Planning permission for adding another storey in green belt

[steveinoz01]

Hi

I am seriously considering buying a property that was once a bungalow but has been extended on the ground level a little and in 2011 had the roof raised by about 1 metre to add two more bedrooms upstairs in a kind of loft conversion. There is now potential to raise the roof over the lounge to the same height as it can be accessed from the new upstairs extension that has already been done.

My concern is that the property is the countryside in an area classified as greenbelt and I can see this was mentioned when the current owners applied for planning to do the initial roof raising extension.

Finally getting to my question....do you think the planners will consider the plan to raise the lounge roof to the same level as the new extension as a step to far in greenbelt or has the new extension set a good precedent for doing this to the lounge?

There are still parts of the house that remain single storey and I will not be increasing the footprint of the house. The sole neighbour is unlikely to object as their bungalow faces away from this property.

Just after opinions of anyone that has dealt with properties in greenbelt.

Thanks.

 

[wessex101]

Difficult to answer, each planning authority will have their own Green Belt policy so best to have a chat with a local architectural designer who should be familiar with the local policy. As a last resort speak to the planners themselves but I generally find their advice to be so non-committal that it is virtually useless. If you fancy a bit of light bed time reading you should be able to find the local policy on the Council's website in the Planning section but they are usually pretty hard going with plenty of planning gobbledigook thrown in for good measure.

I'm working on a similar project at the moment and the local authority has really cracked down on their green belt policy. 5 years ago they were very relaxed about it and it was quite easy to get permission. Now they are refusing everything, even single storey extensions and garages, a few are getting through on appeal though so all is not lost.

 

[^woody^]

"Modest and appropriate" tend to be used by council's to describe what is allowed in the green belt. The actual location of the property and its surroundings will be a factor.

Whether the previous extensions are enough and they want to prevent development creep, is something that only the council can decide. But the principle of raising a roof above a small extension to match an adjoining roof, should not have a massive impact on the area.

 

[tony1851]

Unless your permitted development rights have been removed, you can still extend using pd.
Quite often, you can get larger extensions under permitted development than many councils allow for
development in the green belt.

 

[Nakajo]

Here's a recent illustration of tony1851's point (apologies if this page is subscription only - I can't remember)http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...tem/8683281.article+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

 

[steveinoz01]

Thanks everybody for your input. It sounds as though there is hope to make some changes to the property using PD even if the council don't like the idea of extending over the ground floor lounge area.

Thanks again.