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What Does Forming a Side Elevation Mean?
Any proposal you are considering that falls under Permitted Development have guidelines to follow, this article will explain the pitfalls of if your house is in line with a successful application. When homeowners call in it is first news to them when we advise them that a typical Permitted development design cannot be applied for on their house due to the rear external wall having a recess or indent which forms a sidewall. The homeowner is then confused with this area affected by the PD rule which needs to be followed. "The Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015" allows designs but not if the rear wall forms a side wall.
BAY WINDOWS OR A STAGGERED REAR WALL?
No bay windows or staggered formation on wall is permitted
No change in levels is permitted as 3 meters is max height
THE REAR ELEVATION WALL OF YOUR PROPERTY NEEDS TO BE FLUSH (IN ONE STRAIGHT LINE) AND WITH THE EXTERNAL GROUND LEVEL SIMILAR TO THAT IN LEVEL TO THE MAIN HOUSE INTERNAL LEVEL NOT EXCEEDING 3 METERS EXTERNALLY FROM GROUND TO PROPOSED ROOF OF EXTENSION
The rule of Any extension forward of the principal elevation line will not be permitted development and will require an application for planning permission. This means that the principal elevation could include more than one wall facing in the same direction - for example, where there are large bay windows or windows on the rear elevation wall, or where there is an ‘L’ shaped frontage. In such cases, all such walls will form the
principal elevation and the line for
determining what constitutes ‘extends beyond
a wall will follow these walls.
SIDE ELEVATION
PROPOSED 4 METER SINGLE STOREY REAR EXTENSION 3 METERS HIGH - REFUSED
EXAMPLE OF A REFUSAL WITH ALL COMMUNICATIONS TO APPEAL STAGE
CASE OFFICER:
Thank you for your email regarding the amendment. I appreciate your frustration regarding the definition of a side wall and I agree that the GPDO and supporting Technical Guidance provides a rather vague definition. We will get back to you shortly.
CASE OFFICER:
Dear Appolicant,
Thank you for your email.
After discussing the proposals with management, we are remaining in our view that the existing bay window to the rear of the property would be of a substantial depth, 1 metre when measured on the plans, to constitute a side wall at the property. It is the interpretation of the council, of what constitutes a side wall, that although the wall is angled, a depth of 1 metre is significant enough to constitute a sidewall that protrudes and creates a side elevation from the rear wall. It is due to the depth that the wall “cannot be identified as being a front wall or a rear wall” and would, therefore, fail to comply with Class A(j) of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015.
I acknowledge that you noted your neighbour at No. 9 benefitting from a single-storey rear extension which connects to their bay window, however, no Lawful Development Certificate nor Householder Planning Application was submitted for the property. As such, the council have not provided confirmation that the works at this property is permitted development under Class A and from our interpretation, should their bay window measure the depth of yours, this would not be permitted development.
The council take this stance with large bay windows and this issue has arisen before, with other permitted development schemes, particularly with larger householder extensions assessed also under Class A of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015.
Answering your questions going forward, you do have the right to appeal the application, should you wish that I proceed to recommend the application as unlawful. Conversely, you could apply for this under a householder planning application which would be assessed based on the character of the area and impact on neighbouring properties rather than permitted development legislation. There is also the option to follow the amendments and reduce the width of the extension, however, I understand that this is not something you wish to do. Unfortunately, as the bay forms part of the original rear elevation of the original house, demolition of this cannot be used to assess the proposals against the GPDO 2015.
Please let me know how you wish to proceed with the application going
forward. Also, do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to discuss this further.
APPLICANT:
The applicant made an appeal which took approximately 6 months to go through and sadly lost. below is the full
DECISION: The appeal is dismissed.
CONCLUSION: I, therefore, conclude that the proposed extension would not fail to comply with limitations within paragraph A.1 (j) of Class A of Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the GPDO and would require planning permission. Thus, the Council’s refusal was well founded, and the appeal will therefore fail.
Summary: If in the likelihood you have a Bay window or a recess to the rear wall of your exiting build wall (not added on after build date) then you will not be in the criteria of obtaining a successful Permitted Development Application.
A Householder application would be the only alternative approach for appling.
Appeals are more successful if you use and hire a professional planning consultant to prepare documentation and act on your behalf
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