Planning permission is no longer needed by the majority of homeowners for loft conversions and rear extensions, leading to around a quarter of all planning applications being removed from the system. Non-overbearing loft conversions will enjoy automatic permission. Rear extensions will no longer have a cap on volume. Find out more here.
By Gordon Miller
Planning Minister Caroline Flint said in September 2008, ‘The new rules will cut out planning permissions for about 80,000 households a year and crucially saving as much as £1,000 in some cases – a real difference to already stretched family finances, making home improvements an increasingly attractive option.’
A consensus of opinion supports the legislation, claiming it will remove ‘small’ applications from the system and allow professionals to expedite more significant town-planning issues, but not everyone is convinced it will truly free up the planning bottleneck that can see permissions take up to a year to approve.
Russell Hunt, managing director of London property search consultancy, Property Hunt said: ‘Councils are likely to become engulfed by minor neighbour disputes, including light and privacy issues, as well as people finding loopholes in the system. Therefore this legislation neither helps the homeowners, nor the current local council backlogs it has set out to aid.’
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