Covered walkway

[L.Lam]

Looking for some advice on planning permission and building regulations for a covered walkway/lean to for a friend. She applied for planning permission for a side return extension with a door at the front of the house which was approved. I think the council said the door had to be glazed as she's can't have 2 front doors. However the costs for creating an extra metre of inside space is proving too much so she would like to create a nice covered walkway instead so she can enter the house through the back door (she doesn't want to use the front door). The construction for the walkaway will be concrete posts and light block for the boundary wall and gate posts and covered with possibly glass/polycarbonate material. I read that boundary walls <2m need planning permission but the neighbouring land is 25cm higher so she could excavate another 15cm to get the headroom in the walkway. Also she will move the position of the gate more forward towards the front of the house. From the front of the house, she is building something that looks similar to the side return (without the glazed door) but with no access to the house.
Some things we are not sure about are:
- Does she need to submit new planning application or is the walkway/lean permitted development?
- Do she need building control approval for this covered walk way/lean to?

I have attached a diagram so hopefully its more clear.

 

[foxhole]

Attachment?

 

[L.Lam]

Diagram attached below

 

[Deluks]

I'm planning something like this, similar to the proposal below.

The blockwork is overkill and the gate is too high.

Just do a featherboard fence on the boundary.to a sensible looking height. Make the fence posts a little higher than the fence and attach a run of 4x2 (6x2, 6x1, whatever looks best) to the top of the fence posts.

Ledger board on the wall, slightly higher. Run glazing bars and polycarb sheets across.

You'll need a gutter to stop water being dumped onto the neighbours property. If you don't have space for that on your side, then attach the 4x2 to the posts using angle brackets, and have the guttering sitting atop the fence posts.

 

[L.Lam]

Thanks for your suggestions. The gate won’t be 2.4m high, just the gate posts and the boundary wall. From reading other posts on this site, the ground level for the boundary wall is taken from the neighbour side so as long as the wall is no higher than 2m on their side then we should be ok.

Also, looking at other houses on the street, I noticed some have moved their gate towards the front of the house.

So I don’t think we need to apply for planning or building control. Appreciate any advice on this.

 

[Deluks]

Yes, the higher ground of the neighbours is useful here.
Step the gate back a little, 30cm will look better, don't bring it flush with the front.

 

[L.Lam]

Yes, in the approved plans for the side extension, it was stepped back by 1m. I think this distance was requested by the council.

I would have suggested to build the side extension without integrating with the main house if the council was ok with not having a glazed door. The council said she couldn’t have 2 front doors so the new entrance had to be glazed. Is there a safety reason for this?

 

[Deluks]

No idea about the door rule, but is there any reason not to use a framed/ledged and braced gate?
A bit pointless having a 'proper' door on what is just a simple covered side access.

 

[L.Lam]

The glazed door was required if we build an side extension. My friend wanted to put a door here to have an own entrance instead using the shared porch.

 

[Deluks]

If you already have the glazed door then use that if you want, but it's a waste of money buying a full security insulated and gasketed door with frame, for entry into what will still be an outdoor space.