Replace pebbledash with smooth white render - permission required?

[Tgeorge]

The semi detached house we have just exchanged on is rendered in grey pebbledash as are most houses in the close including the attached neighbour

My family hate the pebbledash and we want to replace it with smooth white or off-white render along with some other building works we have to do before we move in.

It is not in a conservation area or a listed house. While in the close, only one has partially rendered their house (porch and ground floor below the windows), in the street leading to the close where the houses are of the same style, a few have done a smooth render.

My question is - do I need any form of permission from the council? And if so, is it likely to be refused?

 

[DevilDamo]

Under PD, they state the external finish has to be ‘similar’, which is a bit of an open ended term and down to individual interpretation. Render with render could therefore be deemed similar and therefore not requiring formal Planning.

 

[tony1851]

I think the requirement for 'similar' materials only applies to extensions.
A2 states that (in a conservation area) it is not PD to clad any part of the exterior of a dwellinghouse with stone, artificial stone, pebble-dash, render, plastic etc. So the inference is that on buildings outside article 2(3) land, you can clad the frontage in whatever you want.
Similarly for external wall insulation - it more-or-less has to be rendered.

 

[Tgeorge]

@DevilDamo, @tony1851, many thanks. Overall it sounds encouraging. I will go ahead hack off the existing pebbledash and replace with a smooth render.

 

[JP_]

I will be doing same soon, and don't plan to seek permission. The back of the house (extension) has nice monocouche, the front 1930s painted pebbledash that is dirty and flaking. Can't see why I'd need planning permission to make the front of my house as pretty as the back!

 

[Tgeorge]

I will be doing same soon, and don't plan to seek permission. The back of the house (extension) has nice monocouche, the front 1930s painted pebbledash that is dirty and flaking. Can't see why I'd need planning permission to make the front of my house as pretty as the back!

I was not aware much about rendering options but looked up monocouche and it looks great. It has a texture especially the "rough cast" finish looks like it can be passed off as "similar" to pebbledash

 

[JP_]

also means you never need to paint it.

 

[^woody^]

PD for render? LOL

Anyway, this is a thermal element and building regs apply under L1b

 

[DevilDamo]

I think the requirement for 'similar' materials only applies to extensions.
A2 states that (in a conservation area) it is not PD to clad any part of the exterior of a dwellinghouse with stone, artificial stone, pebble-dash, render, plastic etc. So the inference is that on buildings outside article 2(3) land, you can clad the frontage in whatever you want.
Similarly for external wall insulation - it more-or-less has to be rendered.

A.3(a) states…

“the materials used in any exterior work (other than materials used in the construction of a conservatory) shall be of a similar appearance to those used in the construction of the exterior of the existing dwellinghouse”

 

[tony1851]

A.3(a) states…

“the materials used in any exterior work (other than materials used in the construction of a conservatory) shall be of a similar appearance to those used in the construction of the exterior of the existing dwellinghouse”

Agree 100%.
A3 clearly refuses different materials, while in refusing such materials in conservation areas, A2 implies that they could be used elsewhere.
As is often the case, the rules are contradictory.