I am thinking of submitting one - anyone know what exactly is required?
Has Anyone Submitted Larger Extension Applications
- Thread starter DeludedAussie
- Start date
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A larger sheet of paper.... 
A
Aracus
How large is large? I did a £500k domestic extension a bit ago and the council didn't want much different from the norm... Drawings, application, D&A statement, materials schedule etc.
Granted there were more drawings involved with is being the size it was. Lots of scaled up details for external site detail, stairs & balusters etc
Granted there were more drawings involved with is being the size it was. Lots of scaled up details for external site detail, stairs & balusters etc
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I've just done a £750K extension to a terrace house in Moss Side and I only used A4. Next week I'm doing an inner-city office and retail complex - that might need A2, and the week after that I'm booked in for designing an empire, so I'm fairly busy at the moment and might not be able to post for a little while.
What I mean by this is greater then 4M - Its the new permitted ddevelopment process for large extensions coming into affect today
You write to the council telling them what you propose, including the distance out you are proposing to build, the maximum height, and the height of the eaves. You also have to send them a "plan" identifying the property and the extension.
The council will write to your immediate neighbours and give them 21 days to comment.
If they object, the council will almost certainly not give you approval and will suggest a planning application.
If the neighbours don't object, you can get stuck in.
What a ridiculous system.
The council will write to your immediate neighbours and give them 21 days to comment.
If they object, the council will almost certainly not give you approval and will suggest a planning application.
If the neighbours don't object, you can get stuck in.
What a ridiculous system.
Thanks - What format are these plans in exactly? Do they have to be elevation and side plans?
That's not clearly defined and every LA will be different no doubt, I checked a couple of LA's near me and none of them had any information on their websites about this.
There is no definition given in the legislation, but it does NOT include elevations.
There is no mention of scale, or that the drawing must be done on CAD or anything, only that it should be sufficient to identify the site and extension.
Few interesting points...
"If the local authority does not notify the developer of its decision within the
42-day determination period, the development may go ahead. "
It took our LPA 3 months just to acknowledge they had been sent a Pre-Application enquiry and that was with a LOT of chasing!
"To benefit from these permitted development rights, the extension must be
completed on or before 30 May 2016. The developer must notify the local
authority in writing of the date of completion."
What if you end up in a dispute with the builder and things grind to a halt?
"If the local authority does not notify the developer of its decision within the
42-day determination period, the development may go ahead. "
It took our LPA 3 months just to acknowledge they had been sent a Pre-Application enquiry and that was with a LOT of chasing!
"To benefit from these permitted development rights, the extension must be
completed on or before 30 May 2016. The developer must notify the local
authority in writing of the date of completion."
What if you end up in a dispute with the builder and things grind to a halt?
There is no definition given in the legislation, but it does NOT include elevations.
There is no mention of scale, or that the drawing must be done on CAD or anything, only that it should be sufficient to identify the site and extension.
What a lot of people arent realising is that you also still need to show compliance with all of the other permitted development regulations.
The change to the legislation only adds an extra paragraph which allows people to create longer extensions than normally permitted as long as they go through a process of "prior approval".
What this means is that councils WILL look for all the normal drawings they would expect with a certificate of lawful development application. So this should include site and block layouts as well as elevations. They may even ask for sections depending on the specific proposal - though I don't remember the last time I had to provide one for a CoLD.
In short, if you just submit a rough sketch with simple, and unsatisfactory information to assess the entire application - then it will be refused... because you will not have demonstrated that your proposal meets with the permitted development rights.
As an example, you will still need to adhere to height restrictions, garden area development, distance from boundaries etc... basically any other PD rules that would normally be applicable if you were doing a regular PD application... with the added benefit that you can extend the distance normally allowed.
Luis, with respect I think this is incorrect.
Even if a neighbour obects, the LPA is still only allowed to assess the proposal in terms of amenity.
They cannot lawfully ask for any further details than quoted in the new A4.
If a council refuses to 'validate' a prior notice which complies with the very simple requirements, it runs the risk of the 42-day period expiring. The extension could then be built and if the LPA raised a legal challenge, they could well loose it if the developer could show he had submitted a 'plan' [note, not 'plans'] and the three simple measurements.
