Architectural drawings in Reigate and Banstead

Green belt, listed buildings and conservation areas

Around 68 per cent of the borough is green belt. Houses on the edge of Reigate, Banstead and the outlying villages therefore face limits on size that a town-centre terrace does not.

The council publishes 21 conservation areas, and Historic England lists 457 entries: 6 at Grade I, 23 at Grade II* and 428 at Grade II. The designation can apply to an ordinary cul-de-sac as readily as to a historic core.

There are 26 scheduled monuments and 2 registered parks and gardens in the borough as well. We read every one of these layers in the constraints check.

The housing stock and what it supports

Of 59,849 households at the Census, 73.5 per cent live in a house or bungalow and 71.1 per cent own their home. That makes extensions the bread and butter of local drawing work.

The average semi-detached home sold for £539,040 and the average terraced home for £429,084 in the latest Land Registry data. Over twelve months the overall average moved by -0.4 per cent, so owners are weighing improving against moving.

A high-volume planning service

Reading the council's own figures, 93.5 per cent of householder applications were granted and 96.4 per cent were decided inside eight weeks or an agreed extension. These are results from past cases, and not a promise for any one address.

Government returns tell a more careful story for the prior approval route. For larger rear extensions the council granted 0 and refused 13 in the latest year. If your neighbours object, a full householder application may serve you better, and we explain the trade-off at the start.

Lawful development certificates are common as well, with 200 issued over the same period.

Charges to budget for

The charging schedule is the Reigate & Banstead Borough Council CIL Charging Schedule. Its rates depend on the zone your site falls in. We note any liability in the pack we hand over.

Turning the planning figures into a plan

The scale of the borough's casework gives us a useful reading of how officers think. A high share of householder applications is granted, which tends to reward schemes that follow the character guide closely and arrive with complete drawings.

We use that in practice. Each package is checked for the documents a validation officer looks for: the correct location plan, an accurate block plan, elevations that show existing and proposed side by side, and the right forms. A scheme that is invalid on arrival loses weeks before anyone reads it.

Where the first design stretches the character guide, we say so and offer a lower-risk alternative alongside it. You decide whether to push the design or to trim it.

Redhill, Horley and the new-build estates

Parts of the borough are made up of postwar and later estates, with uniform frontages and small gardens. Here the main questions are overlooking, loss of light to neighbours and the rhythm of the street, and our drawings show sightlines and neighbour windows clearly.

Estates can also carry covenants or management rules that sit outside the planning system. We cannot give legal advice on these, but we remind you to read your deeds before the design is fixed.

Preparing the application so it validates first time

A set of drawings is only useful once the council accepts it as valid. We therefore check the title blocks, scales, north points and red line against the national requirements before submission, and we complete the forms and ownership certificate with you.

Keep the planning officer's perspective in mind. They have a short window to read the file, so we put the headline facts on the front sheet: what exists, what changes, and which policy the design answers.

Architectural drawings in Reigate and Banstead: our services

Start with planning drawings in Reigate and Banstead for a householder extension, or a prior approval drawings set in Reigate and Banstead for a large single-storey rear addition.

Loft conversion drawings in Reigate and Banstead suit many interwar semis, and building regulations drawings in Reigate and Banstead follow. Nearby, see Sutton, Croydon and Epsom and Ewell.