I understand that the Government announced that planning regulations are to be relaxed in order to allow people to build bigger extensions without planning permission from 2013 for 3 yrs period. There's a property in our area having the dormer type conversion in the roof in which no neighbours from the surrounding area seen any letters for any objections as this may fit in under the new planning rules but they have a previous extension on ground floor and looks like there's is going to be a window and doorway leading onto the flat roof but not sure yet as the building is not complete. Do you need planning permission for a roof balcony? This will be a loss of privacy for many surrounding neighbours.