LPAs will have to be very careful on this and be promptin writing to neighbours
Its all very confusing, and I think I see where we see things differently; it all comes down to whether or not the information provided to the council is done so under a certificate of lawful development application or not.
The way things are it seems like you can choose either yes or no to this!
If you choose to go by a CoLD then you would almost certainly need to supply additional drawings anyway in order that the council can assess whether the proposal is actually lawful or not.
If you choose NOT to apply under a CoLD then I think you are be right in that you would only need the most basic of plans and descriptions. However, you would not be told or made aware if your application is lawful or not. The councils responsibility is only to notify neighbours. This means that if for whatever reason your proposal is actually unlawful the council will not tell you.
However, if anyone raises an objection the council would then be within their rights (paragraph 6) to ask for more information, and if you would not be able to provide this within the time frame they could refuse it based on your lack of information. Seeing as a neighbour could object on day 21, the council could message you on that last day and if you could not furnish them with all the info they could refuse it without you getting a chance!
In addition, because you would not be applying under a CoLD you would not gain any certificate to show that the works would be lawful. This could be risky considering that the rules are only temporary. However, the result is that I can see a lot of enforcement teams going out on the prowl and identifying where construction work is starting without paperwork. They would then serve an enforcement notice and you would have to prove it is lawful - I'm sure you are aware that the CoLD charge for a development that has already begun is 2x as much. As touched on above, because the council have no obligation to notify you of the lawfulness of the prior approval, they could let you start building an unlawful extension before hitting you with an enforcement notice... which would not only net them the CoLD fees, but also the planning fees you will need to make once the CoLD gets refused because it isnt right.
It really is a right royal mess.
Its not worth applying for prior approval to build 6-8m and then applying for a CoLD, because the council would notify neighbours again and they'd get another chance to stop you, so I would suggest that the best way would always to be to simply apply for a CoLD, and supply all of the normal drawings and information we normally would. Allow the nighbours the chance to object or not, and at the end of the day also get a certificate to show you are within your legal rights (importantly this is date stamped so you can prove that it happened during the temporary rules).
The way things are it seems like you can choose either yes or no to this!
If you choose to go by a CoLD then you would almost certainly need to supply additional drawings anyway in order that the council can assess whether the proposal is actually lawful or not.
If you choose NOT to apply under a CoLD then I think you are be right in that you would only need the most basic of plans and descriptions. However, you would not be told or made aware if your application is lawful or not. The councils responsibility is only to notify neighbours. This means that if for whatever reason your proposal is actually unlawful the council will not tell you.
However, if anyone raises an objection the council would then be within their rights (paragraph 6) to ask for more information, and if you would not be able to provide this within the time frame they could refuse it based on your lack of information. Seeing as a neighbour could object on day 21, the council could message you on that last day and if you could not furnish them with all the info they could refuse it without you getting a chance!
In addition, because you would not be applying under a CoLD you would not gain any certificate to show that the works would be lawful. This could be risky considering that the rules are only temporary. However, the result is that I can see a lot of enforcement teams going out on the prowl and identifying where construction work is starting without paperwork. They would then serve an enforcement notice and you would have to prove it is lawful - I'm sure you are aware that the CoLD charge for a development that has already begun is 2x as much. As touched on above, because the council have no obligation to notify you of the lawfulness of the prior approval, they could let you start building an unlawful extension before hitting you with an enforcement notice... which would not only net them the CoLD fees, but also the planning fees you will need to make once the CoLD gets refused because it isnt right.
It really is a right royal mess.
Its not worth applying for prior approval to build 6-8m and then applying for a CoLD, because the council would notify neighbours again and they'd get another chance to stop you, so I would suggest that the best way would always to be to simply apply for a CoLD, and supply all of the normal drawings and information we normally would. Allow the nighbours the chance to object or not, and at the end of the day also get a certificate to show you are within your legal rights (importantly this is date stamped so you can prove that it happened during the temporary rules).
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