Raised decking

[jonnyp1]

hi bit of advice im putting in a raised deck, it will be approx 6m wide from house and 10m long. The height above ground at house is about 250mm, because the garden slopes at outer end 1400mm. As less than 300mm at house do i need planning? We dont really want a balustrade, could we put a raised flower bed in front, so deck drops 250mm to flower bed that provides safety if so would there be a minimum width acceptable? If not could we put steps the whole length of the decking and would we need balustrade at each end? any advice welcome.

 

[Odds]

A pic would really help see the issue more clearly.

 

[mrrusty]

There is what is permitted development, and then there is what is sensible to do. For sure, if you can document that the height of the deck measured against the highest point of natural ground level is <300mm, then it is permitted envelopment - no planning needed (which if you have neighbours you probably won't get)

There has been at least one case documented on this forum where the council have tried to enforce decking on a sloping site, and then backed down at the 59th minute - you'll have to search.

However, if your 1400mm end means that when you stand on it you look over the neighbours fence and they have no privacy, they'll likely kick off, which will do nothing for neighbourly relations.

If this is the case, you could consider digging down a bit at the high end and moving the spoil to the low end and dropping the overall level a bit. Do also appreciate that decking can make a great refuge for rats, foxes etc, and a solid flagged patio might be a better option.

As to balustrade. If it's exempt from building regs, which it is, you can do whatever you like, but do appreciate the risks of unprotected edges, particularly for any visitors.

 

[jonnyp1]

Cheers I built a 2.5m structure between neighbour and us planning said ok as unattached and 4 corners. The deck sits inside this so cant really see neighbours garden

 

[mrrusty]

Here's the thread I referred to - read post #43 https://www.diynot.com/diy/threads/garden-decking-height.491731/page-3

 

[ericmark]

I have looked at an impressive raised decking off the train, the nearest house to the one in question is at least a mile, can't be seen off the road, and can't see anyone objecting. It looks far better to the next house, where rubbish seems to be stored outside, other side of the house to peacocks.

But when I moved in here, we had raised decking which was level with next door's garden, so around 4 foot high, the access was not that good, and I decided to remove, thank goodness I did, the visible decking looked sound, but the beams under the decking were very much worse for wear, and there was a good chance it would have collapsed, clearly it would have been sound when built, but when I wanted to increase the paved area in front of the house, I used sleepers to hold the material back, and filled in with ash from local steam trains, topped with slabs, likely to last 100 years plus, and if sleepers failed, it would not cause a sudden let down, and the ash is so porous there is little weight against the sleepers.

Clearly, if all plastic, then not much of a worry about rotting, but in the 5 years I have been here, much time and effort has been spent ripping up decking and replacing with slabs or brick sets, the decking did allow water to drain without stepping in puddles, but so did the brick sets. And I am not worried about going through my brick sets. Or slabs.