Garden Buildings - less restrictive PD since Oct. 1st 2008.

One of the most glaring changes to the latest PD criteria is the alteration of wording to Class E of the GPDO.  It used to be that if you were in a Conservation Area your Class E Permitted Development Rights were removed - It now seems that this has been redefined.

Conservation Areas as defined by the previous GPDO for Class E were roped into the global restriction of Article 1(5) which included National Parks & Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). This meant that all PD rights for ancillary garden buildings were removed & that formal Planning Consent would be removed.

All this, it appears, has now changed for Class E type garden buildings where sites within Conservation Areas now only seek to restrict the siting of a garden building such as swimming pool enclosures, lodges, summer houses etc.

The new wording seems to prevent ancillary garden buildings being placed between the side elevation & the side boundary of a dwelling.  Therefore, anywhere within the rear garden & away from the side elevation / side boundary now seems to be acceptable under Permitted Development Criteria (subject to checking with your own relevant Council).  This is a massive change.

Another change to the PD rules seems to be the removal of the 5M distance away requirement from the main dwelling house.  Normally, all ancillary garden buildings (e.g - swimming pool buildings) had to be a clear 5m away from the existing / main dwelling in order to fall under the previous PD criteria.  The minimum distance from the existing dwelling again seems to be no longer relevant under the new Permitted development rules.

This could mean that a building may now be allowable under Permitted Development located just a few feet away from the existing dwelling making a later planning application for a link extension seem more reasonable & approvable by the Planners. (subject to checking with your own relevant Council). 

These two differences in the PD criteria really do appear to be major deviations from the previously very restrictive thinking that had previously prevented so many garden buildings from being built as the Planners would normally refuse Planning Permission for such structures.

Obviously the garden building must adhere to the other dimensional criteria as stated within the new Permitted Development rules.

NOTE - This is an initial view only & may not be correct.  You must check the situation for each site first with your own Local Authority prior to building anything under Permitted Development.

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Permitted Development information