukeB123 suggests is the glass walkway joint garden room to back of existing house going to mean planning is required - and thus a new question, is there anything about all of the work that might cause planning to be refused?
@Leofric I have only spoken to planners in general terms, they will not be definitive unless I apply for planning, which is what I am trying not to do. They did not mention loss of garage, driveway could still hold 4 cars.

Any further comments on the glass walkway and future change of use for self catering are welcome.

EDIT: As I would want the covered walkway to be totally enclosed, probably double glazed, this article suggests that Planning would be required.

http://www.extensionbuild.co.uk/linking-extensions-with-other-buildings.html

Assuming that to be the case. Assuming we build the garden room without the need for planning permission, see original post, would we only be asking for planning permission for the covered walkway or for garden room and walkway, as both together would be an extension to the house? I suspect the latter.

In either case any opinions on starting the garden room and applying for planning permission before starting the covered walkway.

In that case, you would need to complete the garage conversion before applying to join it to the house.

 

[Colin K]

@^woody^ Thanks for your response. So would the planning application then only be for the walkway that Joins the garden room (garage conversion) and not include the garden Room?

 

[^woody^]

If the garden room can be done as PD, then your are better off doing that under PD, else there is a risk that planning permission could be refused if you applied for it.