Prior approval drawings in Croydon

Croydon's record on larger and upward extensions

The national returns show 17 larger home extensions granted and 34 refused. Refusals outnumber grants, yet a meaningful number get through, so the route is a real option when the drawings are strong.

Upward extensions are rarer: 2 granted and 3 refused. Class AA has a long list of tests, including the external appearance of the house.

Compare ordinary householder applications. Croydon decided 786 in the latest twelve months and granted 86.6 per cent, with 94.4 per cent decided on time. Those are past borough figures, not a forecast for your address.

Gardens, houses and the green fringe

Domestic gardens cover 32.8 per cent of the land in the London land-use survey, a share that explains why rear extensions are so common. About 60.2 per cent of households live in a house or bungalow.

Green belt covers 25 per cent of the borough, and the borough has 3 registered parks and gardens and 15 heritage entries at risk. We check all of these against the address in the free constraints check.

A semi-detached house averages £535,706 and a terraced one £396,579.

Drawing a Croydon notification

The depth limits are 6 m (attached) / 8 m (detached), single storey, height max 4 m; not on article 2(3) land or an SSSI, counted from the original rear wall. We survey that wall, record neighbours' windows and boundaries and prepare the written description and site plan the Order requires.

On receipt, the LPA notifies adjoining owners/occupiers, giving at least 21 days for representations. If it has not notified a decision within 42 days, the development may begin, but we advise getting written confirmation.

Houses of multiple occupation are controlled by an Article 4 direction here, so if the extension is meant to add shared-living bedrooms we check that separately. Someone who did not draw the set reads it, and amendments the council asks for are redrawn within our fixed fee.

Before anything is filed, we send you the full set to read. You see the plans, the elevations and the written description in the same form the council will receive them, and any change you ask for at that point is made before submission rather than after a neighbour has seen the drawings. It is the moment to raise any doubt about the depth or the roof form.

Planning the work after a Croydon decision

Once a decision arrives, building control becomes the next hurdle. Our building regulations drawings take the same extension forward, so the structure, drainage and insulation follow the approved depth and height exactly.

We also remind owners that prior approval covers the extension as described. If the design changes on site, the permission may no longer cover it. The council fee is £249.

Croydon owners sometimes assume the notification and the building regulations application can be filed together. They are separate processes with separate officers, and building control cares about structure and energy, not neighbours. We prepare them in sequence so each document refers to the same dimensions, and any change made for one is carried into the other before submission.

Other routes for a Croydon home

Croydon recorded 494 lawful development certificate applications in the period, so many owners prove ordinary permitted development instead. A Lawful Development Certificate in Croydon is the right choice when the extension stays within normal limits.

Where more is needed, planning drawings in Croydon prepare a householder application. Our architectural drawings in Croydon page lists the rest, and neighbours may compare prior approval drawings in Sutton and prior approval drawings in Bromley.