Permitted Development Limits - Oct. 1st 2008.

The amount of what you can build under the current permitted development limits is stated within the latest GPDO legislation but the wording & phrasing of the legislation has caused a lot of confusion for designers and home owners alike.

The various categories of the current GPDO and its wording can be viewed elsewhere within this web site that will give you an idea as to the actual permitted development limits. You are advised to search and read this web site thoroughly for each classification of permitted development in order to first establish that your scheme may indeed fall within the current permitted development limits.

Every category within the PD of the GPDO tries to cover all structures, installations, uses and buildings that the normal home owner would want to erect an it does make a fair job of trying to categorise most applications. However, it is the descriptions as to what you cannot do under the permitted development limits that have caused the confusion.

New wording, areas, volumes and phrases have been utilised for the first time within the new GPDO that can be interpreted in a variety of ways. An example of the poor use of technical phrasing used within the latest Permitted development limits would be ‘principle elevation’. In most cases this would mean the obvious front elevation of a property but there are some situations for dwelling houses where the rear or side elevation would be considered as the ‘principle elevation’ due to its prominence within the street scene. Other properties do not have a street scene and possibly 2 or more elevations could be argued as being the principle elevation.

Download a pdf guide for Permitted Development Limits...

 guidance on permitted development limits

As always, you are advised to obtain professional drawings completed by a Building Designer which can be used as part of a formal Certificate of Lawful Development application to the Council that will formally and legally confirm that your project is indeed permitted development.