Permitted Development for Summerhouse

[Candyman21]

Hi All,

I am just at the starting point of building my summerhouse, see the picture below. I just wanted to double check that i am ok to continue this under permitted development. I have read through the document and believe i am fine, but would appreciate any comments before going full steam ahead.

It is next to a boundary, so will be no higher than 2.5 metres from ground level. It's 4m by 3m double skinned with a 50mm cavity, it will be having a flat roof to try and give as much head room inside as possible.

As you will see from the picture, my garden slopes quite a lot, where would the 2.5m from ground level be measured? How strigent are they on the 2.5m would they have any allowanmce it it was slightly over, like by 2 or 3cm?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

John

 

[oldbutnotdead]

All sounds good. Are your neighbours aware of what you're up to. The 2500 is measured from the highest ground next to the building-so looking at your pic it'd be from the corner nearest the house. Since you're on pd, officialdom are only likely to wave a tape measure at the thing if neighbours complain. 25mm is a reasonable tolerance (remember to include rafter depth, battens, thickness of whatever roof you're putting on)

 

[Candyman21]

All sounds good. Are your neighbours aware of what you're up to. The 2500 is measured from the highest ground next to the building-so looking at your pic it'd be from the corner nearest the house. Since you're on pd, officialdom are only likely to wave a tape measure at the thing if neighbours complain. 25mm is a reasonable tolerance (remember to include rafter depth, battens, thickness of whatever roof you're putting on)

Thanks for the reply, the neighbour next door doesn't really speak to me so i haven't told her, but as long as i stay below the 2.5 i should be fine?

 

[oldbutnotdead]

In terms of pp etc yes you'll be fine as long as you haven't exceeded the 50% of garden rule, make sure the roof or gutter or whatever doesn't overhang the fence

 

[Candyman21]

In terms of pp etc yes you'll be fine as long as you haven't exceeded the 50% of garden rule, make sure the roof or gutter or whatever doesn't overhang the fence

Thanks again for the reply, i have a really big back garden as i live on a corner plot of a cul de sac so i am OK on the 50% garden rule as well.

 

[Candyman21]

How likely would it be to get this through planning if I submitted some plans? I am thinking about making it about 30cm higher to accommodate more head room internally?

If I still go down the PD route, what size roof beams would I need to accommodate a EPDM flat roof?

Thanks

John

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Only a personal opinion but you might struggle with pp, 3000 that near the boundary may be a bit overbearing on your neighboor (whose garden looks quite small & would def feel boxed in with a 3000 boundary structure).
Worth looking at your local councils planning website, see if anyone has done similar (use Google to look in back gardens then search planning by address)
3m span 6 x 2 at 400 centres, when you price the timber don't forget you'll need noggins or herringbone struts

 

[Candyman21]

Only a personal opinion but you might struggle with pp, 3000 that near the boundary may be a bit overbearing on your neighboor (whose garden looks quite small & would def feel boxed in with a 3000 boundary structure).
Worth looking at your local councils planning website, see if anyone has done similar (use Google to look in back gardens then search planning by address)
3m span 6 x 2 at 400 centres, when you price the timber don't forget you'll need noggins or herringbone struts

Thanks Again for the help,

Looks like I will be better of sticking with 2.5m maximum height, do you know if they have any % of allowance if you go over this? As you have veery helpfully mentioned, you believe they take the 2.5m from the highest ground point of the structure, the ground difference between the left and right side is about 20cm, so if they were to measure form the opposite end I could be over by about 20cm!

I hope this makes sense?

 

[oldbutnotdead]

Have a look on the Planning Portal, iirc it gives you the highest point clause so that'll be solid.
The increased headroom- get 2 bits of batten cut to the height you'd like the back wall to be, strap them to the corners and see what it looks like.
A cheaper route than pp might be pre planning guidance, there's still a fee but some councils knock it off the actual planning application fee.
Remember because of the small size of the building you don't have to comply with building regs so the inside floor level could be below ground level (you'd need to do some tanking now, if you were starting from scratch you could have used dpm as the damp course (below ground) then wrapped it up the wall. Or trenched.

 

[Candyman21]

Have a look on the Planning Portal, iirc it gives you the highest point clause so that'll be solid.
The increased headroom- get 2 bits of batten cut to the height you'd like the back wall to be, strap them to the corners and see what it looks like.
A cheaper route than pp might be pre planning guidance, there's still a fee but some councils knock it off the actual planning application fee.
Remember because of the small size of the building you don't have to comply with building regs so the inside floor level could be below ground level (you'd need to do some tanking now, if you were starting from scratch you could have used dpm as the damp course (below ground) then wrapped it up the wall. Or trenched.

Thanks again for all your help, the floor has already been poured, but I should be fine if its the highest point, thanks again for all your help.

 

[motorbiking]

4 x 3 is also under the 15M2 limit for building within 1m of the boundary.

 

[Candyman21]

4 x 3 is also under the 15M2 limit for building within 1m of the boundary.

Is that a good thing?

 

[Notch7]

it looks awful close to your conservatory, which wont have much of a view soon.....

 

[Candyman21]

it looks awful close to your conservatory, which wont have much of a view soon.....

To be fair it didn't have much of a view anyway, due to the slope of the ground my conservatory is about 2 metres higher than the back of the neighbours garden that mine backs on to. So I saw the roofs of the sheds they have, and all of their house.

I was also worried about my neighbour complaining to the council about it, that's why I started the thread, but seemingly I am ok on that front as long as I stay within 2.5m in height.